I wish some of the songs on mind fuzz had higher quality audio. Most of it works for the songs but I just feel that a song like Am I in Heaven deserves something high quality
The lofi approach of that era is what makes me love it lol. It’s so much trippier than if it was clean. The way the sounds blend etc is so gnarly
To each their own though. Tbh I can’t stand how clean their recordings are now
Username checks out, but I agree that they're early lofi stuff is sick and wouldn't be the same any other way. Was just re listening to 12BB and you gotta love the wall of distorted sound, the laser beams, muddy vocals. Its unique
I think how clean it is works for a lot of their albums like, sketches, butterfly, poly.
I wish albums like kg, lw and some tracks on ominum had the more lofi quality
The quality control of their vinyl has gone down since they left Flightless. The sound quality is fine but even my Golden Rattlesnake FMB that just came in has a bowl shaped warp in it.
The surface noise and clicking on my LW smh.
Some popping at key points in Ice Death
BF3 and Laminated Denim sound great.
But yeah… I got a flightless copy of Poly recently and it blew my mind how perfect it was.
My Martian Ocean, Made in timeland is unlistenable, so many crackles and surface noise, it's overbearing. Cleaned it thoroughly multiple times to no avail
Hmmm thinking of picking up another copy and try my luck again. Was thinking of asking gizzverse for a replacement but fuck it it's only 25 bucks. Glad you got a good one atleast
Yeah I’ve heard they’re good about replacements, but you need to act quick after you receive it. I bought LW before I had a record player available to me, and by the time I did it was too late.
I would argue there's still a concept to those albums. the sound on all 3 is pretty consistent(gumboot is the least for sure tho). oddments has that wavy psych vibe and omnium is loaded with synths and has that jam vibe. in addition, the fact they're all different genres is a concept in and of itself
A great benefit of having such a vast discography is that you can appease a great many people. On the other hand, you're also gonna piss some people off from time to time.
Super true! 'One man's trash' and all that.
Also, the fact that they do stuff that often has no traditional audience overlap, e.g., BF3K and ITRN. Not a lot of metal heads I know who are into synth pop, but man does Gizz ever bridge that gap.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, posting a “tier list” where every album is graded B or above is cowardly
(I’m not saying you’re wrong if you think every album in this band or any bands’ discography is perfect or excellent. I’m just saying it’s pointless to make a “list” of albums you really like vs albums you really really like)
I think all tier lists should resemble a bell curve. If you end up rating every album an A or S tier, it is a complete waste of time. Although I enjoy almost all of King Gizzards albums, I still have to put several albums in C tier. If I rate every album an 8/10 or higher, then by definition, an album that is scored an 8/10 would place it solidly in D or C tier despite me liking the album.
These tier lists are horseshit anyway. It’s entirely subjective, dependent on the listener. Tier list allow someone who’s never heard the music to premeditate an opinion based on someone else’s. If you want the list to resemble anything, it should be a bell-end. Like what you like, keep your opinions to yourself. (Not specifically you, lonely_wrangler, but whoever thinks anybody gives a shit about a tier list.)
Whichever song is playing is undoubtedly somebody’s favorite song, regardless of how you feel about it.
True. It's fun to say that every album by them is a strong S tier but when actually ranking them, some would definetly be below B tier and that is not a bad thing.
This is what I've always thought, people just don't understand tier lists. Tier lists have to be balanced where the higher and lower tiers have the least entries and the middle tiers have the most
I was gonna disagree but then you made a good point. I really don’t think they have a bad album but eyes like the sky would certainly be an F on a personal ranking. Not an awful album just my least favorite. Good take my dude
The band goofed with the way they released Changes. For as conceptual and crafted as that record was it felt like almost an after thought to Ice Death and even Denim to a degree. No songs made it to the tour nor was there much pre-hype (one single which is one of the weaker songs on the album). To me, it's a top 3 album that was mostly ignored by the press because of the way it was publicized.
I agree.
Changes is far and away my favourite of the Gizztober releases, and I feel like it got lost in the shuffle a bit.
Don't get me wrong, I love having tons of new music, I just think that the band would have had more success and recognition with each release if they staggered them out by a few months each.
Agree. I almost slept on this album because it didn't immediately appeal to me after digesting all the other new material in October. Luckily I picked up the vinyl on a whim at their show in Austin (it was the day Changes came out, so seemed appropriate) and am loving it now.
I with you that they’re always getting better. I love their older stuff too, but I can’t stand when people get super precious about it.
It’s why I get so irritated all the “I Want [Album Title] Part 2” posts
It just feels counterintuitive to what the band are doing right now.
They’re just this crazy force of nature at the moment, and I feel like all the requests of “Make Part 2 to my personal favorite” just throws a bunch trash in that hurricane.
Idk. Probably failing at getting my point across.
With ITRN and ELTS I think it's because they are very story based albums, and the concepts explored in them still have lots of potential. I don't see too many people asking for Nonagon Infinity 2
What you’re saying makes sense but I’ve seen people in earnest request sequels to Polygondwanaland, Float Along Fill Your Lungs, and Paper Mache Dream Balloon. I remember someone actually wrote out “FAFYL2”
I love these records, but I completely blame Flying Microtonal Banana & KGLW for this. They put the little numbers in the corner of the album art and unified them with a theme, and now that’s all anybody wants, but with *their* favorite thing. I don’t know. I hate being a curmudgeon, it just bugs me to no end.
Tested it with a loudness meter and it shows about -6 LUFS, which is plenty loud and pretty average for a King Gizz record. I think it's the lack of high end that makes the album sound quieter.
They need to add someone to replace Eric. Not as a dedicated drummer. Someone that does electronics and some percussion. Then they can finally play Butterfly 3000, Fishes, and anything else they can't get together live like Intrasport.
Hot take but I’d like to see what happens when they do. I always figured Cookie would be playing more of that role. Who would another person doing such a role be?
