King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are one of music’s most prolific groups! They have assembled a cult-like fanbase over the past decade, growing to where they are able to sell out some of the biggest theaters in the country instantly. One of the things that separates King Gizzard from the rest of rock music these days is how quickly they put out new music. Since the band started, they have released multiple albums a year almost every single year, including five albums in one year two separate times! The band usually releases music with a heavy psych-rock influence, but they have made albums in a million different sounds. Throughout the past decade, they have made thrash metal albums, electro-pop albums, acoustic albums, and even an album made to be a score to a made up Western movie. Over these 25 different albums, the band has become an essential rock band in the 2010s! Their discography was one that I was always drawn to, but never checked out, until now. These are many of my thoughts on all of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard albums ranked in terms of my personal enjoyment! It was a discography that I had a lot of fun going through, which I’m not 100% sure will happen with next month’s discography. For now though, I heavily recommend going through their discography and checking out some of their music!
25. Made in Timeland (2022)
This was originally supposed to be a physical exclusive album only sold at their festival, but COVID delayed that plan. Instead, it was eventually released on streaming in 2022 after the physical copies were sold online. It consists of two, fifteen minute long songs that are each a combination of a plethora of different sounding sections. It feels like a bunch of musical ideas loosely tied together through this constant ticking noise every second for 30 minutes. It probably makes for good intermission music, but not so much for casual listening.
24. Eyes Like The Sky (2013)
It was a bold choice to make their second album such a concept album. It only consists of spoken word and instrumentals that are a direct homage to many classic Western movies. It’s basically an audiobook for a self-written Western completely scored by the band. As someone who doesn’t watch Western movies and is listening to this in the winter, Eyes Like The Sky doesn’t connect with me. If it was summer in the deserts of Utah, maybe I’d feel different.
23. Quarters! (2015)
From this point on, I want to make it clear that I think everything is at least decent with some good songs at the absolute worst. Quarters! is another kind of gimmick album. It consists of four songs that are each ten minutes and ten seconds long. Due to this, some of the songs feel like they go on longer than they need to. The obvious stand out here is “The River”, which is easily one of their best extended cuts up to this point in their career. Don’t get it wrong, the rest of the album isn’t bad at all. In fact, every song on here still has moments that I think are great. The songs themselves just feel like they go on longer than they need to.
22. Gumboot Soup (2017)
This was their final of five albums in 2017, and it’s a collection of songs from the cutting room floor from the previous four albums that year. Therefore, the album does feel a bit more all over the place compared to most of their projects, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still enjoyable. We get one of the first truly metal songs in their discography with the track, “The Great Chain of Being”, but then there are also enjoyable pop-rock cuts like “I’m Sleepin’ In” and “Superposition”. Gumboot Soup is an enjoyable collection of everything they’ve done up to this point in their careers.
21. The Silver Cord (2023)
This is their newest album and their first dive into synth-pop. The guitars are completely replaced by whirling synthesizers. Before you listen to this one, it’s important to know that there are two different discs. The first disc is the album proper, and the second disc is the extended mixes of each song. The original album is a fairly standard synth-pop album, while the second one stretches each song to anywhere from ten to twenty minutes long! Personally, I think a combination of the two would’ve made for the best listening experience, but songs like “Set” and “Swan Song” are still fantastic tracks no matter which version you’re listening to. I appreciate the change of pace, even if it’s not as successful as many of their other surprises.
20. Laminated Denim (2022)
This is the sequel to Made in Timeland. Laminated Denim is actually an anagram of Made in Timeland, and this album follows the same format as the other one. Even though the formats are the same, the sonics are way different! This one is two authentic jam sections expanded to fifteen minutes each instead of a bunch of different sections being pushed together. Being this late in their career, they know how to make fifteen minute songs feel entertaining throughout the entire thing, and that’s what they do here. It’s basically just jamming for thirty minutes, so that’s why it’s not any higher than this.
