King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard unveil Alien Metal album

The Australian rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard has announced its 28th studio album, Alien Metal, marking a deep foray into electronic dance music. The album, set for release later this summer on the band's own pdoom Records, was previewed with the release of the single "Level 5" and its accompanying music video on July 8. The band will follow the album's release with a series of four consecutive shows in New York City in August, including two rock concerts and two dedicated rave performances.

Alien Metal was written and recorded entirely on a modular synthesizer rig the band has nicknamed "Nathan," which they have used extensively in live performances over the past year. The eight-track album represents a significant shift for the prolific group, which has explored numerous genres across its 15-year career. Vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Stu Mackenzie described the process of working with the synthesizer as completely rewiring his brain, leading him to want to relearn music from scratch. He noted the band scrapped more material for this project than any previous album, discarding what he called entire albums and universes of ideas before arriving at the final tracks.