King Gizzard Return to Metal on 'PetroDragonic Apocalypse'

PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation is out today, June 16, 2023, on King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s own KGLW label.

It is the Australian band’s 24th studio album, issued as a double LP, and it runs eight tracks: “Motor Spirit,” “Supercell,” “Converge,” “Witchcraft,” “Gila Monster,” “Dragon,” “Flamethrower” and “Dawn of Eternal Night,” the last of those a vinyl exclusive featuring Leah Senior.

Two long pieces anchor it

“Dawn of Eternal Night” runs about 14 minutes and “Dragon” about 9 minutes 45 seconds, published track times varying slightly by source. They are the two longest pieces on the album.

Of the rest, “Flamethrower” runs 9:21, “Motor Spirit” 8:33 and “Converge” 6:16.

Written a song a day, then assembled backwards

The band last worked in this territory on 2019’s Infest the Rats’ Nest.

“When we made Rats’ Nest, it felt experimental,” frontman Stu Mackenzie said in a press release. “It’s just so much fun to play that music, and those songs work so well when we play them live. So we always had it in our minds to make another metal record.”

Rather than repeat the method, the band went into the practice room without riffs or ideas prepared and wrote a song a day. Mackenzie sketched the story first and split it into seven song titles, and the music followed.

“We wanted to start the story in the real world, and then send it to hell,” Mackenzie said. “It’s about humankind and planet Earth, but it’s also about witches and dragons.”

A single in May with a video game for a video

The album was previewed on May 16, 2023 by lead single “Gila Monster,” which arrived with a video directed by SPOD.

“I mixed 3D animation, modeling and live footage in a 3D video game program to create this marvelous voyage of man and beast,” SPOD said of the clip.

Who made it

Stu Mackenzie and Joey Walker recorded and mixed the album. Nico Wilson was recording engineer and Joe Carra mastered it. Jason Galea handled artwork, layout and photography.

The personnel credits list Mackenzie on guitar, bass, vocals and synthesizer, Ambrose Kenny-Smith on vocals and synthesizer, Walker on guitar, bass, vocals and synthesizer, Michael Cavanagh on drums, percussion and electronic drum kit, Cook Craig on bass, vocals and synthesizer, and Lucas Harwood on synthesizer.

Released mid-residency

The album lands in the middle of the band’s North American Residency Tour, 13 concerts staged on only five stages. It opened June 1 with three nights at The Caverns in Grundy County, Tennessee, moved to three shows across two days at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on June 7 and 8, then three nights at The Salt Shed in Chicago from June 11 to 13.

June 16, release day, is the first of three consecutive nights at Carnation Farms in Carnation, Washington. The run closes June 21 with a three-hour marathon set at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.

The band’s previous album, Changes, came out in October 2022, weeks after the pair of records Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava and Laminated Denim. Another seven-track concept album is already underway.

Sharing a release date

King Gizzard were not alone on the date. Gov’t Mule released Peace… Like A River on June 16, 2023 as well, a 12-song studio record on Fantasy Records.

Sources: King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, KGLW.net, Jambands.com, Consequence, Consequence.

Photo: Vladimir (philadelphia_live), CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.