Hi, everyone. Workthony Outtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new King Gizzard album, Phantom Island.

Here we have the newest and 27th LP from prolific and varied Australian rockers, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. And with almost 30 studio albums of material compiled in about 15 years, King Gizzard are still finding ways to surprise fans and challenge themselves with new concepts, genre switches, and instrumental palettes. The upside to this being – after so many records, it is still exciting and interesting and intriguing for a new King Gizzard album to come out because in some ways, you never really know what you're going to get next.

But then the downside in a way, there is an intense familiarity that comes with having so many albums come out in such a relatively short amount time. The band now has this hulking discography that, at least for the purposes of this review, is difficult to sum up. I mean, maybe one day when the dust has settled, the various eras of the King Gizzard discography will become clear and hopefully more decipherable.

But for now, all I can say is that the lead up to this new album was surprisingly quiet, even if the band has been absolutely dousing fans with live recording after live recording after live recording as of late. I mean, King Gizzard did also drop an album last year, Flight b741, which was surprisingly the only studio album they dropped that year. It had a lot of tracks on it that saw the band indulging in the sounds of roots rock, boogie, southern rock as well, many of which were pulled off pretty well and had me wishing that the band had dug a bit deeper into the genres by the time the album was over or maybe just had more music to offer in 2024.

I mean, we are talking about the same band that dropped three albums in a single month back in 2022. It's not like this quick succession of releases has necessarily watered down the quality or distinctiveness of each album. I mean, Laminated Denim, I think, is actually one of the most thrilling, immersive, and jammy projects King Gizzard has put out in the last five years. The album Changes features also some of their most funky, fun, and danceable material yet. I also loved hearing King Gizzard return to metal music with a bit of a prog twist on the apocalyptic PetroDragonic Apocalypse. And while I didn't love Silver Cord, I can appreciate the record's attempts at trying to incorporate electronics into the fold.

And this new album over here is apparently being billed as King Gizzard's "orchestral album," or at least that's what I see people saying about it in just about every place I can read about it. Now, I wouldn't go into this album expecting some exploration of classical music and the like, though an album from King Gizzard along those lines strictly certainly would be interesting. But yeah, even though this record is not that, it does feature a lot of arrangements that the band brought on in collaboration with composer Chad Kelly.

I went into this album pretty excited to hear how exactly this would all play out, how these layers of instrumentation would work into King Gizzard's usual sound, if there even is a usual King Gizzard sound at this point. I mean, historically, there have been lots of rock and metal records that have really had the wind pulled out of their sails by adding in too many strings and arrangements and the like. But I think King Gizzard has made tougher musical transitions on past records. I think the band has broken expectations so many times after 27 albums that there's not really one single exception you can point to to say, Oh, yeah, that's one thing that shouldn't be on a King Gizzard album ever. I mean, I'm sure they're working on their eventual power electronics album as we speak.

But yeah, also from what I read, this record was created pretty much around the same time as b741, so there's definitely a lot of creative and musical overlap going on here. I mean, the cover art alone features what looks like the plane from the last album cover, but now crashed and engulfed in flames. And the pigs that were on the plane are in this image as well. Along with rats and gators as well as fish. The band's catalog is progressively turning into a just zoological series of reference points.

Musically, once again, it seems like the band is dealing in a lot of roots rock and Southern rock, with, of course, a prog and psych twist here and there. But now you have this added element of drama that is brought on by all of these extra woodwinds and strings and horns. This new direction and approach when it comes to instrumentation is one that I'm glad the band embraced. Even though I did enjoy this album, I have to wonder if this was the right collection of songs and album to head into this direction with.

Because sometimes the very heavy, refined layers of strings seem almost at odds with the funky and occasionally twangy rock instrumentation going on underneath, like with the track "Eternal Return". Or, as I feared, these arrangements can come across maybe a little bit tacked on, given the fact that they're book-ending a track and clashing aesthetically with some of the other instrumentation on the track. I would say this is the case for "Lonely Cosmos" a bit, especially given how the song ducks out underneath the distraction of the strings that pop up at the very end of the song.

