King Gizzard is a band that is hard to hate but tough to love, much because they know how to have fun in a way that is infectious but are a bit too prolific for their own good, respectively. Since starting to follow their work in 2022 with Omnium Gatherum (at the behest of an enthusiastic co-worker), they have released four albums, not counting this one. Their work ethic is impressive and I have respect for it. At the same time, what little of their discography I have sampled it becomes apparent that chasing that lightning in a bottle approach rarely hits and makes for incomplete albums. But switching up genres as often as changing underwear can have a great effect on inspiration, and this is where PetroDragonic finds King Gizzard ca 2023. Turning away from their Pshycedelic Rock and Jazz aspirations, this album takes a sharp turn into more Metallic infused waters. PetroDragonic carries with it a Grunge attitude with some occasionally Thrashy drums and Tool like progressive digressions into groove. At times this album sounds like what White Zombie (vocals in “Motor Spirit” come close to Mr Zombie himself) or Ministry (listen to the refrain of “Converge”) might have produced had they tried to make a modern Heavy Metal album. Now, I realize that tags for Tool, White Zombie and Ministry might scare away many a metalhead, but there is also the King Gizzard fun factor that skews the material away from sounding too much like the works of the bands I refer to.
And shying away from PetroDragonic because of this would be a shame, because what it tries to do with adopting a Heavy Metal epic-ness it does with aplomb. The back half of the album takes what could have been an amusing trip into heavy-and-other styles into something worthwhile, with the ridiculous but exceptionally fun “Gila Monster” playing its Kaiju inspired refrain into the riff-monster that is “Dragon”. If someone outside of Metal were asked to make the most Metal song they could in good faith, this would be it. However, something that keeps the album from reaching its full potential is the occasional long song that drags the momentum down. While “Dragon” narrowly avoids this, it happens in “Motor Spirit”, which otherwise is a decent song, and the mid-album “Witchcraft” that dwells on one riff for too long. But most of the songs produce riff after riff and keep the momentum going, diminishing the effect of this flaw. In contending with the flaws of PetroDragonic I was unsure how to score it, but in coming back to the album time and again and enjoying its fun charms it was eventually an easy answer. There has been a consistent flow of good albums out in Metal this year, King Gizzard looked at that trend and went “Hell yeah, let’s join!”.
