The much awaited follow up to 2019's Infest the Rats (ITRN) nest has delivered on all the hype.
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (King Gizz) experiment across many genres which revolve around a central psychedelic rock theme. In 2019 they release ITRN, a surprise turn towards thrash metal. The response from this album left fans of their heavier music wanting more. They dropped small tastes in releases since, especially 2022's Omnium Gatherum (Gaia, Predator X) which showed some growth in the metal genre.
In PetroDragonic Apocalypse, King Gizz evolved on their previous metal sound by sticking true to the bands technical side, which can be a trap in heavy metal, but King Gizz found the sweet spot of melting riffs and the fast and technically sound drumming of Cavanagh, being a particular stand out on the album. Cavanagh's drumming gelled every moment of each song together allowing other members to explore many facets of the genre.
The heavy, face melting riffs leave you incredibly satisfied whilst also screaming for more, which is then delivered on the next track.
With the smooth transitions between songs the listener doesn't have a chance to stop listening, not that they would want to.
The themes of the album are dark and similar to those on ITRN of climate change and ecological disaster which drives home the already bleak ideals (as already described in the albums extended title 'An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation').
The approach of merging a more psychedelic sound has allowed the band to stay truer to their roots, whilst branching out, creating an album which is shifting fans from other genres over to exploring something heavier that you can really bang your head to.
It is apparent that the band really enjoyed making this album and will love playing live.