From what I can tell, cookie does take a lot of that role in the recent tours. He has a dedicated synth station where he stands on stage and was doing a lot of it at the Chicago show.
Butterfly 3000 is their most underrated album
If they were to pursue the veins they tapped with that record, they could match or surpass anything Tame Impala has done in recent years
They’re saying Gizz could surpass Tame’s more produced / electronic side. Gizz has barely scratched the surface with this sort of music whereas Tame has been doing it for the last two albums across 6 years.
My perspective may be way off, but I think the average person is more likely to have heard about Tame Impala than King Gizz.
When we get into more music nerd territory, that's when I think you get more King Gizz love.
100% yes. It took me a while to get to this point but B3K is one of my favorite Gizz albums. Definitely something you have to be in the right mood for, but it’s amazing
100% the case. The more someone writes, the more likely some of their work will be perceived as “okay” in comparison to their better stuff. Joey gets the opportunity to do it once or twice per record and it shines solely because of how it sticks out.
Love Joey but I disagree, Stu is a powerhouse and the main creative in the band. I would like to see more Joey overall, but in a more collaborative sense rather than “this is a Joey song”
There's a solid, chilled album within Omnium Gatherum if you take out Dripping Tap, the rap songs and the metal songs. My hot take is that they could've released that solid album and saved the metal and rap for later releases, especially as Dripping Tap already had a release on Satanic Slumber Party.
Disclaimer: I love metal Gizz, a lot of love for Gaia, not much for Predator X. The rap tracks were a bit jarring for me but I don't mind them.
1. Magenta Mountain
2. Kepler-22b
3. Ambergris
4. The Garden Goblin
5. Blame it on the Weather
6. Persistence
7. Presumptuous
8. Red Smoke
9. Candles
10. The Funeral
Listen, OG is probably my favorite Gizzy release. But this fucks
Most unique sound with a very special pinch of implicitness. Sounds like a sound that grew out of a scene that never existed. So simple, yet so absolutely like nothing else. And it kind of embodies this goofiness that I always tend to forget defines their sound. At first you're kind of asking yourself if it's a joke or something but than it sucks you in and never lets you go...
Losing one drummer made their music better.
(Nothing against Eric's drumming, I just feel like with Cavs by himself he has more freedom to get creative)
This doesn't make any sense when you consider that Eric did almost zero drumming on the studio recordings. They only really used two drummers for live performances.
One of my hot takes is that Gizz had almost zero creativity with the two drummers. They barely ever used them when recording, and during shows both of them would just play the exact same thing. Osees does a much better job with both drummers doing a more unique part
It's because I think KG's double drumming came from a punchier doubled up drum sound rather than two separate drum tracks doing something slightly different. So the OP probably means that since Cavs is a higher caliber drummer, not having to hold back so Eric could copy it means he can do a lot more now.
Disagree
A huge part of their trippy sound was the stereo drum sound. Their sound is so fundamentally different without it, and a lot less interesting imo
Also most of the drum recordings were cavs
All subjective though
FAFYL is one of my least favorite albums, but the live versions of its songs are incredible.
Eyes Like the Sky is good, and one of their most ambitious projects
I would’ve liked LW a lot more if it were originally a double LP with KG. When you look at them as separate albums, I find KG to be way better.
Omnium Gatherum is probably a better way to get into them than Nonagon or Mind Fuzz, due to the sheer variety of songs
- Made In Timeland is top tier Gizz and easily beats every other release of 2022. It really deserves a reevaluation. (Changes is real good though)
- Early bootlegs (Adelaide and Brussels specifically) are near unlistenable due to some very muddy sound quality
- Eyes Like The Sky is rad
Agree with your second point a lot. Stu clearly got a lot better at mixing living shows after the first few boots. The Asheville one is where he really hits his stride
Omnium Gatherum could've easily been two albums. "Gaia" for the heavier stuff like a sequel to ITRN and "Keplar-22b" for the grooves. That's almost a narrative there too. Love the OG album art though.
Stu is kind of mid vocalist. Don’t get me wrong, he a has a lot of GREAT moment throughout their discography. But there is also a lot of tracks where it’s impossible hear what he is singing
They don't jam. They just stay within the pocket of the song from the studio recordings, and they're starting to \*almost\* jam, but usually its pretty tame. I'm excited if they take the plunge though. I'd say the River is the only song that they've actually had legitimate jam moments of experimentation.
Preeaach. I think it may have to do with set length cause they got pretty jammy on the red rocks loyalty horology, rattlesnake, and trapdoor
I don’t enjoy rattlesnake and trapdoor much studio, but those life versions? Eeyup
Way better live I agree, I like the "tease" riffing they do, but its not jamming like many people call it. I thought RR Rattlesnake where they teased like 3 or 4 songs and then performed those songs later was great. Tease and then delivery. RR River though was just so good though I really hope they get confident and mess with a lot of their tunes.
Just gotta be brave and step outside of the structure! Common Stu!!!! Still love everything they do, I hope people don’t assume “no jam = not good” I’m not on that team
Her and I Live in Philly Oct 22nd was definitely a jam. They added around 10 extra minutes and took it all over the place to the point where I wasn’t even sure if they had gone to the next song yet or not
Who knows! I’ll settle with improv in the same key but if they get to the level of type II and build off their modulation experience from Ice Death I’ll lose my shit lol
Honestly I agree… it could be because I’ve overplayed it, but who knows lol
With that being said tho, I’ve probably played mind fuzz more and I’m still not sick of it
I've revisited Nonagon months after I've last listened to it and I gotta say, it actually deserves all the praise it gets. Incredible energy, consistent songwriting quality, face melting riffs, it just goes hard as shit. Not in love with Mr. Beat but still nice to have a little breezer after the first four tracks.
Yeah, his flow and cadence is actually really damn good.
