ICE, DEATH, PLANETS, LUNGS, MUSHROOMS AND LAVA

Probably the most prolific band to come in the 2010s and had made a big name for themselves would have to be King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard. They have released over 20 albums in 10 years with each year or so they would release a completely new album that showcases the band trying completely new styles of music that go from psychedelic rock, to blue rock, to jazz, to even rapping with their recent efforts this year with Made In Timeland and Omnium Gatherum. Throughout the band's history, they have had a consistent track record of fun new twists that are intriguing as they are delightful. I think by the end of this century they would've made almost 100 albums because it seems like they can never stop no matter what. To me they aren't just progressive, they are so forward- thinking that you don't even know what they'll do next, and that just makes them even more appealing. Their consistency is their lack of consistency. This is the 3rd album they have released this year, and 1st album they'll release this month with 2 more coming out. In this incarnation, we get some of the band's most jazzy works yet since their 2015 album Quarters and their 2017 album of Sketches of Brunswick East.

The album kicks off with Mycelium which goes into a more funk style of playing mixed in with a sense of smooth jazz. It is the most chill-out song they made in this more jazzy style as every aspect from the guitar, the saxophone, and the whole feel of the song is just cozy. What I love most about this song though is how they capture the feeling of mushrooms in a forest. If we discount the parasitic fungi that take control of animals, most fungi do look and feel very comfy. Have you ever seen a fantasy book or movie with pictures of giant mushrooms, and just imagine lying on them and just relaxing? That is what this song feels like, being in a fantasy book and just chilling on a mushroom. It is a nice woodsy jazz song that I think will age to be one of King Gizz's finest works.

After such a chill song, we get to Ice V, an equally chill, but very different interpretation of the band's style. It continues that funky jazz Mycelium had, but amped it up a bit, being a bit more wild and free in sound. In this we can get a cool vibe running throughout it, which I think plays into the theme of the album, taking random things from our world like ice, and mushrooms, and creating a cool jazzy song surrounding the feeling you'd get from seeing it. In this case, since ice is very cool, yet very slippery we get a nice cool funk jam that slips yours around in a glamorous fashion. It sticks to you like glue and the rhythm will never leave your head. It is just a really fun track, to be honest, and I love it.

From cold to hot, we are in Magma. In the album's themes, this is of course a more hot-sounding song, if that makes sense. It has an emphasis more on the guitars than the saxophones or keys, delivering a more spicy delivery in music that keeps up with the funk levels that drip off this album's body. While it isn't completely metal, it does start up leading the album's more hard-hitting melodies. With that they stretch their legs here, creating a nice and groovy jam that I bet a lot of King Gizz fans will love once they hear this album if they haven't already.

After Magma, the rocks crumble away and we get Lava. This time they pull back a bit, going a bit more minimalistic, emphasizing more on the drums this time around. The song picks up speed after the halfway mark and I cannot help but love the poetry that captures the whole song perfectly, about how life is death and vice versa. Captures how lava reacts, how it burns things away but was created due to tension and build-up, almost how life in the universe can be interpreted as tension building up and exploding. The volcano represents the Big Bang, and the lava represents life as a whole on how things are taken away by death but new life can sprout up at the same time. Now the first half though is a little mixed for me. I do like the more calm and tribal feel but I do think it breaks the tension from the more funk-laden songs we got from the previous three, and in a sort of bad way. I do not think it fits all too well, so if I could fix it I'd have a bit of flute or horns in the background with a soft guitar leading the charge. It'd be fitting since it can be a great follow-up to Magma, and it'd work well with the whole thematic elements of heat in the instrumentation. The second half is great, but the first half is not so much.

So we went from magma to lava, and with lava being about death and life, what happens next after we die? Well in most religions we'll go to an afterlife, whether it is Heaven or Hell. In this case, we'll be going to Hell. Hell's Itch is the longest song off of this album, and in it we get a combination of their more psychedelic jam sound with the funk- jazz fusion, resulting in 13 minutes of pure greatness. Everything about this song drips in this psychedelic balancing act of the calmer funky moments with the intense jamming. It all pays off in spades, with a song that I think is a great continuation of the sound we got from some of their previous albums, namely Quarters, but does so in a way where it constantly feels fresh. King Gizz has been a band about being fresh and new, and this song is a good example of being ahead of the curve.

While Hell's Itch felt like a balancing act, we get the peak of the refinancing process of the more funk jazz and psych- infused mix with Iron Lung. This is the album's masterpiece for me. The sounds, how it goes from a more wobbly guitar lead song to a bassy one, and how it perfectly encapsulates the album's style while also being new just help this song so much in being some of the finest music we have gotten from King Gizz. It is like a well-prepared steak, delicious, and juicy, and after the first time, you get a second serving. Once the song was done I immediately went back to it because it was super good. It felt almost bizarre how good it was, but I doubt King Gizz didn't make it in the name of being randomly good, since really they are all talented musicians to the point where they can replicate this to a tee and it would still be fantastic.