19. Oddments (2014)
Oddments is an album of extra tracks that didn’t fit their first few albums, and it somehow manages to stand out among those albums too. The songs here are much slower and lighter than anything they’ve done up to this point. Sure, there is the occasional song that feels a bit too demo-ish, like on “Sleepwalker”, but overall, this doesn’t feel like a bunch of leftovers. It also manages to have their highest streamed song ever on it, “Work This Time”, which is a bit of a surprise since there’s not much special about it besides it being a great song. It’s a bunch of enjoyable odd loose ends!
18. 12 Bar Bruise (2012)
I really wish I could put this higher, but there’s just a couple duds on here that weigh it down. The debut album from King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard is a straightforward garage rock album with tons of catchy hooks and nasty guitar riffs. When the album strays away from that formula, it does get a bit iffy. But when they stay to that sound, it’s a really great debut project! I do wish they explored this sound a bit more later in their career though.
17. Float Along - Fill Your Lungs (2013)
“Head On/Pill” was their first exploration into these mammoth tracks with tons of jamming. This one starts off the album with sixteen minutes of microtonal jams that even though I enjoy, I do think it’s a bit overrated in their catalog. They’ve made better tracks in a similar style many times this past decade. The rest of the album is just fairly good psych-rock. For everything that the band has tried, this album feels fairly straightforward after that first track. “Mystery Jack” and “Pop in my Step” are two of my favorites from that part of the album.
16. Murder of the Universe (2017)
This is up there for the weirdest album in their discography, if not the weirdest. It consists of three stories about mythical creatures and their adventures. Each section has tons of spoken word, which does make it harder to take songs out of context of the album. I do think the stories get less interesting as the album goes along. The first one with the Altered Beast motif is truly fantastic though! You really have to be in a certain mood to listen to this album, but I think for the fans willing to put in the work, they may find some wondrous tales and results!
15. K.G. (2020)
This is the first half of their two-album self-titled experience. This one starts off a bit rocky, but it really finds its way in the back half of the album! Instead of sticking with just the microtonal rock sound they set out for, they bring in other sounds to help break it up. For example, they can throw in a song like “Intrasport”, which consists of a rave-ready electronic bassline that feels just as perfect for a Gorillaz track as it does for a King Gizzard one. The closer on here, “The Hungry Wolf of Fate”, shows them digging back into their hard rock and metal sounds, which as we’ll see more later, is maybe my favorite iteration of this band!
14. Polygondwanaland (2017)
Ok, don’t hate me King Gizzard-heads. I know that Polygondwanaland is one of their most well loved albums, but it just didn’t blow me away off of the first few listens. I will say though that “Crumbling Castle” is easily one of their best opening tracks in their entire discography! The almost eleven-minute song justifies every second of its runtime with every single change. Just when we got into the deeper cuts on the album, it didn’t feel like this preeminent album. Maybe that’s the point, that it shows they can be great without any gimmick, but I do think that other albums do that better. Still though, it’s a quality psych-rock album with splashes of electronic influence.
13. L.W. (2021)
The second half of their self-titled experience is a bit funkier and more well-rounded than the first half. Just listen to the first track, “If Not Now, Then When?” As soon as those keys come in, it turns into a 70s rock/funk fusion track, which immediately separates it from most of their discography. The rest of the album may not be as funky as the intro track, but it still manages to be one of the funkiest in the band’s discography. This album culminates by turning the K.G. album’s intro into an eight and a half minute long doom metal outro that is absolutely wonderful. It’s far from the most unique in their catalog, but it’s still good.
12. Changes (2022)
Changes might be one of their most underrated albums! That could be because it’s a bit calmer and simpler than a lot of their music, or the fact that it was the third album they dropped in October of 2022. A song like “Hate Dancin’” I think could be absolutely huge! The infectious grooves and chorus pair nicely with the calmer, synth-heavy verses. The rest of the album continues that same vibe. It’s like wandering into a semi-empty bar where the band is trying to appeal to both the older jazz fans and the younger rock fans and is somehow succeeding!
11. Flying Microtonal Banana (2017)
After hearing everybody talk about how “Rattlesnake” is the band’s best live song, the studio version of it left me a bit disappointed. But when we get into the rest of the album, everything else here lives up to the hype! “Open Water” is seven minutes of frantic solos and a repeating chorus. “Billabong Valley” brings back the Western motif from Eyes Like The Sky, but this time confines it to the structure of a normal song. There isn’t a lot of variety when it comes to this album, but it’s probably their best full length album that revolves around microtuning.
10. Sketches of Brunswick East (2017)
I understand why most fans aren’t big fans of this one, but this is right up my alley! On Sketches of Brunswick East, they go full jazz-fusion with a collaboration album with Mild High Club. It’s not the most provocative album in their discography, but it does it’s job nicely! The songs are catchy and filled with transcendent harmonies, while the instrumentals balance the line between background music and intricate playing really well. It’s not something to start with, but it’s a nice little album!
9. Omnium Gatherum (2022)
I would almost recommend that people start with this album when diving into their discography, even if it’s clearly not their best album. Omnium Gatherum is a double album that has a plethora of different sounds that also have full length albums dedicated to them. The obvious highlight is the eighteen minute long intro track, “The Dripping Tap”. It’s one of the best examples of King Gizz’s frantic jam tracks that is 100% worth the runtime. Besides that song, the rest of the album still has tons of highlights. “Kepler-22b” is a laid back funk single, while a song like “Gaia” is a fantastic metal banger! A song like “Evilest Genius” shows their ability to have a jam session that’s both laid back and filled with solos. The main things holding this album back is the length at 80 minutes and the rapping on a couple tracks. While the instrumentals on the hip-hop tracks are great, the rapping itself pales in comparison. No matter what songs you gravitate towards here, there is more of that sound in their discography.
8. Paper Maché Dream Balloon (2015)
Imagine if King Gizzard decided to make a Beatles album, and that’s what Paper Mache Dream Balloon sounds like! Instead of crazy psych-rock with intricate electric guitars, this album is completely acoustic. Just look at the cover art, it’s so colorful and playful. It was a very welcome change of pace, and one they pulled off gracefully! Just listen to the opener “Sense” and think that they don’t pull off this sound. The lyrics are also some of their best, especially with how they contrast with the overall feeling of the song. Another highlight is definitely “The Bitter Boogie”, especially because of how groovy it is. I challenge you to listen to this song and not want to tap your foot. Paper Maché Dream Balloon is a fantastic change of pace for the band!
7. Infest The Rats’ Nest (2019)
This was King Gizzard’s first true metal effort, and it still might be the best pure metal album they’ve put out. Heck, “Planet B” starts out this album with one of their best tracks no matter what the genre is! In fact, it’s probably one of the few tracks I would give to people to start their journey into the King Gizzard discography. The lyrics surround the environment and how we are slowly destroying the planet. The song is a reminder that there is no “Planet B”. And when it comes to the instrumental, c’mon, just listen to those thrash metal riffs and how they switch from the chorus to wild solos. The rest of the album is still pretty good as well. It just feels like them attempting to make a metal album, and less about them making a King Gizzard album that happens to be metal. Still though, the album goes hard and is a great project!
6. Fishing for Fishies (2019)
Infest The Rats’ Nest was the second album they put out in 2019, while Fishing for Fishies was the first. After taking 2018 off, they sounded reinvigorated and ready to try different sounds. This first change of sound was to try more boogie and roots rock compared to anything they’ve done before. I do love the subtle blues influence in this album as well. A song like “Boogieman Sam” feels like a Black Keys song if they kept experimenting and didn’t start making songs for car commercials. The harmonica and guitar solos that dominate the second half of the track are just as wonderful as the traditional song part during the first half. Just like Infest The Rats’ Nest though, the songs are mainly about the environment and how we’re destroying it. They also tease going full electronic with “Cyboogie”, which they later capitalized on that we’ve already covered. Overall though, this might be one of their most underrated albums!