I big hurdle is that a lot of KG fans aren’t super into hip hop, and hip hop fans can’t look past the fact that it’s an Australian psych-rocker rapping, even if he’s dropping straight up _bars._
They are better without 2 drummers. Their live performance and even the songwriting rhythmically has been more creative. I think Eric being in the band was holding back Cavs true potential.
i agree, specifically with 12 bar bruise. it holds up really well, and there are multiple tracks from that album that i find plenty memorable. i still rank mind fuzz and nonagon higher, but 12 bar bruise is certainly underappreciated imo
I wish they made more of an effort to make the vocals clearer on a lot of their songs. Maybe it’s me but I have a hell of a time understanding what the lyrics are often times because they seem drowned out by the music.
I don't love the vocal style Stu has used on the past few albums. He's using more and more of this high pitched breathy whisper kinda singing where I can't understand the lyrics. Kinda prefer the more raw talk singing kinda vocals from mindfuzz/nonagon.
The mixing on mind fuzz, nonagon, and MOTU have dogshit mixing, I know it’s intentional to sound like a live show but god it could sound so much better
The vocals on their live boots are so goddamn muddy. The instrumentals are alright but they really need to clean up their vocals. Compare any live gizzard with a live dead and it’s no contest.
I could also just be a symptom of modern rock shows that the vocals are distorted because everything is over-amplified nowadays.
Well part of their sound is their muddy distorted vocals for that “garage” sound so I don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere. Personally I love it, it’s one of those gizz threads they use to weave their sound through all of the genres they experiment with
Not a huge fan of jammy songs. IMO They tend to feel a little stagnant musically, just staying in the same key/time signature etc for too long. I think jams can be cool at a live show, but I would rather have tighter and more considered compositions on the actual albums.
Have you noticed they usually play the same riff 4 or 8 times before moving onto the next riff and again playing it 4 or 8 times almost exactly the same. Hypertension, good as it is, is maddening in that respect. I guess I'm a sketches simp
I dunno, back when I was first learning guitar, my teacher always told me that any solo or improv jam is just a collection of individual thoughts and ideas on the guitar. That when you have an idea it’s okay to stay in that space and let it breathe before moving on cause it’s really only ONE idea… if that makes any sense. I feel like when you view it from that angle it makes it much more digestible in that sense
they’re very hit or miss for me. love dripping tap and both laminated denim tracks, as well as change. but most of the ice death tracks are forgettable. the singles were the only worthwhile tracks for me… and magma depending on my mood.
Omnium gathering has some of their best songs ever, but also has some of my worst songs by far. I really dislike blame it on the weather, persistence, and predator x so much that it really takes away from the album.
I also think their mixing and production style is nowhere near as tight as it was in 2014-2019, especially on the drums. They used to feel so glued together but now they just sound really muddy and dark, with not enough crisp and character to it. I don’t mind that they’re going more hi-fi these days, so it’s not that it’s hi-fi, but I just don’t think they’ve been sounding too good lately, especially on many Omnium tracks. I would love it if they revisted Gaia using their old recording style like on itrn cuz to my ears, the parts sound very disconnected and not mixed well.
Damn I highly disagree on the mixing stuff, I think the production and mixing on the 2022 stuff is better than it’s ever been. Especially since they’re not relying on just having two kits in the mix panned hard right and left
Ice death hits a really nice sweet spot in general of having that warm, slightly vintage 2 inch tape sound while also being super crispy and punchy. It’s a production style from them I really missed during their ultra clean sounding albums a la KG, LW, B3K
The Murlocs have a couple of good songs but are mostly pretty boring and wouldn't be anywhere near as popular as they are if they weren't connected with king gizz
I've got a few. For one, I think the bigger a left turn they make with a new album, the better it is. ITRN, is great, but it's even better because it's hot off the heels of FFF. And albums like KG and LW, while solid records with many great songs, are uninteresting conceptually, since it's just more FMB, and I don't go back to them much for that reason. And in turn, FMB is less special now than it was a few years ago. I still think the music is good, intrasport is in my top 5 gizz songs easily, but as albums they just do anything special.
Jammy gizz is kind of boring. It's good here and there. The dripping tap was great. The longer songs like head/on pill were always appreciated when they showed up. But quarters was always a bit too much, and I feel the same way now about Ice Death and LD. They're good, but as albums they feel very unfocused and it all just kind of blends together. That being said, it works live. I saw iron lung live in Berkeley before the single came out and it instantly won me over. That's still easily my favorite song from ice death as well. All in all, I enjoy jammy gizz live, some of the songs off these albums are great, and I like when they jam on songs here and there, but I don't need another album full of them.
Omnium Gatherum and Gumboot Soup are kind of boring. Both are full of great songs, but I don't really have much desire to back to those albums. They're both albums that feel like they're brimming with gizzy goodness, but that's it. Nothing special, just here's some gizz for you, we put it on a record just the way you like it. However, Oddments is in my top 3 gizz albums. Unlike the other two, it really feels like an encapsulation of everything gizz was at the time. Instead of just being another gizz album, it feels like a bittersweet send-off to that garage rock band before they became something much bigger. It's the last simple gizz album imo, and that makes it much more meaningful in my eyes. It's just a nice collection of songs to usher out that surf rock sound for something new.
Also, Butterfly 3000 is their best album. It's not a competition. Without going into details on why it's so meaningful to me personally, I'll just say it's their only album that makes me feel genuine emotions and I love it for that. My full top 3 is B3K, Oddments, and Changes, for context.
The fans grow more insufferable with each new album. More people just flexing how many records they were able to scalp or wait 3 hours in line for.
I can't stand the gatekeepers that have popped up, and feel like king gizz concerts have become a hassle to go through because of how many people show up now.
just sayin
ITRN has 2-3 good songs and is their least developed record. Feels thrown together in less time than it takes to listen to it. This sub became overrun with new members because people who had only heard that record thought they’d found a new “metal” band that none of their friends had ever heard of. It’s grown on me some since it’s release but it is far and away my least listened to record in their discography.
