King Album And The Ranking Wizard
ADHD hyperfixation took over yet again and I plowed through the ever expanding discog of one of the most prolific bands in the world right now. They'll release another album next week and this will all be for naught. Anyway, here are my thoughts on every King Gizzard full-length. |
| 23 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Eyes Like The Sky
Literally not music for the most part, and the gimmick overstays its welcome very quickly. The opener is admittedly pretty cool and could have served as a fun interlude on a different album, but to make a whole album out of this idea was an ill-advised decision to say the least. BEST TRACK: “Eyes Like The Sky” |
| 22 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Made in Timeland
SpongeBob Jellyfish Jam sounding ass BEST TRACK: idk it’s all the same bad Casio aux percussion presets |
| 21 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Oddments
This album, Gumboot Soup, and Omnium Gatherum are composed of songs originally written for other albums but later scrapped. Omnium Gatherum is great and Gumboot Soup has its moments, but almost every song on Oddments should have stayed on the cutting room floor. BEST TRACK: “Work This Time” |
| 20 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
12 Bar Bruise
The first two songs on this were really fun, the third one was okay, and then they recorded an entire live band performance through an iPhone and it was all downhill from there. BEST TRACK: “Muckraker” |
| 19 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Butterfly 3000
Gizz go full late-2000’s Pitchfork Music Festival-core and the results are pretty much what you’d expect, if you were expecting mid. BEST TRACK: “Catching Smoke” |
| 18 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Gumboot Soup
Every song on this is either mind-blowing or completely forgettable. Unfortunately, only 4 of the 11 tracks fall into the former category (“Beginner’s Luck”, “Superposition”, “The Last Oasis”, and “The Wheel”). BEST TRACK: “The Last Oasis” |
| 17 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
K.G.
A continuation of their “Experiments Into Microtonal Tuning”, but this one feels a lot less experimental and a lot more uninspired than Flying Microtonal Banana. Also, the production on this one kinda hurts my ears for some reason. BEST TRACK: “The Hungry Wolf Of Fate” |
| 16 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Fishing For Fishies
The title track reminds me of an electrified Paper Mache Dream Balloon, while “Acarine” and “Cyboogie” are more enjoyable versions of the Butterfly 3000 sound. However, most of this album is a harmonica solo (not really, but they 100% went overboard with the harmonica). BEST TRACK: “Fishing For Fishies” |
| 15 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Changes
This one takes a little bit to get going, but the middle section contains some major highlights. Inconsistency is an issue; the title track is way too long for its own good, and “No Body” sounds exactly like Hotel California. I feel like this iteration of the Gizz sound was more fleshed out on albums like Quarters, Sketches of Brunswick East, and even Laminated Denim. Still, it’s worth listening to. BEST TRACK: “Astroturf” |
| 14 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Laminated Denim
A marked improvement over the obnoxious Made In Timeland, and shares more in common with Ice Death in terms of their 2022 output. Just a fun little jam sesh with some wonderful hooks, but I can’t rank it above anything else. BEST TRACK: “Hypertension” |
| 13 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
L. W.
More consistent than K.G., but still pales in comparison to Flying Microtonal Banana. BEST TRACK: “Ataraxia” |
| 12 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Paper Mache Dream Balloon
“Sense” is easily one of the best songs they’ve ever done, and there are some other gems sprinkled throughout, but a few of these songs go absolutely nowhere. I would have loved more upright bass. BEST TRACK: “Sense” |
| 11 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Float Along. Fill Your Lungs
The opener is a top 5 Gizz song. The closer is a top 20 Gizz song. 30 Past 7 is good. The rest made no impact on me at all. BEST TRACK: “Head On/Pill” |
| 10 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Quarters
If this were called “Halves!” and only consisted of the opener and closer, it would likely be a bit higher. It’s still pretty good, but Ice Death and Sketches do this style better. BEST TRACK: “The River” |
| 9 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Murder Of The Universe
This would be, like, a 4.5 if it weren’t so consistently interrupted by a girl giving her book report. BEST TRACK: “The Lord Of Lightning” |
| 8 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Sketches of Brunswick East (w/ Mild High Club)
The fact that this only has a 3.3 average is a brotha moment. I’ve been doing homework exclusively to this album for the past few days, and it’s made a lot of my nature walks more memorable. BEST TRACK: “The Spider And Me” |
| 7 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Omnium Gatherum
Easily the best of their “we had all these extra songs laying around” albums. This would be like 3 spots higher if it weren’t for the two horrible rap songs. BEST TRACK: “The Dripping Tap” |
| 6 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
I'm In Your Mind Fuzz
Probably the best overall summation of the Gizz sound. The opening 4 tracks are iconic for a reason, but the back half boasts some live staples and gems of the discog too. BEST TRACK: “Am I In Heaven?” |
| 5 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava
King Gizzard fully morphs into a jam band and it’s actually not atrocious. This is easily one of their prettiest records. BEST TRACK: “Hell’s Itch” |
| 4 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Infest the Rats' Nest
This album took my lunch money and then held me at knifepoint and made me go to the ATM so it could clear out the rest of my bank account BEST TRACK: “Mars For The Rich” |
| 3 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Flying Microtonal Banana
Easily their best experiment with microtonal tuning, because the songs are experimental outside of that as well. Their other microtonal albums just have traditional Gizz fare with microtonal guitars, but songs like “Melting” or “Billabong Valley” genuinely sounded like nothing they had done before. BEST TRACK: “Billabong Valley” |
| 2 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Polygondwanaland
Easily the best drumming on any King Gizzard album, some of their best lyrics, and their best epic in the monumental “Crumbling Castle”. BEST TRACK: “Crumbling Castle” |
| 1 |  | King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
Nonagon Infinity
Non-stop thrills, mind-blowing modulations, brief forays into microtonality, a fun gimmick, and some of the most memorable songs of the entire discography; Nonagon Infinity has it all. BEST TRACK: “Robot Stop” |
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