29/10/2023
Thoughts on The Silver Cord by King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard
I've only really been a fan of King Gizzard for the better part of a year, but when I saw the announcement for their 25th album, The Silver Cord, I was very intruiged. Generally I prefer the more bright and fun albums (at least musically) than their heavier work. Despite enjoying their other album this year, PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation, I just don't listen do metal often, and as such never returned to it. Their more electronic-based work has been more hit and miss for me, however. I wasn't the biggest fan of Butterfly 3000, but on the flipside, I loved individual tracks on other albums such as "Magenta Mountain" or "Gondii". I was also curious how this new album would relate to PetroDragonic Apocolypse, as the band promoted both as a yin and yang.
The simultaneous release of the first three tracks didn't help me reach an early conclusion on the album. "Theia" is a pretty solid opener, setting up a lyrical tone, and a sound mix that favours the high end that would remain for the rest of the album. The title track, which followed "Theia" left me with a negative first impression. The way the vocoder was used for the first half was very off-putting on a first listen, but as the track went along, it got a little better. The final initial track, "Set" however, is an absolute banger. It featured heavier synths than the first two tracks, and the chanting of "Slay the mighty set" in the chorus made the song an instant earworm. I even liked the rap verse, which is a first for King Gizz, since I overall did not enjoy their previous attempts at rap. That track left me with the greatest impression of the three initally previewed, and I hoped I would see more in that style on the full album.
By the time the album dropped, the first two tracks had grown on me a bit more, so overall I was more optimistic going into the full listen. The fourth track, "Chang'e", ended up being my least favourite on the whole album. I'm not sure why, though, it just wasn't clicking with me. On the other hand, "Gilgamesh" lived up to my expectations, and is the song where the band's past experiments with rap paid off. If I compared it to anything by an actual rap or hip hop artists, it still wouldn't be on that same level, but for this album, it really works. The sixth track was "Swan Song", and this one is my other favourite of the album alongside "Set". Once again it's a track built around heavier synths, and an earworm chant in the chorus. Maybe that structure just works best with the limitations that King Gizzard have set for this album. The closing track, "Extinction", would probably be my third favourite of the album, however it doesn't fully stand out when I look at other closing tracks by the band.
One aspect I really enjoyed of the whole album is how the band plays into the whole "yin and yang" idea by taking musical ideas first introduced on PetroDragonic Apocolypse and playing with them here. It was very interesting seeing musical motifs originally intended for a thrash metal album be altered to fit a fully electronic project.
Overall, The Silver Cord is a pretty solid album, but not one that I would place highly if I ranked the band's overall discography.
...is what I would say if there wasn't more to this album! Alongside the main 27 minute version of this album, King Gizz also dropped a 90 minute extended version where each track continued on into an extended jam session. These extended tracks are some of the best music I've ever heard from this band, with the "yin and yang" idea being strenghtened even further between PetroDragonic Apocalypse and The Silver Cord, as the albums now share some lyrics along with the shared musical ideas. The original tracks almost function as intros to these extended jam sessions, and viewed in that light helped me appreciate the short versions more than I had previously. The title track went from one of my least favourite on the regular album to one of the best on the extended version as an example. I wish I could go into more detail about why I love the extended edition, but it's very hard for me to describe what is effectively a collection of jam sessions, so I'll just recommend that anyone willing to check out 10-20 minute tracks to go listen to them for themselves. Preferrably after listening to the original album, and maybe PetroDragonic Apocalypse as well.
I don't have a good way to end this but yeah, love this album.
