Omnium Gatherum | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 22 April 2022[1] | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 80:11 | |||
Label | KGLW | |||
Producer |
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King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard chronology | ||||
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Singles from Omnium Gatherum | ||||
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Omnium Gatherum is the 20th studio album and first double album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 22 April 2022. The album was announced on 8 March 2022 and made available for pre-order on 22 March. [1] It marked the first studio release where all band members are playing together live since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As with previous releases, the album features music of numerous genres, including psychedelia, progressive rock, heavy metal and synth-pop, as well as the band's first experiments with hip hop. It received generally positive reviews, although critics were divided on its length and consistency.
During the production of Fishing for Fishies , the band recorded at a house owned by members of Tropical Fuck Storm. The two bands together recorded a jam session informally titled "Hat Jam" (named after the hats worn by the various members of the bands during the session) – footage of which appeared in the How to Gut a Fishie behind-the-scenes documentary uploaded on 21 April 2019. [2] Elements of the "Hat Jam" were taken by both bands, with King Gizzard incorporating elements of the jam into Omnium Gatherum's first single "The Dripping Tap" while Tropical Fuck Storm incorporated elements into their joint EP with King Gizzard, Satanic Slumber Party. A limited-edition vinyl, titled Hat Jam, was also released featuring both "The Dripping Tap" and Satanic Slumber Party. [3]
On 29 May 2021, a teaser for the album Butterfly 3000 was included by the band on a video for their live album Live in Sydney '21. It contained a 15-second snippet that was believed to be a clip from the record. However, the music in the clip did not end up appearing anywhere on the record, and instead was an extract of the then unreleased Omnium Gatherum track "Magenta Mountain". That same day Live in Sydney '21 was released through the band's bootleg program, the 7th live recording in the program, and the 9th album overall. [4]
On 10 August, the band announced via Twitter that they had finished their next album, and included emojis of a diamond and a pickaxe. [5] Then, on 15 August, the band tweeted 2 more emojis; a drop of water and a faucet filling a glass, [6] leading to speculation that these emojis were related to a future album.
On 30 October, the band played an unreleased track from an unspecified album at Melbourne's "Play On Victoria" event at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.[ citation needed ] The next day, the band released the lyrics to the song, "Gaia", via a screenshot posted to twitter. [7]
In January 2022, the tweets with emojis resumed, and the account began to like tweets that were able to discern the song titles. [8] During this batch of emoji tweets, the King Gizzard Twitter liked a tweet asking the band to like if a double album is coming, leading many to presume that Omnium Gatherum will be a double album. [9]
In February, the band announced a three-hour marathon set in Melbourne, naming the one-off show as Return Of The Curse Of Timeland, set to take place on March 5. [10] During the show, the band played four songs from the record: "Magenta Mountain", "The Garden Goblin", "The Dripping Tap" and "Gaia".
The album is the first studio recording since the COVID-19 pandemic began where the band played together in the studio; K.G. , L.W. , and Butterfly 3000 were recorded remotely during lockdown. [11]
The album's rap songs were the result of Mackenzie learning sampling using numerous vinyl records he had purchased on Discogs, with Kenny-Smith then rapping over them. The Guardian described the experiments as a "rare contentious issue within the group". [12]
The album was announced on 8 March 2022, and the band released the eighteen-minute song "The Dripping Tap"—the first song since 2019's Fishing for Fishies featuring performances recorded by all six current members on the same day. In the announcement, bandleader Stu Mackenzie hinted that Omnium Gatherum would be the band's longest studio album so far and represents "a turning point" in their career as it is "going to change the way we write and record music — at least for a while", adding that the band is "entering into our 'jammy period'". [13] [14]
The album's second single, "Magenta Mountain", was released on 29 March, and was accompanied with a video for a live version of the song, recorded on 5 March at the Return of the Curse of Timeland show. [15] A third single, "Kepler-22b", was released on 19 April, also accompanied by a music video. [16]
Omnium Gatherum is an album that sees the band hopping between numerous different genres, including psychedelia, progressive rock, heavy metal, synth-pop, folk, jazz, R&B, and soul. [17] [18] [19] "The Dripping Tap" is a prog-jam that zigzags between krautrock, thrash metal, stoned soul, neo soul, acid rock, and noise music. [20] [21] [22] [23] "Magenta Mountain" and "Kepler-22b" are dream pop, neo-psychedelia, and psychedelic pop songs reminiscent of the band's 2021 album Butterfly 3000 (with the former featuring a lyrical callback to "Blue Morpho" from Butterfly 3000) that feature "shuffling beats under wonderful harmonies", with the former including electronic pop and the latter incorporating astral-jazz. [22] [23] [24] "Gaia" and "Predator X" are both heavy metal and heavy psych songs following up on the sound of the 2019 album Infest the Rats' Nest (with the latter track featuring the inclusion of a callback to the track "Perihelion"), with the former incorporating thrash metal, psychedelic metal, and psych-prog. [20] [17] [25] [21] [22] [23] [18]
"Ambergris" is a jazz-funk and lounge-funk track, while "Candles" drifts into late 90s chillout. [26] [20] [23] "Sadie Sorceress" and "The Grim Reaper" introduce rap elements to the King Gizzard sound, with the latter incorporating microtonality and psychedelia. [20] [22] "The Garden Goblin" is a twee lo-fi bedroom-prog and psych-pop song and "Evilest Man" features political acid rock and callbacks to the track "Cyboogie" from the 2019 album Fishing for Fishies . [21] [26] [23] Lounge-influenced closer "The Funeral" has middle eastern guitar flourishes and an ethereal ending. [20] [21] [18] The final few seconds of "The Funeral" consists of a steady ticking at 60 BPM – the same tempo as the consistent "ticking clock" motif present throughout the band's prior album Made in Timeland .