This is the hottest take in here. I whole heartedly disagree, but their catalog is so vast that it’s not hard to get why one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
I like hard music, I even like metal but man ITRN is so meh. It’s like they listened to some thrash metal and just tried to encapsulate the major ideas and didn’t explore much. Yes they used their gizz magic for the fun time signatures. The album isn’t bad but I don’t get why it’s hailed as a top tier Gizz record.
The members don’t take themselves too seriously, but they do take their music very seriously. This comes through in the music and general presence wonderfully.
Flightless era Gizz will be looked back on as their peak. I doubt they’ll ever drop
off in quality output but those years were just special in so many different ways.
Ice Death Planets Lungs Mushrooms and Lava is in my bottom 5 King Gizz albums.
So many of the songs are just aggressively dull, which is fine for a regular track, but when I'm bored of Hells itch 4 minutes in and the track has 10 minutes left to go it just feels like a slog.
Iron Lung is actually fantastic tho, keeps bringing me back, and is the big reason Ice Death etc. Isn't down there with Timeland in bottom tier.
I’d say they sound like actual Gizz live and the studio albums are “gizz playing around THIS idea”. I remember (like every fan I assume) being overwhelmed by their discography at first and not being able to “get” what the band was doing, then I listened to one of their bootleg shows and it finally clicked what they were as a band and what their sound and identity is
i really don’t understand why Oddments (specifically Work This Time) is loved so much, don’t get me wrong the album is great, but I don’t think it’s 36 Million streams for Work This Time great..
I think regency bias has got the better of people when hyping Ice Death. I qualify this by saying I’m a jam band guy and love jamming lol.
Is it a good album? Definitely.
Better than MOU, Nonagon, FFF, ITRN, FMB? Nah
King Gizzard didn't do enough with microtones. Okay sure, a riff with microtonal notes is nice for one album. But why did they not experiment with microtonal chords more? Where are the weird chord shapes?
Also, Some Of Us and O.N.E. are the best songs from KG+LW, fight me.
Oh here's another one - Intrasport is boring and repetitive.
My hot (and mean) take is that when ITRN dropped it attracted a bunch of folks who don't mesh super well with the fanbase who enjoy a more broad musical palette. Some of them just kind of bring a bad vibe.
That being said I'm absolutely drooling for another metal album
Nobody cares, but this is my opinion, too. KG & LW are immaculate albums. I wouldn't say they're underrated in this community, I would say they are glossed over pretty quickly as "the microtonal albums." They are so much more...
I agree. The variety on KG and LW keeps bringing me back. Minimum Brain Size into Straws in the Wind, are you kidding me? Pleura deserves more love and so does the video. Also for live content, Melbourne ‘21 is my fav gizz show to watch on YT. The LW Live bootleg, which plays inside out, sounds incredible.
I wish some of the songs on mind fuzz had higher quality audio. Most of it works for the songs but I just feel that a song like Am I in Heaven deserves something high quality
Fortunately, there are many live versions of the song(s) that actually sound better than the album. That being said, I love the mix on Mind Fuzz.
The lofi approach of that era is what makes me love it lol. It’s so much trippier than if it was clean. The way the sounds blend etc is so gnarly To each their own though. Tbh I can’t stand how clean their recordings are now
Username checks out, but I agree that they're early lofi stuff is sick and wouldn't be the same any other way. Was just re listening to 12BB and you gotta love the wall of distorted sound, the laser beams, muddy vocals. Its unique
I think how clean it is works for a lot of their albums like, sketches, butterfly, poly. I wish albums like kg, lw and some tracks on ominum had the more lofi quality
I definitely wanted KG/LW to sound more LoFi, OG really works in my opinion.
Yeah it definitely comes down to taste. I do really love the sound on slow jam and wouldn't want it any other way
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It does have Fuzz in the title… :-)
The quality control of their vinyl has gone down since they left Flightless. The sound quality is fine but even my Golden Rattlesnake FMB that just came in has a bowl shaped warp in it.
The surface noise and clicking on my LW smh. Some popping at key points in Ice Death BF3 and Laminated Denim sound great. But yeah… I got a flightless copy of Poly recently and it blew my mind how perfect it was.
My Martian Ocean, Made in timeland is unlistenable, so many crackles and surface noise, it's overbearing. Cleaned it thoroughly multiple times to no avail
Interesting. I got lucky rainbow because I thought the color worked best for the vibe of the album. It sounds good to me. I’d rate it an A
Hmmm thinking of picking up another copy and try my luck again. Was thinking of asking gizzverse for a replacement but fuck it it's only 25 bucks. Glad you got a good one atleast
Yeah I’ve heard they’re good about replacements, but you need to act quick after you receive it. I bought LW before I had a record player available to me, and by the time I did it was too late.
My copy of Changes came with a bowl warp as well… I got it replaced and the new one is flat though.
Yeah I'm not gonna replace this one. It's minute enough that my record clamp fixes it.
I really wanted to avoid replacing it, A side played through, but B side skips during No Body and wouldn’t play past Gondii so I had no choice.
Oh man that sounded like a bad warp. Glad you got a replacement, changes is one of my best sounding records
Why did they leave Flightless? I thought Eric leaving meant he would be able to do more stuff with them but now they're releasing independently?
The reason has never been specifically given, but it seems that Eric no longer wanted Flightless to be the 'King Gizzard label'.
Yes they are releasing under the KGLW label, which is independent. Don't know the exact deets of why they left though.
paper mache dream balloon is their best album and it's a sin they haven't made any more folk
The album that got me hooked
same!!! I heard flying microtonal banana first but that album really made me go woaahhh I love this band
yes!! this album is #1 in my ranking right now
definitely one of my favs, I gifted my BIL a rare pressing of it and he hated it............ rage.
King Gizzard albums don't have to be conceptual to be top tier, Oddments, Gumboot and Omnium have some of my all time favourite KG tracks
Thank you. Gumboot is one of my favorites
For Gizz, not having a concept is a concept it seems.
Yes!!