Now, to this record's credit, I do think there are cuts on here where seemingly it all comes together in a very harmonious way. "Panpsych", for example, is loaded with these killer guitar licks, playful flute and hand drums. The band does create quite the groove on this one for sure. But I think my main issue with this track is the songwriting. I don't know what it is about this particular era of the band's career, but they're really leaning into a type of lyricism that reads more like a diatribe than a song. And while it does seem like the band really wants to dig into something conceptually with what they're getting across here, narratively.

Simultaneously, this comes at the sacrifice of lacing these tracks with actually memorable, listenable, coherent melodies. I mean, sure, I think it is cool the band has so much to say on the topics of existentialism as well as consciousness and the way they're able to continue trading off vocal duties between band members who all contribute to these ideas in their own way. Still, hearing all these meandering vocals on the track makes me miss a time when the band had a bit more pointed approach when it came to their lyricism and allowed the vocals to complement the music a little more in a way that just showcased more balance.

I also admire the track "Spasick"'s devotion to this idea of just detailing the thoughts and experiences of these astronauts. On top of that, decking this tune out with all these fantastical strings gives way to moments that are pretty Bowie-inspired. But the constant flow of information and talk-sung lyrics really prevents this track from settling into anything memorable or truly enjoyable, beyond the grandiosity of the presentation, anyway.

Now, I wouldn't say this is the case for every single track here. The opener, for example, actually does manage to dish out quite a few catchy snappy vocal lines, especially in the first leg, even while managing to work in a word like tin-tin nebula.

There's also "Deadstick", which I think is genuinely one of the catchiest and most fun songs King Lizard has ever recorded, period. The horn sections on this track are insane, and I actually would not mind hearing the band go full big time blues horn band for an entire LP. The rockin' riffs, the group vocals, the big brass layers are just all too good to deny. Honestly, this record's biggest sin is that there aren't more cuts on this thing like this one.

Meanwhile, "Aerodynamic" is a mellower number that I loved quite a bit. Some beautiful balladry comes through with a steady chord progression. Eventually, the whole thing evolves into this rock and Marshall Tucker Band-type number that actually works out very well. Thematically, this song also continues this record's focus on the idea of flying, escape, freedom.

But when it comes to the final leg of the LP, it's really only the closing track that was really truly hitting for me. Not only does this track tie up the record very well thematically, because you do have the return of these feelings of wanting to fly, of needing to fly and escape. But I also love the propulsive, krautrock-type beats on this track, which I think the strings and woodwinds tie in with very nicely, not only intensifying the groove of the track, but really providing a beauty to it that I don't think would be there otherwise.

But yeah, unfortunately, while I do think "Sea of Doubt" and "Silent Spirit" have their merits and memorable and admirable moments instrumentally, I also found these tracks to be two of the more meandering cuts on the record lyrically, which once again, even though I do admire what the band is trying to say on these tracks and what they're accomplishing instrumentally, this lyrical approach does prevent these songs from having the immediacy and the punch that they could or even should have.

While I thought Phantom Island was a pretty good one from Gizzard, to say the least, I can't help but feel like this album is a bit of lost potential as far as something more orchestral goes. I think with this LP, the band could've been a bit more straightforward with the narratives and the concept and really pared some of the lyrics down in a way to where they actually hit. I think they really could have dug further into the whole old-school '70 Southern rock thing in a way that they, I don't know, didn't quite do on b741 and almost showed that album up in a way.

When it comes to the orchestral stuff, I feel like they possibly could have saved even that idea for a record or another album cycle that was loaded with material that truly would have complimented going in that direction, that instrumental palate. For those reasons, I'm feeling a strong 6 to a light 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano, King Gizzard, forever.