King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Murder of the Universe
Release Date: Jun 23, 2017
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Heavenly
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Album Review: Murder of the Universe by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Very Good, Based on 12 Critics
Based on rating 8.5/10
Here's a quick recap: since 2012, Australian psych-punk gang King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released nine albums. One was a spoken-word Western concept album. One featured four long tracks of deliberately equal length. One was a gentle, organic, '60s-esque folk album, and its follow-up was a nine-track descent into hell whose tracks looped endlessly together into one.
Based on rating 8.0/10
"Nonagon infinity, open the door!" When King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard ringleader Stu MacKenzie uttered those words to kick off the band's eighth album, 2016's Nonagon Infinity, it sounded like precisely the sort of fantastical, D&D-addled gibberish you'd expect to hear on a sci-fi psych concept album made by a band with a silly name and two drummers. But in hindsight, it now sounds like he was reciting a magic spell--because since that album's release, a lot of doors have blown open for the Aussie armada. Where the prolific group previously hovered in the shadow of one-time label benefactors Thee Oh Sees, with Nonagon Infinity's audacious album-long suite, they became international club headliners in their own right.
Based on rating 4/5
King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard and doomsday seem to go together well. In 'Murder of the Universe', the Aussie psych-rockers' second album out of a promised five due in 2017, the band create an apocalyptic-ridden world through a sonic environment that delves into original legend and lore. Separated into three parts, it's an ambitious effort that tells the tale of death and destruction and growth and rebirth, alongside descriptions of fiery blazes and impending doom.
Based on rating 7.5/10
Running through three chapters covering a flesh-eating beast, a fight to the death between a Lord of Lightning and a Balrog, and the earth's destruction at the hands of a homicidal cyborg named Han-Tyumi, it follows on from Nonagon Infinity's mind-warping parallel universe, making lyrical and musical nods to it throughout via psyche-kraut-garage-punk and spoken word storytelling. A marriage between the bombastic excess of the 70s and a narrative rendering of a horrifying future, it's a magic eye picture, a 45 minute beserk freak-out at high, high velocity. It is some trip.
Based on rating 7.4/10
We're living in difficult times. The threat of violence, massive mayhem and the unsettling state of our nation and our world create constant concerns. Lest anyone not grasp the severity of the situation, we can thank King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for hammering the point home. Known for their dizzying blend of speed metal, psychedelia, goth and freakbeat, these Aussie provocateurs make today's doom and destruction the focus of Murder of the Universe, their 10th album in five years.
Based on rating 7/10
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard's second album of 2017 is a rampaging, feverish blast of sci-fi prog punctuated by whizzing synths and robotic voice-overs. Murder of the Universe is broken into three chapters, each telling a tale of humanity being driven out of existence by AI-driven machines and cyborgs. Subtract the story and it's trademark King Gizzard, with pummeling guitar riffs pitched between garage punk and heavy metal, Stu MacKenzie's yowling yelps at the mike, and the rhythm section's unstoppable drive combining to make exhilarating music that flashes like lightning trapped in a bottle and hits harder than Thor's hammer.
Based on rating 7/10
King Gizzard and his good mate, The Lizard Wizard (I presume they're a black magic obsessed duo, and not a gang of gangly 20 somethings from the south coast of Australia, because that would be a bit silly) have been aggressively bashing away at each and every genre under the sun for a good seven years now, conjuring up a rather baffling number of records that sound like best parts of your vinyl collection aggressively blended together in that food processor your Gran got you the other Christmas. They've always been a bit on the odd side, but this year the guys have upped their weird game exponentially. If you haven't already heard, the group are planning on realising a quite frankly insane five albums in 2017.
Based on rating 5.5/10
I'm having a hard time working up the gumption to give Murder of the Universe repeat listens. This record's three parts, separated by the gender of the narrator and little else, are muscular, repetitive, exhausting pieces of psych-math riffs that hardly let up. They make me feel like I'm stuck on an endless dancefloor, forced to nod my head into eternity.
Based on rating 2/5
For their work rate alone, these Aussies deserve respect. Their tenth album in five years is a concept album about nothing less than "the downfall of man and the death of the planet". It's as exhausting as it sounds. Split into three sections (Tale Of The Altered Beast, The Lord Of Lightning Vs ….
Opinion: Excellent
Picture yourself on a boat on a river. It's leaking. The spectre of Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson has just fed you some DMT. He then puts Van Der Graaf Generator on one beaten-up tape-deck, and a heady hardcore punk classic on another. The sky turns purple and begins to slowly glide towards you. You ….
Opinion: Excellent
After promising five albums in 2017, the ever fruitful King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have returned with this year's second instalment, 'Murder Of The Universe'. Split into three chapters that mix spoken word with King Gizzard's usual bonkers fusion of psychedelia and garage rock, 'Murder Of The Universe' is another ambitious effort from the Aussie outfit. Narrated by singer-songwriter Leah Senior, chapter one tells 'The Tale of the Altered Beast' through various versions of 'Altered Beast' and 'Alter Me'.
Opinion: Excellent
The first female barber of Hollywood, LYN CASTLE cut the hair of the new long-haired pop royalty (The Monkees, The Byrds etc) and was something of a star for that alone. That she also cut a solitary single for Lee Hazlewood Industries only adds to the moody-looking lady's mystique. That 7", Rose Colored Corner, on which she is backed by teenpunk band Last Friday's Fire, is excellent.
'Murder of the Universe'
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