King Gizzard & The lizard Wizard

Infest The Rats’ Nest

FLightLess

Aussie psychedelicists go very metal.

No worries if a new King Gizzard album is not to your taste – there’ll be another one along in a minute. And some of their fanbase may rely on that consolation on this fifteenth album – their second this year – because Infest The Rats’ Nest ditches lysergic quirkpop for a crack at big-four era thrash metal. No, really.

It could have been as cringeworthy as a sludgecore band attempting reggae, but while tongues may edge towards cheeks on lyrics such as Perihelion’s reference to ‘eating sinners for dinner’, their passion for thrashin’ sounds pretty real.

Frontman Stu Mackenzie nails a Hetfield-esque gurgle from the galloping, squiddle-spattered opener Planet B, and it’s hard to resist the rat-a-tat riff and stuttering vocal of Self-immolate or the inisistent turbo-Sabbath churn of Mars For The Rich. Ambient free jazz next? ■■■■■■■■■■