KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD - ALIEN METAL - P(DOOM)

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard release their twenty-eighth album, Alien Metal, on p(doom) records.

Written and recorded on the modular synthesizer set up which they took out on the road last year for their ‘rave shows’, and named ‘Nathan’ by the band, the track listing of the album, which sees the ever shape-shifting Melbourne six-piece set the controls for the dark heart of electronic dance music, is as follows:

1. Sapience

2. Alien Metal

3. Superheavy, Supercritical

4. Kill For The Steel

5. Level 5

6. Rapid Alpha Decay

7. Uqt

8. Atomic Collapse

Arguably one of the most exciting live bands on the planet right now, they have just announced a short run of Australian dates in October, which includes them taking over the Croxton Block Party and curating two days of performances.

Before which this August sees the return of their now SOLD OUT Field Of Vision Festival and a run of three headline shows at New York’s Forest Hills Stadium and an additional rave show in Brooklyn following these shows. 

Never ones to musically stand still and following explorations of everything from prog-fringed thrash metal, primitive synth-rock, down-home jam-rock hoedowns and feelgood symphonic rock on recent albums, Alien Metal grew out of last year’s ‘rave shows’ where traditional instruments were abandoned as the band gathered around an expansive modular synthesiser setup each making their own manipulations to create a mind-altering whole. And what began as an experiment soon became an obsession, inspiring one of the band's most ambitious records to date.

"It completely rewired my brain," said Stu Mackenzie, having discovered the possibilities of the Eurorack synthesizer format on the recommendation of fellow band member and self-confessed ‘techno head of the group’ Joey Walker. "I was like, 'I'm going to forget everything I know about music and relearn it all from scratch'."

The album was far from straightforward to make. Over the course of several years, the band scrapped countless recordings and abandoned entire creative directions while searching for the project's identity. "We've never scrapped so much material as we have for this album," Mackenzie says. "Entire albums, entire universes that were formulated, created, recorded, deleted and started again."

The breakthrough finally arrived during a late-night improvisation session that stretched for more than an hour. That spontaneous jam became the foundation for the entire record, with every track on Alien Metal evolving from the same source performance.

The result is a seamless, ever-shifting journey through techno, hardcore, house and jungle influences, filtered through King Gizzard's unmistakable psychedelic lens. Pulsing rhythms, distorted textures and unexpected twists collide across a record that feels both futuristic and uniquely their own. "It sounds so crunchy, but also beautiful," says Mackenzie.

"Alien Metal goes really hard, but it also goes to really interesting places," adds Joey Walker. "And it feels unique – it feels like us, still."