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Jun 20, 2019 By Christopher Roberts King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

Prolific Melbourne psych-rock adventurers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have announced a new album, Infest the Rats’ Nest, which is actually a thrash metal record. Infest the Rats’ Nest is due out via ATO/Flightless on August 16, which is only five months after the release of their last album, Fishing for Fishies, released in April. Above is the album’s cover art. Check out the band’s upcoming tour dates below.

Previously the band shared two tracks from Infest the Rats’ Nest before the album was announced. In May they shared “Self-Immolate,” via a disturbing video where the band got burned alive. In April they shared “Planet B,” which also had a violent video.

A press release describes the album this way: “The planet is in trouble. Dire trouble. But fear not: Melbourne, Australia seven-piece King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have returned 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.”

In a press release singer/guitarist Stu Mackenzie set the scene for his history with metal: “In fourth grade there was an older kid who was into Rammstein. 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.”

Explaining the themes of the album, Mackenzie said: “The A-side of the album is set in the near future and is about real shit going on right now - especially ecological disaster. We’ve got a lot of things to fear. The B-side tells the story of a group of rebels who are forced to leave Planet Earth and try to settle on Venus. I spend a lot of time thinking about the future of humanity and the future of Planet Earth. Naturally these thoughts seep into the lyrics.”

Fishing for Fishies included “Cyboogie,” which was shared back in January via a retro-looking video and was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a Jason Galea-directed video for its title track, “Fishing for Fishies” (which was our #1 Song of the Week). Then they shared another song from it, “Boogieman Sam,” which has a bit of a blues-rock vibe. Then they shared another album track, “The Bird Song.”

The band released five albums in 2017, so who can blame them for taking 2018 off in terms of putting out new albums (although they did reissue some earlier records).

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Tour Dates:

08/13 - Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
08/14 - San Francisco, CA @ SVN West
08/15 - San Francisco, CA @ SVN West
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 Company
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
09/30 - Nottingham, UK @ Rock City Nottingham
10/01 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow
10/02 - Leeds, UK @ O2 Academy Leeds
10/03 - Manchester, UK @ Victoria Warehouse Manchester
10/05 - London, UK @ Alexandra Palace
10/06 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Tivoli Vredenburg (SOLD OUT)
10/07 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Tivoli Vredenburg
10/08 - Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique (AB)
10/11 - Cologne, Germany @ Carlswek Victoria
10/12 - Berlin, Germany @ Columbiahalle Berlin
10/13 - Luxembourg @ Rockhal Club Esch Sur Alzette
10/14 - Paris, France @ L’Olympia
10/15 - Milan, Italy @ Alcatraz
10/16 - Zürich, Switzerland @ X-TRA
10/18 - Madrid, Spain @ La Riviera
10/19 - Barcelona, Spain @ Razzmatazz

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