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 72/100 [27] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Clash | 9/10 [20] |
Classic Rock | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Gigwise | 7/10 [25] |
Loud and Quiet | 5/10 [21] |
Louder Than War | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Mojo | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Pitchfork | 7.3/10 [29] |
Record Collector | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Under the Radar | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Omnium Gatherum received a score of 72 out of 100 from media aggregate site Metacritic based on seven critical reviews. [27]
Clash writer Sam Walker-Smart called Omnium Gatherum "a phenomenal entry-point to 'the Gizzverse'" and "an all-killer no-filler release that may just stand as the best thing King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have ever released." [20] Nathan Whittle, writing for Louder Than War , called the album "the distillation of everything that the band are great at and, as always, done purely on their own terms" and "proof that the band are enjoying a newfound freedom of being unshackled from their own self-imposed limitations to work albums through individual styles". David Weinberg, writing for Glide Magazine in 2023, wrote, "the unique and august qualities of Omnium Gatherum warrant . . . a fleshed-out and demonstrative appreciation of the record for the record as the band enters a higher orbit." [30] Alfie Verity of Gigwise was complimentary towards' the band's continued experimentation 20 albums in, but said that the album "lacks a definitive thread" and "the shine wears off at points." [25] Loud and Quiet 's Jack Doherty criticized the album's disparate styles, claiming that it "crumbles under its inability to surprise, leaving us with the sound of a band with nowhere left to go." [21] Jordan Blum of Consequence called the album "expansive, assorted, and at least a little self-indulgent, but that's precisely what makes it brilliant." [18] Under the Radar contributor Kyle Kersey wrote "Taken as a complete album experience, it's a little too all over the place to measure up to their most focused work, and its robust length is pretty intimidating. But as a smorgasbord of strange sonic shape-shifting, it's a pretty fun listen." [24]
Vinyl releases have track 1 on Side A, tracks 2–6 on Side B, tracks 7–11 on Side C, 12–16 on Side D. [31]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Sampling credits | Length |
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1. | "The Dripping Tap" |
| 18:17 | |
2. | "Magenta Mountain" |
| 6:04 | |
3. | "Kepler-22b" |
| Barney McAll (samples "Yemaya One") | 3:12 |
4. | "Gaia" |
| 5:11 | |
5. | "Ambergris" | Walker | 4:27 | |
6. | "Sadie Sorceress" |
| Les Reed and Barry Mason (samples I'm Coming Home") | 3:07 |
7. | "Evilest Man" | Mackenzie | 7:38 | |
8. | "The Garden Goblin" |
| 2:56 | |
9. | "Blame It on the Weather" |
| 2:31 | |
10. | "Persistence" |
| 3:47 | |
11. | "The Grim Reaper" |
| Heinz Funk (samples "In the Orient") | 3:05 |
12. | "Presumptuous" |
| 4:53 | |
13. | "Predator X" | Mackenzie | 3:45 | |
14. | "Red Smoke" | Kenny-Smith | 4:21 | |
15. | "Candles" | Mackenzie | 4:34 | |
16. | "The Funeral" | Mackenzie | 2:23 | |
Total length: | 80:11 |
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
Additional musicians
Production
Chart (2022) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [32] | 4 |
UK Album Downloads (OCC) [33] | 12 |
UK Progressive Albums (OCC) [34] | 13 |
US Top Album Sales (Billboard) [35] [36] | 8 |
US Independent Albums (Billboard) [37] [38] | 33 |
US Top Alternative Albums ( Billboard ) [39] | 22 |
US Top Rock & Alternative Albums ( Billboard ) [40] | 46 |
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (KGLW) are an Australian rock band formed in 2010 in Melbourne, Victoria. The band's current lineup consists of Stu Mackenzie, Ambrose Kenny-Smith, Cook Craig, Joey Walker, Lucas Harwood, and Michael Cavanagh. They are known for exploring multiple genres, staging energetic live shows, and building a prolific discography.
