What Happens When a Coven of Witches Summon a Gas-Guzzling Dragon that Destroys the Entire World?
Those who know me know I am obsessed with music. Digging for new music, finding bands in moderately obscure genres from around the globe, and building massive playlists that span well over 24-hours make up only the tip of the iceberg. My friends are also keenly aware that I love to regale them with tales of my latest music finds. I’ve spent hours serenading them with various stories of bands’ histories, their lyrics and writing processes, the gear they use on particular songs and albums, and how those choices evolve with the artists’ sounds. I have built up an encyclopedic knowledge of random band facts from a young age and am always ready to fire off that information at a moment’s notice. To me, sharing new music with someone is one of the greatest, most connecting, modern human experiences we have.
Not everyone, however, is as excited to learn Josh Homme used an Ampeg bass amp for some of his guitar tracks on Queens of the Stone Age’s seminal album Songs for the Deaf as I am. It is for those of you who enjoy these deep dives, or simply welcome opportunities to get turned on to new music that I bring to you Shop Tunes – a monthly series in which I share the music I currently have playing on repeat in the shop (and at the desk, while doing chores, in the car….). Each month I’ll use this space to explore the songs, albums, and artists that are currently grabbing my attention and that I believe are worthy of your attention as well. The format will vary. Some months I’ll be digging deep into a specific album or taking joy rides through a band’s entire discography, while other months I’ll simply highlight a number of songs or artists who have my headphones working 24/7. My hope is to not just share the music that I love, but to help expand others’ musical horizons whenever I can. And of course, my inbox (collin@stephenswerks.com) is always open to receiving music suggestions from readers.
With that, let's dive in!
If you haven’t heard of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, you have no idea what you’re missing. Not only do they have arguably the best band name of all time, but this 6-piece outfit (formerly a 7-piece with TWO DRUMMERS) pumps out records at a dizzying rate while covering a range of genres that only a band named Ween could match. But unlike Ween, King Gizz devotes each entire album to a genre, rather than multiple genres in one album.
Birthed from the majestic waters of Oceana, King Gizz was formed in Melbourne in 2010 and greeted the world with 12 Bar Bruise, their first formal release in 2012. The psychedelic-inspired garage rock album was barely an inkling of what King Gizz would come to offer. The next five years would go on to see 13 studio albums produced, including an enormous FIVE records in 2017 alone. Not only would the band become prolific almost immediately, but they would begin their genre experimentation with just their second album, releasing a narrated spaghetti western record in 2013. Those first couple of years would also see the band dive into acoustic folk, jazz, psychedelia, dream pop, and more, with the band having continued to meld, bend, and explore new genres with each new release. As of this writing, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released a staggering 24 studio albums, 15 live albums, and numerous compilations and Eps, all in just a 13-year existence!
This summer, King Gizzard released their latest offering, PetroDragonic Apocalypse: or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Eternal Damnation, (henceforth Petro-, because even the acronym for that ridiculously expansive title is 13 letters…), and I have rarely been able to turn it off while doing work of any form.
Building on the back of 2019’s Infest the Rat’s Nest, Petro- is King Gizz’s second dive into the metal genre, occasionally leaving the blistering pace of Rat’s Nest behind at times for a trudge into sludgy waters, filled with heavy, galloping guitar riffs, lots of distorted vocals, surprisingly groovy hooks, and all the magic that the band brings with it in every release. That magic doesn’t just stop with the music though. Stu, Ambrose, and the rest of the gang tie these tracks together as a full concept album, weaving together lyrical themes of climate chaos and destruction with more fantastical, occultist elements of “witches and dragons and shit,” as Stu Mackenzie told Spin magazine(1).
Petro- kicks off with the track “Motor Spirit”, the first of three mammoth songs clocking in at over 8 minutes long. Michael Cavanagh’s monstrous drums mixed with ripping guitars set the tone for a gnarly, diesel-and-dust-fueled album, while Stu sets the stage for the album’s concept. Likening modern man’s motor vehicle obsession to religion – the “Motor Spirit” – the forces shepherding the coming apocalypse become clear. Driven by the greed of those who derive power and wealth from the fossil fuel industry, the fanatical religion of the Motor Spirit bleeds the earth dry, poisoning it beyond repair for future generations. The track closes with Stu introducing the occultist element over a minute of pummeling drums, preparing the listener for the crazy turns ahead.
“Supercell” carries the listener into a wild world of increasingly dangerous storms brought about by the results of fossil fuel exploitation while the guitars and Cav’s drums rip through with the same tenacity as a supercell. The chorus features arguably my favorite gang-vocals of any metal song ever, as the call and return of the word Supercell echoes in space like the screaming winds of an EF5 tornado. As this destruction occurs, the lyrics continue to weave religion through the storyline in a number of ways. Making some deep references to the Christian and Hebrew bibles, Stu impresses the reality of the Motor Spirit upon the listener, as it not only usurps the guidance of established religions, but rather completely smothering everything humans hold dear.
