L.W. (CD)

オーストラリアのサイケデリック・ロック・バンド、キング・ギザード & ザ・リザード・ウィザードの17作目!

昨年11月に『K.G.』をリリースしたばかりのKGLW、"続編"ともいえる『L.W.』!最終トラック「K.G.L.W.」は前作のオープニング・トラックに繋がる仕掛けとなっている。

While in lockdown, the dudes in King Gizzard spent their time recording songs. No shock there since thats just about all they seem to do given the prodigious output. In fact, they made enough for two albums. Delving back into their experiments with microtonal tunings and covering some of the new ground theyve explored since the release of their first excursion, 2017s Flying Microtonal Banana, K.G. was released in late 2020. While it was reliably Gizzard-y, the record didnt break much new ground and came uncomfortably close to sounding like a retread. That fact didnt bode well for the second installment culled from those lockdown sessions, but 2021s L.W. somehow succeeds in ways that K.G. didnt. Maybe its simply that the band might have saved the better songs for this record. Almost everything here sounds like they are firing on all cylinders; whether its the rambling road-trip rock of East West Link, the funky clavinet jam If Not Now, Then When?, boogie rock-adjacent Ataraxia, or 100 mph psychedelic blowout See Me, the band come across with more vigor and verve than they did on K.G. Even when they slow things down, like on the evil-sounding swamp rocker O.N.E. or the medieval metal ballad Pleura, they sound tightly wound and fierce, instead of borderline lethargic. Even the songs that sound a little more familiar than maybe they should -- Static Electricity, for one -- have enough sparking energy to carry them across the finish line in fine style. Add in the thundering, slow-motion metal blowout that ends the album (K.G.L.W.), and the result is one of the bands best, most engaging records. Its not just a follow-up to their first mildly disappointing venture, its a bracing reminder of just how thrilling King Gizzard can be at their peak. ~ Tim Sendra