King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard “PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation” Album Review

PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

• Genre: Alternative
• Date: 16 Jun, 2023
• Content: explicit
• Region: NGA
• Track(s): 7
• ℗ 2023 KGLW

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, an Australian psych-rock band, is one of the most active ones today. The trio has put out over 20 studio albums, 15 live albums, and more than 50 singles since their 2010 debut. They recently announced the release of their next full-length album, which is expected to be their thrashiest and most metal in quite some time. It was given the epically metal title Petrodragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, with two equally heavy lead singles, “Gila Monster” and “Dragon.” It was scheduled for release on June 16.

PetroDragonic Apocalypse is a follow-up to 2019’s Infest the Rats Nest and shares a similar theme and sound. This time, the album’s theme is centered on people who have chosen to utilize witchcraft (in this case over-industrilization etc) as a solution rather than pay attention to the environmental disasters that are currently taking place. They should instead let out a dragon that ends the world. A theme that is appropriate given our current environmental situation. The metal sound fits this idea wonderfully; you need a music that enhances rather than detracts from a story with such dire ramifications.

Album Art

The Album Art features the eerie animated image of the Dragon and a burning world. The ironic contrast sees the sky thick with smoke and burning bright yellow-and-red as a result of the flames that burns into the earth’s sky by industrialization and the lot, wrecking havoc on the environment while even the dragon looks on. Key detail -No human can be seen in sight. indeed, this album’s main message of saving the environment cannot be depicted any better.

Tracks And Features

Even though PetroDragonic Apocalypse only includes seven songs, this is to its advantage. The band’s creativity, creation, and development have improved as seen by the fact that several songs are even very close to the ten-minute threshold. From the first to the last song, it’s easy to hear how their later albums have improved. Although the metal sound isn’t very fresh, the sound of the guitar riffs completely overpowers you right away.

PetroDragonic Apocalypse is pure fantasy fun, unlike Rats’ Nest, which fretted about ominous concerns about unstoppable microbes, the Martian space race, and the planet really on fire. The convoluted plot of the song begins on Earth with the song “Motor Spirit,” in which Mackenzie growls with Hetfield-like flare about how humanity’s glorification of oil and love for it have turned the world into a burning wasteland cloaked in diesel smoke, which is eerily similar to our soon-to-be reality. Both sonically and lyrically, metal warps and crunches, leaving the song feeling like a heavy metal “Warm Leatherette,” with longing for gasoline as “sweet juice on my lips.” Simply because of how erratic the voices are, “Motor Spirit” is a worthy album start. While it’s difficult to distinguish which band member sings what portion, all five members of the group contribute vocals to the song, and it works in a way that very few bands manage to pull off with just two musicians. In addition, the guitar shines brightly throughout the song. The hard-hitting riffs prevent listeners from even considering turning off for a split second.

Cavanagh’s rototoms, which first appeared on the lengthy live drum solo of “Gaia,” finally make their way into a studio recording around halfway through this fast-paced ride, becoming a staple and album highlight. Unquestionably, Cavanagh is the King Gizzard musician whose technical prowess is most evident on PetroDragonic Apocalypse. It wouldn’t be a stretch to call him one of the best rock drummers of the present day after hearing the lightning-quick fill that begins “Converge,” the piercing cymbal crashes of “Witchcraft,” or one of the numerous epic solos that come on practically every song.

From here, “Supercell” and “Converge” practically send things into space and takes the listener off the highway in a whirlwind tornado. What follows rides high and wild off the album’s huffed ethanol, where “Motor Spirit” established the album’s violent tone and made hints to its later plot points. “Supercell” has guitars that chug with a ruthless immediacy as tornadoes rip over the land, “murdering everybody, careless of theology.” As it becomes apparent that “God’s dead on barren corn fields,” unable to save humanity from Old Testament-type disaster, biblical motifs repeatedly surface throughout the record, paradoxically adding a Satanic undertone.

In “Converge,” storms are depicted as “hungry crawling fat grey rat snakes,” heralding the coming reptilian apocalypse as humans observe the devastation from space. The song itself “snakes and bends” through countless hooks as fire squad-fast guitars slow into ugly riffs before matching a vocal line reminiscent of Black Sabbath. The song then picks back up as Mackenzie and multi-instrumentalist Ambrose Kenny-Smith trade verses at breakneck speed. What could be better than a metal tune with a fatal breakdown? As Mackenzie yells, “conveeeeerge!” you can just virtually see the Wall of Death mosh pit approaching in that mental picture.

In King Gizzard’s most archaic song to date, the occultists of Earth turn to “Witchcraft” in a last-ditch effort to redeem humanity after being abandoned by God and having their “Bible burned with aerosol.” While lunar cycles change and a black cat named Beowulf breaks the enchantment, turning the witches’ pet “Gila Monster” into a murderous, “Biblical beast of ancient lore,” Mackenzie, Walker, and Cook Craig’s guitars swirl in technical complexity around Lucas Harwood’s rumbly bass. With Kenny-Smith’s comically frightening growl as the reptile, Walker’s lightning-conjuring solos, and the gang vocal chants of “gila! gila!” “Gila Monster” is a classic example of a band taking everything but themselves seriously.

Even though it’s the album’s concluding tune, “Dragon” is every bit as amazing as the previous songs. The song’s lyrics alone make you feel as though you’re under a spell while you listen to it; they sound like they might have come straight out of a Dungeons and Dragons adventure.The gila monster has evolved into a “Dragon” who is wreaking havoc on Earth and ushering in the apocalypse after quenching his bloodlust on the witches, a kaleidoscopic ’90s nu-metal riff leading into the first mention of the album’s primary title. What follows is as gloomy, slimy, and stomach-churning as tar. As Mackenzie’s hushed screams eventually ascend to proclaim, “dragon descends, welcome to hell,” before some genuinely horrific Latin incantations from Walker, the song’s early ferocity gradually becomes more basic.

The album’s closing track, “Flamethrower,” has more of a synth feel added to it. Similar to the previous song, the lyrics compel you pay close attention and urge you to visualize the dragon itself razing the earth to the ground. “Flamethrower” keeps up the powerful prog before fluidly transitioning to a drum machine and liquid synth that are equally as intense as what came before. By incorporating some Hawkwind into Mötörhead, a yin to its yang, stronger on electronics, record that has already been teased appears to be connected.

Tracklist

NO	TITLE	TIME
1	Motor Spirit	8:32
2	Supercell	5:05
3	Converge	6:16
4	Witchcraft	5:03
5	Gila Monster	4:35
6	Dragon	9:44
7	Flamethrower	9:21

Album Summary

A black record in every sense, King Gizzard’s PetroDragonic Apocalypse is heavy, atmospheric, magical, and hilarious. It is mischievous with depth. In contrast to Rats’ Nest, which blasted forward with immediate directness, it sees the band moving toward proggier elements of metal with various unexpected detours. The 24th album by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, PetroDragonic Apocalypse, is really good. It’s a well-known, stronger sound that some questioned the band’s ability to adopt again anytime soon, but it was clearly missed. This is the perfect summer soundtrack if you enjoy metal.

Its individual songs function just as effectively on their own as they do as a whole, just like all excellent concept albums. King Gizzard have mastered the art of making music that is as heavy thematically as it is sonically.