Released: 2017

Genres: Psychedelic Rock, Heavy Psych, Spoken-Word, Progressive Rock, Stoner Metal

The Musiquarium’s Murder of the Universe Review Score: 8 out of 10

Consisting of three separate spoken-word suites (The Tale of the Altered Beast, The Lord of Lightning vs. The Balrog, and Han-Tyumi and the Murder of the Universe), Murder of the Universe is certainly one of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard’s strangest, but most creative albums yet.

The Altered Beast suite (a reference to the 1988 arcade game of the same name) alternates between three versions of Alter Me and four versions of Altered Beast, and contains more of the same heavy psych sound from Nonagon Infinity, with narration from Australian folk musician, Leah Senior (who also narrates the second suite of songs).

The Lord of Lightning is perhaps the most quintessential (and straightforward) KGATLW track on the whole album, though The Balrog also provides plenty of thrills. The final suite on the album is narrated by a text-to-speech application (who voices Han-Tyumi), and while this is the weakest suite on the album, Digital Black and Vomit Coffin are solid tracks.

Murder of the Universe is a bizarre and grotesque record, reflected by the vomit-like colours of its artwork, and is likely to polarize many listeners. Although the narration may hold it back from having as much replay value as the band’s other albums (much like Eyes Like the Sky), Murder of the Universe still has some of the band’s best and heaviest moments yet.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard on Discogs.

Back to the 2017 Album Reviews Guide or the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard