SOUNDTRACK: KING GIZZARD AND THE LIZARD WIZARD-Infest the Rat’s Nest (2019).
One of the (many) fascinating things about King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard is that if you don’t like something they’ve done, you need to just wait a little bit and they’ll do something else. They released five albums of very different styles of music in 2017.
Then in 2019 they released Fishin for Fishies, a kind of blues and roots album. They followed that four months later with this album, a tribute of sorts to some of the heaviest, thrashiest heavy metal from the 1980s.
It deals with climate change (Australia bore the brunt of a lot of climate abuse that year), destruction of the environment and human resettlement to other planets.
The album is a clear tribute to thrash pioneers, with double bass drums, brutally fast guitars, killer piercing riffs and growling vocals–it’s almost hard to tell it’s singer Stu singing these songs.
Unlike other albums, there’s not a ton of diversity in these songs. And that’s by design. The songs are short and heavy. “Planet B” has wailing guitars, some cool basslines and a ton of double bass drum. “Mars for the Rich” features a middle bass “solo” (same note but only bass and drums) before raw guitars return.
“Organ Farmer” has a kind of false start with a slow drum intro before the song takes off into pure heaviness with screaming guitar solos and licks. “Super Bug” is one of the most growly songs with a middle section that’s just voice and drum. Most of the songs are three minutes, but this one jams out to almost 7 and feels like an old school Black Sabbath song with loping bass and a slow thoughtful guitar solo.
“Venusian 1” is a heavy song with pummeling blasts of guitar and drums and a ripping guitar riff. “Perihelion” has a catchy chorus and then a middle part that sounds nothing like the rest of the album. “Venusian 2” is a big chugger of a song with some great riffage. It’s just under 3 minutes of heavy speed metal.
“Self-Immolate” sounds like a classic Slayer riff and even has some pretty wild drumming a la Dave Lombardo.
The album ends 9at just over 35 minutes) with “Hell,” which chugs along with double bass drums. After an extended feedback moment the song plays a microtonal version of itself and then pummels to the finale which ends with the album title lyric.
I encourage anyone to checkout any of KGATLW’s albums because there’s bound to be something you like. but this album is singular of purpose and if you don’t like classic thrash metal, it’s not for you. Surprisingly, you hate to wait over a year for their next album K.G., which sounds absolutely nothing like this one.
[READ: April 25, 2021] “Good-Looking”
The narrator’s dad was a fit 38 year-old man who worked at the gym. He didn’t wear a wedding ring because he said it was good for business–he was encouraged to flirt with the customers.
Most of the gym’s members were women and women were more likely to bring friends.
Men were the worst customers. They did free classes, came alone, and didn’t clean the equipment when they were done.
The narrator’s mom didn’t like that his dad didn’t wear a wedding ring. And she had reason to be concerned. The two of them met when he was married to someone else. She was 17 at the time. He had married his high school sweetheart and gotten her pregnant when she was 17. He divorced this first woman and was now married a new 17 year old–he got older, they seemed to stay the same age.
It seemed that every ten years he got bored. That’s why his mother was concerned, they’d had three kids over the last ten years.
The story zooms in on a woman that his dad took a interest in–a professor at the local university. She came to the gym a lot and he paid attention to her.
Now, I love Dad and I hate to say this, but no way would a man like him ever get to meet a smart woman like her outside o the gym.
One day after class she asked him out. It was courageous of her and made the other women jealous.
He didn’t drink so she asked him for coffee. He agreed. When it was time to meet he took the narrator along.
She seemed surprised and confused. He then proceeded to talk a lot about his wife and how jealous she gets.
But he also flirted the whole time–talking about books to make himself seem smarter. The narrator even feels a little bad for him.
He talked about how much he liked being in love. She finally asked him how he knew love would happen again.
This question came from a woman who believed in magic and romance, in second chances. Dad, the brute that he was, said, “That’s life,” and shrugged, like love was a thing that could happen to you over and over again.
As they left the cafe, the narrator looked back at the woman. He watched her wipe something from her face before she turned and walked away. He never saw he again but he fell in love with her that night.
His dad started wearing his wedding ring after that night.