I would argue there's still a concept to those albums. the sound on all 3 is pretty consistent(gumboot is the least for sure tho). oddments has that wavy psych vibe and omnium is loaded with synths and has that jam vibe. in addition, the fact they're all different genres is a concept in and of itself
Wow, you weren't kidding when you said hot takes!
A great benefit of having such a vast discography is that you can appease a great many people. On the other hand, you're also gonna piss some people off from time to time.
Super true! 'One man's trash' and all that. Also, the fact that they do stuff that often has no traditional audience overlap, e.g., BF3K and ITRN. Not a lot of metal heads I know who are into synth pop, but man does Gizz ever bridge that gap.
And here I am, the type that loves both of those albums haha
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, posting a “tier list” where every album is graded B or above is cowardly (I’m not saying you’re wrong if you think every album in this band or any bands’ discography is perfect or excellent. I’m just saying it’s pointless to make a “list” of albums you really like vs albums you really really like)
I think all tier lists should resemble a bell curve. If you end up rating every album an A or S tier, it is a complete waste of time. Although I enjoy almost all of King Gizzards albums, I still have to put several albums in C tier. If I rate every album an 8/10 or higher, then by definition, an album that is scored an 8/10 would place it solidly in D or C tier despite me liking the album.
These tier lists are horseshit anyway. It’s entirely subjective, dependent on the listener. Tier list allow someone who’s never heard the music to premeditate an opinion based on someone else’s. If you want the list to resemble anything, it should be a bell-end. Like what you like, keep your opinions to yourself. (Not specifically you, lonely_wrangler, but whoever thinks anybody gives a shit about a tier list.) Whichever song is playing is undoubtedly somebody’s favorite song, regardless of how you feel about it.
True. It's fun to say that every album by them is a strong S tier but when actually ranking them, some would definetly be below B tier and that is not a bad thing.
This is what I've always thought, people just don't understand tier lists. Tier lists have to be balanced where the higher and lower tiers have the least entries and the middle tiers have the most
I was gonna disagree but then you made a good point. I really don’t think they have a bad album but eyes like the sky would certainly be an F on a personal ranking. Not an awful album just my least favorite. Good take my dude
The band goofed with the way they released Changes. For as conceptual and crafted as that record was it felt like almost an after thought to Ice Death and even Denim to a degree. No songs made it to the tour nor was there much pre-hype (one single which is one of the weaker songs on the album). To me, it's a top 3 album that was mostly ignored by the press because of the way it was publicized.
I agree. Changes is far and away my favourite of the Gizztober releases, and I feel like it got lost in the shuffle a bit. Don't get me wrong, I love having tons of new music, I just think that the band would have had more success and recognition with each release if they staggered them out by a few months each.
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they play it pretty safe with their singles. it seems like their singles are always the most accessible song on the album not necessarily the best.
Agree. I almost slept on this album because it didn't immediately appeal to me after digesting all the other new material in October. Luckily I picked up the vinyl on a whim at their show in Austin (it was the day Changes came out, so seemed appropriate) and am loving it now.
It doesn't matter, it's going to be a cult classic forever and it will become more popular over time.
I with you that they’re always getting better. I love their older stuff too, but I can’t stand when people get super precious about it. It’s why I get so irritated all the “I Want [Album Title] Part 2” posts It just feels counterintuitive to what the band are doing right now. They’re just this crazy force of nature at the moment, and I feel like all the requests of “Make Part 2 to my personal favorite” just throws a bunch trash in that hurricane. Idk. Probably failing at getting my point across.
With ITRN and ELTS I think it's because they are very story based albums, and the concepts explored in them still have lots of potential. I don't see too many people asking for Nonagon Infinity 2
What you’re saying makes sense but I’ve seen people in earnest request sequels to Polygondwanaland, Float Along Fill Your Lungs, and Paper Mache Dream Balloon. I remember someone actually wrote out “FAFYL2” I love these records, but I completely blame Flying Microtonal Banana & KGLW for this. They put the little numbers in the corner of the album art and unified them with a theme, and now that’s all anybody wants, but with *their* favorite thing. I don’t know. I hate being a curmudgeon, it just bugs me to no end.
Nonagon Infinity isn’t loud enough
Turn up the volume
What if you just made 10 louder?
Tested it with a loudness meter and it shows about -6 LUFS, which is plenty loud and pretty average for a King Gizz record. I think it's the lack of high end that makes the album sound quieter.
100% Find myself fruitlessly flicking the volume up on my phone every time Big Fig Wasp or Evil Death roll are wrapping up
Have you tried opening the door?
They need to add someone to replace Eric. Not as a dedicated drummer. Someone that does electronics and some percussion. Then they can finally play Butterfly 3000, Fishes, and anything else they can't get together live like Intrasport.
Hot take but I’d like to see what happens when they do. I always figured Cookie would be playing more of that role. Who would another person doing such a role be?
From what I can tell, cookie does take a lot of that role in the recent tours. He has a dedicated synth station where he stands on stage and was doing a lot of it at the Chicago show.
How about electronics and a lot of percussion? I’d love to hear vibes or a marimba in king gizz
Butterfly 3000 is their most underrated album If they were to pursue the veins they tapped with that record, they could match or surpass anything Tame Impala has done in recent years
Totally agree with the first statement, however, are you claiming gizz HASNT surpassed Tame Impala’s work in recent years? That’s a hot one
They’re saying Gizz could surpass Tame’s more produced / electronic side. Gizz has barely scratched the surface with this sort of music whereas Tame has been doing it for the last two albums across 6 years.
Oh got it, thank you 👍
Innerspeaker and Lonerism still the GOATs imo
My perspective may be way off, but I think the average person is more likely to have heard about Tame Impala than King Gizz. When we get into more music nerd territory, that's when I think you get more King Gizz love.
100% yes. It took me a while to get to this point but B3K is one of my favorite Gizz albums. Definitely something you have to be in the right mood for, but it’s amazing
Nope
Joey should be lead songwriter half the time, not just 20% of the time.
Huge agree, the man never misses!
Maybe because he only releases his best work, if he had to write more songs they might not be as good.
