King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Infest The Rats’ Nest
The planet is in trouble. Dire trouble. But fear not: Melbourne seven-piece King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard return to save us all, this time armed only with blast beats, an arsenal of well-oiled guitars that are locked and loaded, and a desire to melt faces clean off.
Their fifteenth studio album, Infest The Rats’ Nest, is by far The Gizz’s hardest and heaviest album to date. How metal is it? Very Metal. Maybe even more.
Released just six months after the uplifting blues-rock boogie and deep electro explorations of Fishing For Fishes and drawing on the mid/late 1980s golden period of thrash metal – Metallica and Slayer, certainly, but also lesser-cited bands such as Exodus, Kreator and Overkill – Infest The Rats’ Nest sees a wholly unexpected creative detour into new sonic terrain.
“In year 4 there was an older kid who was into Rammstein,” explains Stu of his early discover discovery of metal’s extremities. “I made friends with him and we put together a performance at our school assembly where we headbanged to ‘Du Hast’. I got whiplash, which I thought was pretty cool. That was my introduction to heavy metal, and soon Rammstein led to Metallica, Metallica led to Slayer, Slayer led to Kreator and Sodom. The German bands really kicked my ass and scared the hell out of me too. Later on, when I picked up a guitar I realized that shit was too hard to play, so I got into rock ‘n’ roll and garage. That was liberating.” Infest The Rats’ Nest is the sound of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard scratching the thrash metal itch, fully and unequivocally.
NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
08/16 – Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater
08/17 – Vancouver, BC @ Harbour Event Centre
08/18 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
08/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
08/21 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
08/23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
08/24 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
08/25 – Toronto, ON @ Rebel
08/26 – Montreal, QC @ Olympia
08/27 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
08/28 – New York, NY @ SummerStage Central Park
08/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
08/31 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09/01 – Asheville, NC @ New Belgium Brewing Co.
09/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
09/03 – New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater
09/04 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Austin
09/06 – Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory
08/17 – Vancouver, BC @ Harbour Event Centre
08/18 – Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
08/20 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
08/21 – Denver, CO @ Mission Ballroom
08/23 – Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theater
08/24 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom
08/25 – Toronto, ON @ Rebel
08/26 – Montreal, QC @ Olympia
08/27 – New Haven, CT @ College Street Music Hall
08/28 – New York, NY @ SummerStage Central Park
08/30 – Philadelphia, PA @ Franklin Music Hall
08/31 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
09/01 – Asheville, NC @ New Belgium Brewing Co.
09/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
09/03 – New Orleans, LA @ Joy Theater
09/04 – Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Austin
09/06 – Dallas, TX @ The Bomb Factory