Paper Mâché Dream Balloon is the seventh studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 13 November 2015 on the band's Bandcamp, and then a week later on Heavenly Records. The album was recorded with almost entirely acoustic instruments.
Oddments is the fourth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 7 March 2014 on Flightless. It peaked at No. 13 on the ARIA Albums Chart after being re-released on vinyl in November 2018. "Work This Time" remains the band's most listened-to track on Spotify, with over 40 million plays to date.
I'm in Your Mind Fuzz is the fifth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 31 October 2014 on Flightless Records in Australia, just over a week later on 11 November in the United States on Castle Face Records, and on 1 December that same year on Heavenly Records worldwide. At the J Awards of 2014, the album was nominated for Australian Album of the Year. I'm in Your Mind Fuzz was the band's first album to chart on the ARIA charts, peaking at number 85.
Polygondwanaland is the twelfth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. The album was released under a BY-ND Creative Commons license—the band uploaded the master tapes online for anyone to freely use. The fourth of five albums released by the band in 2017, it was released on 17 November 2017.
The discography of Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard consists of 25 studio albums, 16 live albums, three compilation albums, one remix album, three extended plays, 59 singles, and 60 music videos.
Fishing for Fishies is the fourteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 26 April 2019 by Flightless and ATO Records. The announcement of the album was accompanied by the release of the title track and its video.
Infest the Rats' Nest is the fifteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 16 August 2019 by the band's record label, Flightless, and ATO Records. The album sees the band using a heavy metal and thrash metal style, which they had only briefly touched upon on previous albums. Its lyrics address environmental themes such as climate change and ecological disaster through a cli-fi narrative involving space colonisation.
Chunky Shrapnel is a 2020 concert film and live album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard.
K.G. is the sixteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 20 November 2020 on their own label. The album was preceded by four singles, the first three were released alongside music videos uploaded to YouTube. K.G. is a sonic "sequel" to Flying Microtonal Banana, which was subtitled "Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 1" and also a direct predecessor to L.W..
L.W. is the seventeenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 25 February 2021 by Flightless. The album was preceded by 3 singles, which were released alongside music videos uploaded to YouTube. L.W. is a companion album to K.G. Explorations into Microtonal Tuning, Volume 2, released only four months before, and a continuation of microtonal themes first featured in Flying Microtonal Banana (2017).
Nicholas Roderick "Cook" Craig is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter and is a part of groups King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard and the Murlocs. Craig releases music under the name Pipe-Eye.
Butterfly 3000 is the eighteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 11 June 2021. It is the band's first album not released on Flightless Records, instead being released on the band's own label KGLW. It is their second studio LP of 2021, following February's L.W.. The album was described as "melodic" and "psychedelic" upon its initial announcement on 10 May, along with the words "cross-eyed autostereogram", in reference to the album art.
Made in Timeland is the nineteenth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 5 March 2022 on Flightless in Australia, and ATO in the U.S. Produced by Stu Mackenzie, the album consists of two fifteen-minute-long tracks, each taking one side of the record.
Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava is the 21st studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 7 October 2022 on KGLW.
Laminated Denim is the 22nd studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 12 October 2022; five days after their previous album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava.
Changes is the 23rd studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released on 28 October 2022. It is the third album the band released during October 2022 and fifth and final album to be released overall during the year.
"The Dripping Tap" is a song by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released in 2022 as the lead single from their twentieth studio album, Omnium Gatherum. Over 18 minutes in length, the song was first composed during studio sessions for Fishing for Fishies and re-recorded with all band members present following a period of remote collaboration during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Live at Red Rocks '22 is a live album by Australian-rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, released digitally on 24 January 2023 on Bandcamp. It compiles the band's three three-hour marathon shows at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado throughout late 2022. The album overall contains 86 tracks from throughout the bands entire career, clocking in at eight and a half hours, with each set being around three hours.