Album Review: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Flying Microtonal Banana

2016 was one long victory lap for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard as Nonagon Infinity climbed to #2 in the ARIA charts and they headlined their own mini-fest around the country. But that victory lap meant that, unusually for a band so prolific, they released just one album in 2016.

The sweet and simple formula of write a killer hook then repeat, repeat, repeat — which has reaped fine rewards in the past — is coming close to wearing a little thin here. That said, there are still plenty of new directions, such as the nightmarish Open Water and the unconventional lead single Rattlesnake, which pogos along to an electro-robotic pulse for the best part of eight minutes. Technically it's something of an experimental release as the guitars, basses, keyboards and harmonica have been modified to play "microtones" (ie, notes that are less than a semitone apart) and a blaring Turkish horn called a Zurna intermittently wails across a number of tracks. But despite the innovations, much of Flying Microtonal Banana sounds exactly like the King Gizz we know.

There doesn't appear to be any anthems here that might dominate the Js the way Gamma Knife did, but the reassuring thing about King Gizzard is even when a new release is underwhelming, it's more than likely there'll be another one along in six months.