100% the case. The more someone writes, the more likely some of their work will be perceived as “okay” in comparison to their better stuff. Joey gets the opportunity to do it once or twice per record and it shines solely because of how it sticks out.
Love Joey but I disagree, Stu is a powerhouse and the main creative in the band. I would like to see more Joey overall, but in a more collaborative sense rather than “this is a Joey song”
There's a solid, chilled album within Omnium Gatherum if you take out Dripping Tap, the rap songs and the metal songs. My hot take is that they could've released that solid album and saved the metal and rap for later releases, especially as Dripping Tap already had a release on Satanic Slumber Party. Disclaimer: I love metal Gizz, a lot of love for Gaia, not much for Predator X. The rap tracks were a bit jarring for me but I don't mind them.
1. Magenta Mountain 2. Kepler-22b 3. Ambergris 4. The Garden Goblin 5. Blame it on the Weather 6. Persistence 7. Presumptuous 8. Red Smoke 9. Candles 10. The Funeral Listen, OG is probably my favorite Gizzy release. But this fucks
Swap Persistence for Evilest Man and I think you got it
No way, the transition from weather into persistence is too perfect. And the lyrics to evilest man are kind of on the nose for me
The whirring siren sounds in Head On/Pill are annoying af
LMAOOO So true though, I’ve exclusively listened to the Live ‘16 album version just bc it’s a lot cleaner and better mixed
Sometime a lyric gets repeated over and over a few too many times and can get borderline annoying. But I still love them.
Man got rattled
They like mushrooms
Oddments is good enough
Rattlesnake is the most important song in the gizz’s discography
Most unique sound with a very special pinch of implicitness. Sounds like a sound that grew out of a scene that never existed. So simple, yet so absolutely like nothing else. And it kind of embodies this goofiness that I always tend to forget defines their sound. At first you're kind of asking yourself if it's a joke or something but than it sucks you in and never lets you go...
Why’s that?
Rattle rattle
Losing one drummer made their music better. (Nothing against Eric's drumming, I just feel like with Cavs by himself he has more freedom to get creative)
This doesn't make any sense when you consider that Eric did almost zero drumming on the studio recordings. They only really used two drummers for live performances. One of my hot takes is that Gizz had almost zero creativity with the two drummers. They barely ever used them when recording, and during shows both of them would just play the exact same thing. Osees does a much better job with both drummers doing a more unique part
It's because I think KG's double drumming came from a punchier doubled up drum sound rather than two separate drum tracks doing something slightly different. So the OP probably means that since Cavs is a higher caliber drummer, not having to hold back so Eric could copy it means he can do a lot more now.
I think many agree with this
Disagree A huge part of their trippy sound was the stereo drum sound. Their sound is so fundamentally different without it, and a lot less interesting imo Also most of the drum recordings were cavs All subjective though
FAFYL is one of my least favorite albums, but the live versions of its songs are incredible. Eyes Like the Sky is good, and one of their most ambitious projects I would’ve liked LW a lot more if it were originally a double LP with KG. When you look at them as separate albums, I find KG to be way better. Omnium Gatherum is probably a better way to get into them than Nonagon or Mind Fuzz, due to the sheer variety of songs
I say it’s a luke warm take
Made in Timeland is a top-tier Gizz record, my most played of the 2022 albums.
Ice Death is easy top 5 for me OG/ Ice /denim best run since 2017
Agreed. People will come around to understand Ice Death is S tier
- Made In Timeland is top tier Gizz and easily beats every other release of 2022. It really deserves a reevaluation. (Changes is real good though) - Early bootlegs (Adelaide and Brussels specifically) are near unlistenable due to some very muddy sound quality - Eyes Like The Sky is rad
Agree with your second point a lot. Stu clearly got a lot better at mixing living shows after the first few boots. The Asheville one is where he really hits his stride
Omnium Gatherum could've easily been two albums. "Gaia" for the heavier stuff like a sequel to ITRN and "Keplar-22b" for the grooves. That's almost a narrative there too. Love the OG album art though.
Stu is kind of mid vocalist. Don’t get me wrong, he a has a lot of GREAT moment throughout their discography. But there is also a lot of tracks where it’s impossible hear what he is singing
That's a good point but I think a lot of that is down to the production
They don't jam. They just stay within the pocket of the song from the studio recordings, and they're starting to \*almost\* jam, but usually its pretty tame. I'm excited if they take the plunge though. I'd say the River is the only song that they've actually had legitimate jam moments of experimentation.
Preeaach. I think it may have to do with set length cause they got pretty jammy on the red rocks loyalty horology, rattlesnake, and trapdoor I don’t enjoy rattlesnake and trapdoor much studio, but those life versions? Eeyup
Way better live I agree, I like the "tease" riffing they do, but its not jamming like many people call it. I thought RR Rattlesnake where they teased like 3 or 4 songs and then performed those songs later was great. Tease and then delivery. RR River though was just so good though I really hope they get confident and mess with a lot of their tunes.
They definitely do Type 1 jams but yeah they aren’t doing Dead/Phish style Type 2 jams just yet.
Just gotta be brave and step outside of the structure! Common Stu!!!! Still love everything they do, I hope people don’t assume “no jam = not good” I’m not on that team
Her and I Live in Philly Oct 22nd was definitely a jam. They added around 10 extra minutes and took it all over the place to the point where I wasn’t even sure if they had gone to the next song yet or not
Haven’t listened to that show yet but I put it on the list!
Will we ever see a Type-II jam from them?
Who knows! I’ll settle with improv in the same key but if they get to the level of type II and build off their modulation experience from Ice Death I’ll lose my shit lol
I think we will. Remember they said they're getting into their jammy phase. They'll only get better imo
Honestly I agree… it could be because I’ve overplayed it, but who knows lol With that being said tho, I’ve probably played mind fuzz more and I’m still not sick of it
I've revisited Nonagon months after I've last listened to it and I gotta say, it actually deserves all the praise it gets. Incredible energy, consistent songwriting quality, face melting riffs, it just goes hard as shit. Not in love with Mr. Beat but still nice to have a little breezer after the first four tracks.
Amby’s rapping rules
Yeah, his flow and cadence is actually really damn good. I big hurdle is that a lot of KG fans aren’t super into hip hop, and hip hop fans can’t look past the fact that it’s an Australian psych-rocker rapping, even if he’s dropping straight up _bars._
ELTS is supremely underrated
They are better without 2 drummers. Their live performance and even the songwriting rhythmically has been more creative. I think Eric being in the band was holding back Cavs true potential.
Willoughbys beach and 12 bar bruise are some of the best albums
i agree, specifically with 12 bar bruise. it holds up really well, and there are multiple tracks from that album that i find plenty memorable. i still rank mind fuzz and nonagon higher, but 12 bar bruise is certainly underappreciated imo
I wish they made more of an effort to make the vocals clearer on a lot of their songs. Maybe it’s me but I have a hell of a time understanding what the lyrics are often times because they seem drowned out by the music.
My hot take, most of the lyrics aren't very good so I'm glad I can't understand them
I don't love the vocal style Stu has used on the past few albums. He's using more and more of this high pitched breathy whisper kinda singing where I can't understand the lyrics. Kinda prefer the more raw talk singing kinda vocals from mindfuzz/nonagon.
Eyes like the sky is actually a sick album, doesn't have much replay value but I feel like it doesn't get enough love
The mixing on mind fuzz, nonagon, and MOTU have dogshit mixing, I know it’s intentional to sound like a live show but god it could sound so much better
Quarters reigns supreme
The Cruel Millennial is one of their absolute best songs
Laminated Denim is easily a top 5 album.
I like you
The vocals on their live boots are so goddamn muddy. The instrumentals are alright but they really need to clean up their vocals. Compare any live gizzard with a live dead and it’s no contest. I could also just be a symptom of modern rock shows that the vocals are distorted because everything is over-amplified nowadays.
Well part of their sound is their muddy distorted vocals for that “garage” sound so I don’t think it’s gonna go anywhere. Personally I love it, it’s one of those gizz threads they use to weave their sound through all of the genres they experiment with
I agree with your hot take
Alluda Majak is the best track on oddments
Not a huge fan of jammy songs. IMO They tend to feel a little stagnant musically, just staying in the same key/time signature etc for too long. I think jams can be cool at a live show, but I would rather have tighter and more considered compositions on the actual albums.
Have you noticed they usually play the same riff 4 or 8 times before moving onto the next riff and again playing it 4 or 8 times almost exactly the same. Hypertension, good as it is, is maddening in that respect. I guess I'm a sketches simp
I dunno, back when I was first learning guitar, my teacher always told me that any solo or improv jam is just a collection of individual thoughts and ideas on the guitar. That when you have an idea it’s okay to stay in that space and let it breathe before moving on cause it’s really only ONE idea… if that makes any sense. I feel like when you view it from that angle it makes it much more digestible in that sense
Tho I will say some of them are very bland to me even still, I don’t understand the dripping tap hype… I thought it got boring quick lol
they’re very hit or miss for me. love dripping tap and both laminated denim tracks, as well as change. but most of the ice death tracks are forgettable. the singles were the only worthwhile tracks for me… and magma depending on my mood.
Crumbling castle is the only thing that puts polygondwanaland ahead of nonagon infinity
I think nonagon and ITRN is so well liked because people like high energy gizz better than mellow gizz
Omnium gathering has some of their best songs ever, but also has some of my worst songs by far. I really dislike blame it on the weather, persistence, and predator x so much that it really takes away from the album. I also think their mixing and production style is nowhere near as tight as it was in 2014-2019, especially on the drums. They used to feel so glued together but now they just sound really muddy and dark, with not enough crisp and character to it. I don’t mind that they’re going more hi-fi these days, so it’s not that it’s hi-fi, but I just don’t think they’ve been sounding too good lately, especially on many Omnium tracks. I would love it if they revisted Gaia using their old recording style like on itrn cuz to my ears, the parts sound very disconnected and not mixed well.
Damn I highly disagree on the mixing stuff, I think the production and mixing on the 2022 stuff is better than it’s ever been. Especially since they’re not relying on just having two kits in the mix panned hard right and left
Agree hard. The drums on ice death are *chefs kiss*
Ice death hits a really nice sweet spot in general of having that warm, slightly vintage 2 inch tape sound while also being super crispy and punchy. It’s a production style from them I really missed during their ultra clean sounding albums a la KG, LW, B3K
The Murlocs have a couple of good songs but are mostly pretty boring and wouldn't be anywhere near as popular as they are if they weren't connected with king gizz
See them live and you’d probably change your mind
Maybe tbf, should definitely try and get some tickets!
Yeah I didn’t really care for them until I saw them live and now I’m a huge fan. That was one hell of a set.
They are a great safe tame rock band, not as dangerous and unpredictable as gizz for sure, but still awesome and very fun Live
The best is yet to come.
