Album Notes - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - The Silver Cord

Sorry jako to anyone reading who isn't a fan of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. But at this point, you know I am. And after going an entire four months without releasing a new album (ignoring two sets of demos and a three-night concert stand) since June's PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, the Aussies return with their 25th studio effort.

While my prediction that PetroDragonic Apocalypse would segue into The Silver Cord was incorrect, the records overlap in numerous ways, including lyrical and melodic themes interwoven across the two, despite the former serving as a thrash metal outlet while the latter is the boys fully indulging in their Giorgio Moroder and Kraftwerk fandom. Not only did the Gizz make an electronic/synth album, but they actually made two versions of it. There's the "standard" LP, where track lengths range from 3 to 5 minutes, and the "extended" variety that features the same tunes stretched out to over ten minutes each, including the opening "Theia" clocking in at nearly 21.  

Despite my noted jamband past, I initially listened to the standard tracks to hear the songs first, before moving on to their explorations in the extended edition. And...I honestly don't know if I will ever listen to the short form again. Perhaps because of my jamband past, exemplified by my wish that all Disco Biscuits shows could be three sets, I'll double down on these Aussies throwing down their electro grooves.

While The Silver Cord was acknowledged by the band as a yin to the yang of PetroDragonic Apocalypse, it's most closely in line muscially with 2021's Butterfly 3000. But even that's a stretch. If Butterfly is bubbly dream pop, The Silver Cord wants to rage. As with everything in their catalog, it won't be for everyone, but it will be for plenty.