Released: 2023

Genres: Progressive Electronic, Synthpop, Neo-Psychedelia, Acid Techno, Electronic Dance Music

The Musiquarium’s The Silver Cord Review Score: 7.5 out of 10

Acting as the yin to PetroDragonic Apocalypse‘s yang, The Silver Cord finds King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard doing the polar opposite of a metal album, with something fully synthetic and electronic. The Australian sextet had already touched upon synthpop a couple years prior with Butterfly 3000, though The Silver Cord has a more collaborative approach to songwriting, with the entire band being credited to the whole album.

The first two tracks, Theia and the title track, don’t differ too vastly from the style of Butterfly 3000 (outside of some modulated vocals on the latter), but the danceable Set definitely feels like new territory for the band, and is a highlight on the album — Ambrose Kenny-Smith’s rapping also makes a return here (something he’s been doing a lot of since 2022). The luminous Chang’e has the band “riding on moonbeams”. Gilgamesh and Swan Song are darker jams, which incorporate the more guttural vocal style from PetroDragonic Apocalypse into them. Extinction seems to interpolate Dracula’s Theme into it.

The main album here is just under 30 minutes, but there are extended versions of each track, bringing the album’s runtime up to 88 minutes, with every extended version being over 10 minutes (the extended Theia is over 20 minutes).

The Silver Cord is a minor let down when compared to the incredible PetroDragonic Apocalypse, and isn’t quite as catchy as Butterfly 3000, but despite being outside of their comfort zone, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard still seems to have a thorough understanding of what they are doing here, as well as an admiration for the nineties techno that they are trying to emulate.

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

Back to the 2023 Album Reviews Guide or the King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard