The Best Psychedelic Rock Albums of 2024
- Jason LeValley and the Psychedelic Scene Staff
Flight b741 by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Album Review
Flight b741 by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Album Review
Flight b741 is the brand-new studio album by Australian psych band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, released today on p(doom) Records. Their twenty-sixth studio release since their 2012 debut, it marks a return to form for the prolific group after their excursions into metal and EDM last year. Having graciously received an advance press copy of this release, for this article this reviewer will feign ignorance as to the band’s identity, which is not immediately discernible at the album’s onset.
It begins on a grand note with gallant power chord triplets to kick-start the album with “Mirage City.” The group settles into a jovial shuffle that recalls southern Americana, complete with warm harmonies and pedal steel guitar. The singer ponders on how he “can’t wait to leave this nothing behind,” spurring wonder why I’ve never before heard this 1970s classic rock album until now. After a false ending, distorted guitar and fluttery harmonica lead to the return of the song’s intro along with acerbic vocals.
The album’s second song “Antarctica” is another mid-tempo rocker that is an instant classic. The protagonist takes the form of a polar bear that can’t stand the heat, yearning for the glacial south pole. “I know this ain’t gonna go well, we got a snowball’s chance in hell,” the group sings of impending doom on the catchy sing-along chorus, a new favorite that has a good chance of receiving radio play.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard by Jason Galea
“Raw Feel” cruises with a coarse, fuzzy electric guitar and double-tap drumming. Beyond the KISS-like refrain which mulls the sensation of sunlight on the skin, the first hints identifying the band appear in the form of vocalist/guitarist Stu Mackenzie’s recognizable “woooo” and the bridge’s odd time signature. “Raw Feel” is one of the few tracks to clearly reveal the enigmatic group’s capricious identity as the unpredictable Aussie band King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard.
The band plays it straight while returning to a rock format for the first time in several years, favoring concise compositions and standard rhythms over their math-heavy time signatures that required an abacus to follow along.
The foot-stomping “Field of Vision” evokes early 70s British rock by T. Rex and David Bowie. Not to be confused with the album’s title track, the group trills “b741” to ring in “Hog Calling Contest” and repeatedly throughout the swine-filled tune, highlighted by a frenetic guitar hook that dodges around the fretboard faster than a greased pig in a pen.
“Le Risque” features drummer Michael “Cav” Cavanaugh on lead vocals for the first time in the Gizz’s studio history. Keeping with the album’s 1970s rock theme while invoking Evil Knievel, the audacious song’s soaring theme and arrangement summon the sounds of Aerosmith and ZZ Top.
Flight b741 by King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
The album’s title track “Flight b741” starts with a distorted guitar that sounds impeccably like Keith Richards, along with lively harmonica. “There’s a hundred million steps between here and where I want to be, until I take the journey there’s no other place I think I’d rather be,” the band muses introspectively. The ethereal Beatlesque bridge provides the release’s most psychedelic moment, complete with Mellotron by organist Cook Craig and layered harmonies.
“Sad Pilot” continues uninterrupted with Cav’s percussive drum rolls and a warm southern rock guitar riff, as the author seeks to leave his worries behind at the jet bridge before taking flight. Lucas Harwood’s ostinato piano ushers in “Rats in the Sky” without pause, punctuated by Ambrose Kenny-Smith and company’s staccato vocals while continuing the theme of airborne animals.
The end result is an album that is contradistinct and antithetic to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s typically disparate and divergent style by embracing the sounds of more conventional boilerplate rock music.
“Daily Blues” concludes this release as well as the unbroken four-song medley that dominates the LP’s B-side starting with the title track. Muddy guitar and amplified harmonica ring in this ode to bacchanalia, with the band gleefully singing about “getting fucked up daily.” The group alternates between a driving rhythm and a patient groove while delving into their own debauchery. It’s not the album’s strongest track, however it is by far the longest clocking in well over seven minutes, exploring various related themes along the way.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard by Jason Galea
Flight b741 is a lively, vivacious album that is the Australian band’s most accessible release to date for rock music aficionados. The band plays it straight while returning to a rock format for the first time in several years, favoring concise compositions and standard rhythms over their math-heavy time signatures that required an abacus to follow along. Guitarists Mackenzie and Joey Walker opt for traditional power chords while omitting their trademark microtonal, diminished and often demented chords. Vocally, the album stands apart from the Gizz’s previous releases by featuring each member of the sextet on lead vocals, with Mackenzie in more of a supporting role than frontman.
The end result is an album that is contradistinct and antithetic to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s typically disparate and divergent style by embracing the sounds of more conventional boilerplate rock music. In some ways it marks a musical step backwards for the highly ambitious group that has undertaken countless gambles in recent years. Since the pandemic, the band has explored various frontiers including metal (PetroDragonic Apocalypse), electronic dance music (The Silver Cord), rap (Changes), and every musical mode (Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava).
Having expanded their horizons in every conceivable direction, the Gizz seem elated to get back to playing pure rock-n-roll, taking fewer risks on Flight b741 beyond the lead vocal variations. Their customary atypical song structures remain, to the album’s benefit, with some songs including two or three distinct refrains instead of repeating the same chorus. However the group’s decision to remain within traditional rock boundaries on this release results in a more attainable album that could result in increased radio airplay, particularly on its stellar A-side.
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
While King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard continue their supreme ascendancy as this decade’s pre-eminent psych band, it’s hard to call this LP a psych rock album because there are so few overtly psychedelic moments. That being said, Flight b741 is the finest rock album I’ve heard in years, and it currently gets my vote for Best Rock Album of 2024.
Flight b741 is available now on p(doom) Records’ website and the band’s website.
– Bill Kurzenberger
Related links:
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Album Review
L.W. by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Album Review
Concert Review: King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard at KEMBA Live, Columbus, Ohio on May 21, 2022
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