After that wonderful song, we get into the last track of the album, Gliese 710. This song is at an odd place in my heart since you jump into it right off Iron Lung, which felt like a befitting closure for the album, so having a song afterward is pretty neat all things considered, but I think it is unnecessary. It is still a fun song, and very psychedelic and jammy, but since it is at the end of the album it never really pays off like how Iron Lung did. It feels almost as if it was originally just a bonus track but was reconsidered to be an album track at the very end when it wasn't supposed to. Not only do I feel it makes the album end with a weird whimper, but it also makes the whole experience feel not as well planned as once thought out. It is like going on vacation and having a good time, and when you need to fly back to your original city suddenly the planes are delayed for a day, so you have to waste your time driving to a hotel and waking up to try your luck again. You had fun throughout your trip but that bump at the end felt kinda poor. It does make the album feel a lot more varied, but I'd rather this just be a bonus track than an official track of the album.

That said, this album was super fun. I think this is a part of a top 10 King Gizzard album list due to how well it is. Every song is just a fun time to go through, and it all feels like they had a blast making it. This and Omnium Gatherum have become some of my favorites from this band, and I bet the next 2 albums later this month will be just as good. 100% check this album out because it is a treat to behold.

This is the first of the three albums they will release in October 2022. Absolute madness indeed. But King Gizz isn't only prolific. They also are musically excellent and eclectic.

Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava gives us 7 long tracks. The shortest is Lava at 6'41". The longest is Hell's Itch at 13'27". They sound jammy and jazzy. And the flute has a prominent place.

Mycelium - Nice jammy session to open the album with great guitar and flute passages. 7.5/10

Ice V - One of the highlights for me. Gotta love the bass here. But don't rule out the rest of the payers! 8.5/10

Magma - Another great track that builds and builds 8.5/10

Lava is a song that starts quietly with an atmosphere. When we hit the 4-minute mark, the guitar comes in and brings more power. The percussion and flute are the stars here. It's a very intriguing track. 9/10

Hell's Itch is the longest song of the album. Another atmospheric one with the bass having a prominent place. The flute that comes in later also is beautiful. An excellent driving track that ends up with a jamming session. It might be a bit long though. Though I like the a-cappella ending. 8/10

Iron Lung - I LOVE the ripping guitar. 8.5/10

Gliese 710 - This is a great closer to the album. The guitar, the flute, the drums, the bass. All so nicely done! 8/10

This is a killer album. 4 stars for me. But I'm a fan :-)

Must be a fetid year Down Under as the King and Wizard are churning 'em out with no less than five studio albums are being released in 2022 (not to mention several live albums).

1. "Mycelium" (7:35) horrible drumming. Not a song I like at all--feels very immature and haphazardly constructed around a simple/childish riff. (11/15)

2. "Ice V" (10:15) kind of cool song though the sound levels of the component parts of the drums bug me. The groove reminds me of West Coast Canterbury Funk à la Brian Ellis or Starving Daughters. Over its ten minute length, the infectious groove thickens and has plenty of time to get your dancin' feet charged and activated. (17.75/20)

3. "Magma" (9:06) another pleasant CAN-like jam most notable for its bass, guitar, and flute play. Vocals at 4:00 establish a new dimension before the rhythm section goes back to it's Kosmische groove. The lead guitar play in the second half is nothing new, souring the song's welcome, until, that is, the choral vocals return for the final minute or two. (17/20)

4. "Lava" (6:41) flutes play gently as the rest of the "orchestra" sound as if they're warming up. I actually like it! Sounds kind of primordial, in a civilized human kind of way--though I'm also remined of the cacophonous beginning to "A Love Supreme" before everybody comes together and gels. At the 90 second mark everybody straightens up and sits back to watch/listen as the percussion crew establishes a baseline rhythm and speed for the others to begin adding their contributions to: choral vocals and spacey guitars (that remind me of POPOL VUH) At 3:50 guitars and flutes launch into some heat-rising spiral while everybody beneath trances within their Jonathan Goldman-like breathing rhythms. This could honestly be a great song for the facilitation of psychotropic breathing. A top three song for me. (9.25/10)

5. "Hell's Itch" (13:27) There's a little MOTORPSYCHO in this band despite its groove jam tendencies. A very nice groove to sink into with some entertaining contributions going on within, over, and below. Bass and drums are rock solid and well mixed for this one. The airy choral vocals are interesting if a little more challenging to understand, but they remind me of some of the nice pop vocal harmony vocal arrangement from the 1960s (though not, of course, the lyrics)--like THE BYRDS from around 1967. Another top three song. (27/30)

6. "Iron Lung" (9:04) finally the talents of the drums are fully on display--and all of the drum sounds are balanced and mixed perfectly within the rhythm track. So many incidentals occurring within the sonic field that a few times I found myself startled and looking around Plus, the searing guitar play on this one and kinetic lead singing in this one are fully charged, really get my adrenaline pumping. The spirit of bands like Arcade Fire and The Jam/The Style Council are so alive in this music! Packed so full, such great enthusiasm gelling from every which way, this is my favorite song on the album! (19.25/20)

7. "Gliese 710" (7:48) opens with some glitch-jazzy music over which some ARCADE FIRE-like choral vocals over the bluesy jazz groove. Cool vocal and lyric over some rather dull SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT-like music. (13/15)

Total Time 63:56

I have to admit that this is probably my favorite King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard album that I've ever heard. With music like this (and more great Motorpsycho music) I might still be persuaded to become a Space/Psychedelia devoté.

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.