The cosmically prolific King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have been busy these last two decades, releasing 26 studio albums, which can vary from trash metal, Conceptual Psych Rock and the average electronic exploration. Their Newest effort, Flight B741 exists in a similar vain to the kooky classic rock and boogie woogie sounds of albums like Fishing For Fishies and Paper Mache Dream Balloon. Coming into this album, I had mixed expectations as this is a band that is hard to predict, especially since they have released some somewhat inconsistent albums recently.

Their 24th album and second in the metal genre PetroDragnic Apocalypse felt like a major step in the right direction within the quality of their genre expanding catalog where The Silver Cord was probably my least favourite album of theirs to date. The singles leading up to this album “Le Risque” and “Hog Calling Contest” were rather disappointing. I feel like they lacked Freshness compared to similar attempts at the blues-tinged boogie rock off of Paper Mache Dream Baloon and Fishing For Fishies. Hearing them out of context of the album didn’t help their case for a good listen, but hearing them within the context of the album did contextualize the feel-good rock sound they were going for with this album.

The song to kick off this album is the country rock-tinged Mirage City, Which is not my favourite song off this album, but not Because I don’t think its a good song. I think it’s well arranged and has a nice light-hearted energy. It’s because I don’t love the overproduced vocal sound on the main vocal or the corny blues guitar riffs that play out through the track. The band’s Classic Rock exploration continues on Antarctica, which is quite similar in tone to the track before but has slightly more interesting dynamics and instrumentation. Harmonica, Organ, and Campy Group vocals add another dose of goofiness to this album. The next track, Raw Feel is surprisingly not too different from the rest of the album but fun in its way; seeing that the band has become a staple in modern concert culture these songs seem to fit within their newly grateful dead-esque status and will translate well to their summer marathon shows at huge outdoor venues like the gorge as well as Forest Hills Stadium in New York. Field Of Vision has a fun rhythm but doesn’t push this album in any further progression than the rest of the tracks. Like I said earlier Hog Calling Contest and Le Risque were not my favorites when released as singles but made a bit more sense in the context of the album overall these tunes have much staying power in the band’s discography. Although I might seem a bit harsh, believe it or not, king gizzard and the lizard wizard used to be one of my favourite bands and even do this album is not my favourite, I do respect the band’s ability to not really give a shit about what people think and have a good time writing music with their friends, and that attitude is apparent on this album.

My favourite of the album is the title track, Flight B741, due to its melodic density, earwormy melodies, and a beautiful vocal performance from Multi-Instrumentalist Cook Craig. After the title track we are back to the Dad Rock riffs with one of the cheesiest vocal performances from Joey as well as its rather boring song structure, not a big fan of Sad Pilot. Rats In The Sky is a rather strong song with some bold key changes and funky rhythms leading us into the long-form rock n roll outro of Daily Blues. Another Blues rock jam with some fun changes and guitar leads Accends into kooky madness, which is one of the record’s more entertaining moments but still lacks any Freshness or new takes on the classic rock revival sound.

Pre-order Flight B741 by King Gizzard And Wizard Lizard HERE