“Converge” follows up the chaotic storms of “Supercell” by immediately kicking the listener’s teeth in with half a minute of blistering guitars and drums before diving into a galloping riff, giving one the feeling of riding the Pale Horse of Death, witnessing the destruction that has been cast over the land. This pale horse, however, seems to be notearth-bound, but rather earth-orbiting. The lyrics set the singer in the ISS, far above the ground, witnessing the supercells’ carnage from space as they converge into one massive storm, swallowing up the earth and leaving behind a trail of destruction beyond words.
“Witchcraft” carries the album on in the most seamless way yet, with the vocals picking up immediately from the final note of “Converge”. Keen ears will also pick up that the main guitar riff was also featured after each chorus on the album’s opening track (one of my favorite King Gizz tricks on their concept albums). The primary riff in this song harkens back to earlier King Gizzard albums such as Nonagon Infinity more than any other track on the album, though heavy distorted riffs and Stu’s gravelly vocals still root this song in metal among its album-mates. Throughout the song, we are regaled with a tale of witches performing a ritual to save the earth from it’s petro-induced doom, only for the ritual to be ruined by ‘Beowulf’, with the disruption resulting in the creation of a new evil king… the Gila Monster.
The opening single and shortest track on the album, “Gila Monster” rolls off “Witchcraft” much like “Witchcraft” rolled off “Converge”, but with an incredibly heavy guitar riff. This heaviness remains throughout the entire song, while Ambrose embodies the voice of the Gila Monster. After being imbued with magic the monster turns on its wiccan creators, eating them with bloodlust and absorbing their magic as it grows larger and more powerful, sprouting wings in the process of evolving into an enormous dragon.
As the Gila Monster increases from its natural size to that of a dragon, so too does the instrumentation’s intensity grow as the album transitions to “Dragon”. In another thrasher, the dragon continues to grow, becoming the ultimate bringer of death and destruction on the planet, so much so that it is capable of controlling the supercell by the end of the song. With its new power, the dragon, unleashed by those seeking a miracle fix to the collapsing world through magic, becomes the true bringer of the apocalypse.
In “Flamethrower” the dragon unleashed upon the world finally consumes all the world has to offer, turning its eye to the last of earth’s living creatures out in space on the ISS, before moving to its final chapter, “the last enemy to be destroyed is death.” This plays out over four and a half minutes of in-your-face heavy metal, ensuring that the listener does not miss the world-ending nature of the calamity unfolding, before giving way to a trippy, at times synthy outro, that’s capped off with a refrain of “motor spirit,” reminding the listener just what gave way to the end of humanity and the earth as we know it.
PetroDragonic Apocalypse is in many ways an absolute monster of an album, despite clocking in at just under 50 minutes long and features only seven tracks. The juxtaposition of the speed of those tracks against the weight of the lyrics’ metaphors create a listening experience that both flies by and also makes the lyric-focused listener wonder how on earth that took less than an hour. Those metaphors are pretty clear after a single read-through of the album’s lyrics – our modern world has been created by and is now being ruined by hyper-industrialization. Driven by fossil fuels, this creates a society that treats business and industrialization on a magnitude of importance higher than that of religion. The fossil fuel industry has created massive problems on our planet, and any attempts at quick fixes without actually halting those industries will just result in the beast growing beyond humanity’s control, ultimately ending our existence as a species.
Of course, as a major Gizz fan, I’d be remiss to not mention that these lyrics can also be taken literally. Yes, there are many metaphors to the world we live in. However, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard also exist in what fans have dubbed (and the band has embraced) the Gizzverse. Not only are all of the band’s albums concept albums, but they are also part of their entire concept discography. All of these albums are tied together, and many even feature guitar riffs and lyrics copied directly from other albums. Of course, their albums do not run in a chronological order, rather weaving in and out, over and under one another, creating a chaotic puzzle that is among hardcore Gizz fans’ favorite topics of discussion. PetroDragonic Apocalypse makes a number of lyrical nods back to earlier efforts, such as Murder of the Universe, Polygondwanaland, and Nonagon Infinity, all three of which are heavily intertwined with each other lyrically and musically. If you enjoy deep dives and rabbit holes, I highly recommend riding the psychedelic slide into the Gizzverse.
Listen to PetroDragonic Apocalypse on Spotify
Give me a follow on Spotify to see what I’m listening to and listen to some of my favorite playlists
Email me some music recommendations – maybe yours will get featured next month!
1. https://www.spin.com/2023/05/king-gizzard-gila-monster-video/