King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023) Review
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is one of the most prolific bands in the world with their newest release, PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation being their 24th studio album since their debut in 2012. King Gizzard currently consists of six members who all perform various parts and instruments throughout their discography. Usually with king gizzard quality stays relatively high for a band with such extensive output in such a short time.
PetroDragonic Apocalypse is primarily a metal album, and it is not King Gizzard’s first time adapting to the genre. Infest the Rats’ Nest from 2019 is the first full metal project by King Gizzard and one of my favorite projects, so I was excited to see them return to that sound.
The album opens with “Motor Spirit” and it's okay. The song starts with a quick solo that reminds me way too much of the Power Rangers or anime boss fight music. It sounds so messy at parts, the vocals are so buried, and it drags on for a bit too long (which I would find to be the case for most of the songs on this album.) The little bridge mid-way through where they get a bit psychedelic and sing “soon dividing non-believers” part is my favorite part of the song.
The second song on the album is “Supercell” and it's pretty great, it reminds me of Road Train off Nonagon Infinity. The guitars on this one really shine and there are interesting stylistic changes throughout it to keep this one from feeling too long.
I’m not much of a fan of “Converge.” It sounds like it could’ve been a cut track from Infest the Rats' Nest since better songs on that album do what this is trying to do. I do enjoy it when the groove changes but other than that I can do without this one. You can also feel this one's length though and it's just too long and doesn’t do a great job of keeping my attention because too much of it sounds like the first two songs we heard.
“Witchcraft” is when I realized they have a plan and formula for this album and they are sticking to it. This is also the case for a few King Gizzard albums, which is amazing when you like what inspiration and genre they are tackling, but can be a drag if you're not into it. I like the instrumental parts of this song midway through since it sounds much more like “classic” King Gizzard than anything else on the album.
“Gila Monster” is probably the song I like the most on the album. This reminds me of lots of the best parts of Infest the Rats’ Nest and how are you not gonna love a song with Ambrose taking on some of the vocals? The outro is great one of my favorite parts of the album.
“Dragon” starts with a heavily prog-rock-sounding intro. I hear much more anime final boss music than the world is ending metal and it consistently drags me out of it. There are parts of this song I like but it is way too long. If I ever think to myself “damn this song is still going on?” then that’s not a good sign and that happens every time I listen to this song. Usually, King Gizzard’s longer songs are staples of their discography but this one does not do it for me at all.
The final song on the album is “Flamethrower” and the second half of this song is insanely better than the first half. The first half isn’t bad by any means, but the second half gets into something I am way more into. This one will probably grow on me the most because some great moments are scattered throughout the entire song. This one is about as long as “Dragon” but does a far better job of earning its length. Love that it ends with a lighter motor spirit chant since King Gizzard always does a good job of tying their projects up nicely.
I have some gripes about this album more so than a usual new King Gizzard album. The vocals throughout give me more parody vibes than actual good metal vocals. Most choruses on the album are just them chanting the title in the same way every time and I could’ve used more variety. The production and sound palette are basically the same for every song, and King Gizzard’s lofi stuff is usually charming and great but it does not work for me on this album. The songs are long on this album and I think they would’ve benefited by cutting some of the fat off.
The story of the album and lyrics are very much King Gizzard. There are lots of similar things Stu Mackenzie likes to write about like humanity sucks and the world is ending type lyrics. I think I enjoy the story aspect of this album more than the songs themselves. I haven’t mentioned how spectacular Cav’s drumming is on this album. If there’s one Most Valuable Player award for this album it goes to Cav.
Ultimately PetroDragonic Apocalypse is nowhere close to my top King Gizzard albums, and I wish they got a little more weird with this one sort of how they did on “Flamethrower.” I prefer Infest the Rats Nest to this album and maybe I shouldn’t have expected part two of that album because that’s not really what this is. What’s great about King Gizzard is that they constantly release music and try new things there’s already so much great work to listen to and much more to look forward to especially when you consider some great side projects like The Murlocs. I can see myself enjoying a few of these songs a little more after more plays but all in all the project as a whole didn’t wow me, it's kind of a dud by King Gizzard’s standard in my eyes.
4/10- Below Average