5. I’m In Your Mind Fuzz (2014)
When it comes to early King Gizzard albums and their brand of psych-rock, I’m In Your Mind Fuzz is THE essential album! The first four songs here all flow together, some of which are just instrumentals. They each manage to feel like their own song though, especially the track “Cellophane”. It’s not the best long form jam they’ve done, but the rest of the album is above any other from this era of the band! “Am I In Heaven?” is seven minutes of bliss that includes everything from tempo changes to crazed solos. The two slow jams that make up two of the final three tracks are incredible, especially the eight minute song second one that closes out the album. This is before the band got truly wild, which is what I end up preferring, but I’m In Your Mind Fuzz is the essential KGLW album from this era.
4. Butterfly 3000 (2021)
This was the biggest surprise of their discography for me! Butterfly 3000 seems pretty hit or miss for most people, but wow this is a pretty awesome album! They go full psych-pop with this album, so I understand why people were split on it. These psychedelic electronic elements are trance inducing. While the sound of the album is different, that trance-inducing state is what ties this to their other albums. That feeling happens quite a bit in their discography, but usually with wild electric guitars, not dreamy synth arpeggios. A great track to start with here is “Interior People”. It has a killer chorus and a wonderful synth line, but there are still some extended instrumental parts that the band is known for at this point. You do have to be in a certain mood though because the album is so psychedelic and easy going compared to the rest of their discography, but getting over the weirdness is worth it!
3. Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava (2022)
All their extended jam session tracks feel like they lead up to this album! Ice Death is them fully embracing the jamming. Just to show one example, the average length of a song on here is over nine minutes! These songs all came from seven consecutive jam sessions on seven straight days, one per day. They then wrote the lyrics and assembled the songs around the jams. That extra time spent on the jams makes the album a beautiful place to get lost in! This is the type of album where you can put it on and hear something new every time. Songs like “Ice V”, “Magma”, and “Iron Lung” all have this kaleidoscopic feel to them as well. Even though I don’t take psychedelics, I can imagine laying down and feeling like you’re seeing the music revolve around you. Heck, I was listening to “Magma” and was feeling transcendent, completely sober! It’s so visual and lush. There is a clear difference between each track though, it’s not one long song. Even though I already think this is fantastic, I think it will grow on me even more with time, so I’m giving it the edge out of these few albums.
2. PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation (2023)
PetroDragonic Apocalypse is them taking the metal sounds from Infest The Rats’ Nest and changing them with their trademark Gizz style. These songs are stretched out to around seven minutes a piece, with three of them clocking in at over nine minutes in length! As usual, they do warrant the long runtime by the amount of intricate solos and sounds implemented. For example, “Flamethrower” is a fairly normal metal song for the first half, but the final four to five minutes of the song are filled with progressive electronics mashing with electric guitars to create an otherworldly experience. There are some straightforward metal tracks on here, including maybe their catchiest song in their whole discography with “Gila Monster”. “Supercell” is also an underrated track that you could play around anyone that likes hard rock. PetroDragonic Apocalypse is easily the most aggressive album the band has ever done, but as with their previous material, they are at their best with the aggressive, messy fits of rage.
1. Nonagon Infinity (2016)
Yeah yeah, I know. It’s a boring pick for number one, but this is their essential album for a reason! If you’re new to the band, this is where you NEED to start. Nonagon Infinity is nine songs that were designed to create an infinite loop meant to symbolize being at a never ending King Gizzard concert. Before we get into the positives of the album, the one negative I have is that it sounds like it was mixed and mastered inside of a potato. I’m sure it was intentional and I’m now used to it after listening to it so many times, but I still think it’s a problem. Besides that though, this is a never ending thrill ride with so many fun moments! From the first 10 seconds of the album, the band is already at full tilt and you just have to strap in for the ride. Do I have any idea what any of these songs are about, absolutely not. But what I do know is that these songs go so hard! I still think they can top this later in their career, especially because I love the jam-oriented era that they’re in right now, but I’m not sure if Nonagon Infinity will ever be topped for the most essential King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard album!
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