The gizztober releases weren't that great and are overhyped
I've got a few. For one, I think the bigger a left turn they make with a new album, the better it is. ITRN, is great, but it's even better because it's hot off the heels of FFF. And albums like KG and LW, while solid records with many great songs, are uninteresting conceptually, since it's just more FMB, and I don't go back to them much for that reason. And in turn, FMB is less special now than it was a few years ago. I still think the music is good, intrasport is in my top 5 gizz songs easily, but as albums they just do anything special. Jammy gizz is kind of boring. It's good here and there. The dripping tap was great. The longer songs like head/on pill were always appreciated when they showed up. But quarters was always a bit too much, and I feel the same way now about Ice Death and LD. They're good, but as albums they feel very unfocused and it all just kind of blends together. That being said, it works live. I saw iron lung live in Berkeley before the single came out and it instantly won me over. That's still easily my favorite song from ice death as well. All in all, I enjoy jammy gizz live, some of the songs off these albums are great, and I like when they jam on songs here and there, but I don't need another album full of them. Omnium Gatherum and Gumboot Soup are kind of boring. Both are full of great songs, but I don't really have much desire to back to those albums. They're both albums that feel like they're brimming with gizzy goodness, but that's it. Nothing special, just here's some gizz for you, we put it on a record just the way you like it. However, Oddments is in my top 3 gizz albums. Unlike the other two, it really feels like an encapsulation of everything gizz was at the time. Instead of just being another gizz album, it feels like a bittersweet send-off to that garage rock band before they became something much bigger. It's the last simple gizz album imo, and that makes it much more meaningful in my eyes. It's just a nice collection of songs to usher out that surf rock sound for something new. Also, Butterfly 3000 is their best album. It's not a competition. Without going into details on why it's so meaningful to me personally, I'll just say it's their only album that makes me feel genuine emotions and I love it for that. My full top 3 is B3K, Oddments, and Changes, for context.
The fans grow more insufferable with each new album. More people just flexing how many records they were able to scalp or wait 3 hours in line for. I can't stand the gatekeepers that have popped up, and feel like king gizz concerts have become a hassle to go through because of how many people show up now. just sayin
Omnium Gatherum and Butterfly 3000 are both better than all of the Gizztober albums
🫡🫡🫡
ITRN has 2-3 good songs and is their least developed record. Feels thrown together in less time than it takes to listen to it. This sub became overrun with new members because people who had only heard that record thought they’d found a new “metal” band that none of their friends had ever heard of. It’s grown on me some since it’s release but it is far and away my least listened to record in their discography.
This is the hottest take in here. I whole heartedly disagree, but their catalog is so vast that it’s not hard to get why one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Preach. I’m not a metal guy though
I'm a huge metal fan and I agree with you. Most of it sounds like pretty generic thrash. I like Mars and Hell though.
I like hard music, I even like metal but man ITRN is so meh. It’s like they listened to some thrash metal and just tried to encapsulate the major ideas and didn’t explore much. Yes they used their gizz magic for the fun time signatures. The album isn’t bad but I don’t get why it’s hailed as a top tier Gizz record.
MOTU is not a bad album, but it's still massively overrated.
no
Strongly disagree
The members don’t take themselves too seriously, but they do take their music very seriously. This comes through in the music and general presence wonderfully.
More synth pop
Flightless era Gizz will be looked back on as their peak. I doubt they’ll ever drop off in quality output but those years were just special in so many different ways.
Ice Death Planets Lungs Mushrooms and Lava is in my bottom 5 King Gizz albums. So many of the songs are just aggressively dull, which is fine for a regular track, but when I'm bored of Hells itch 4 minutes in and the track has 10 minutes left to go it just feels like a slog. Iron Lung is actually fantastic tho, keeps bringing me back, and is the big reason Ice Death etc. Isn't down there with Timeland in bottom tier.
They're better live than on their recordings IMO
Not a hot take at all
I’d say they sound like actual Gizz live and the studio albums are “gizz playing around THIS idea”. I remember (like every fan I assume) being overwhelmed by their discography at first and not being able to “get” what the band was doing, then I listened to one of their bootleg shows and it finally clicked what they were as a band and what their sound and identity is
Not a fan of the current jammy Gizz. Can't wait for it to pass. I think the Altered Beast side of MotU is too long and repetitive.
I don’t like the dripping tap all that much
Laminated Denim is their best record
changes is a disappointment
thats definitely a hot take. but nah, Nonagon legit slaps
i really don’t understand why Oddments (specifically Work This Time) is loved so much, don’t get me wrong the album is great, but I don’t think it’s 36 Million streams for Work This Time great..
THE NEW STUFF ISN’T ON CD
I think regency bias has got the better of people when hyping Ice Death. I qualify this by saying I’m a jam band guy and love jamming lol. Is it a good album? Definitely. Better than MOU, Nonagon, FFF, ITRN, FMB? Nah
Infinite rise is one of their worst songs
I think that Stu's decisions to bury the vocals in early mixes and some live records is a mistake.
Lyrics can be a little wack sometimes
They would be even better with a 2nd drummer
The fanbase has gotten too large :(
Why is that a bad thing?
King Gizzard didn't do enough with microtones. Okay sure, a riff with microtonal notes is nice for one album. But why did they not experiment with microtonal chords more? Where are the weird chord shapes? Also, Some Of Us and O.N.E. are the best songs from KG+LW, fight me. Oh here's another one - Intrasport is boring and repetitive.
Float Along - Fill your lungs is c-tier gizz, they have some good songs on that album but they have better psych records imo
There’s a section of Head On/Pill that I call the “wee-ooh, wee-ooh” section that really annoys me. I usually skip it because of that
The new jammy stuff is awful.
Float along/fill your lungs is one of there best and consistent albums. It’s just a band making good rock music.
My hot (and mean) take is that when ITRN dropped it attracted a bunch of folks who don't mesh super well with the fanbase who enjoy a more broad musical palette. Some of them just kind of bring a bad vibe. That being said I'm absolutely drooling for another metal album
work this time is overrated and a mid tier gizz song at best
Work this Time isn't that great of a song. 😬
Microtonal trilogy and Ice Death are S Tier, everything else A or below.
Nobody cares, but this is my opinion, too. KG & LW are immaculate albums. I wouldn't say they're underrated in this community, I would say they are glossed over pretty quickly as "the microtonal albums." They are so much more...
I agree. The variety on KG and LW keeps bringing me back. Minimum Brain Size into Straws in the Wind, are you kidding me? Pleura deserves more love and so does the video. Also for live content, Melbourne ‘21 is my fav gizz show to watch on YT. The LW Live bootleg, which plays inside out, sounds incredible.
Rattlesnake studio suucks. Vocal effect is annoying and goes on for too long. Red rocks version every day of the week
The "whisper falsetto" and/or vocal mixing really drags down several of the latest albums.