King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard – Le Risque Review

There is a pun somewhere in Le Risque but it is a Saturday morning, and nobody should have to unravel puns on a day like today. The sky is mopey and seagulls the size of traffic cones are poking holes in the skylight again. Turn away from the outer world and embrace the effective workmanship of workaholics King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. Le Risque, their latest track ahead of Flight b471, should be no surprise. Incapable of sitting down or taking a break, the ever-moving parts of the King Gizzard collective are back to surprise once more. Understanding their appeal is to engage with the joys of an ever-shifting image. King Gizzard has a consistency to their broadness. It makes jumping from genre to genre much easier for the band and the listener. Le Risque is another leap of faith. 

It’s a welcome change of pace, too. The band had stagnated somewhat during The Silver Cord. But now we know the reason. PetroDragonic overshadowed anything the band did that year, a masterful approach to monsters of the deep and now their attention has turned to boogie rock wonders. A short and sweet wonder is at hand. Le Risque is the thrill of listening to warm and upbeat rock. Within is the magic we continually seek out. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard have successfully implemented themselves in a sub-genre of broad rock and made it their own once more. This is trickier than believed and for them to do it so consistently is one of the great modern music triumphs. Flutters of Southern rock can be heard by those who lend an ear to finding it.  

Backing vocalists, a rising instrumental collection and a grave-digging hook continues the trend of King Gizzard’s ascending expectations. Where it should be impossible to appeal to the various rock genres, the band finds themselves comfortably in place. They lift the experienced vocals, the recoil of a gun and thinning bloods are all intact for Le Risque, but they do it with heart. An experience like no other comes through when listening to the prolific adaptations King Gizzard makes as an outfit. In a time where media literacy is in a rut, the likes of King Gizzard are working overtime to make genres of potentially alienating or uninteresting music accessible. Le Risque takes this titular risk and soars, an effective track from a band never resting. 

They will go down in history as some of the greats. Their chameleon-like effectiveness is not lost on this release. Great fun and all the usual slick riffs to be expected of a band with a consistent track record. Credit where it is undoubtedly due, Le Risque slots into place with the contemporaries it pulls from, the Vietnam War-era of rock and roll, where Creedence Clearwater Revival rocked the boat. Stu Mackenzie goes to great lengths in selling the fundamentals of this latest King Gizzard track and pulls it off with the grace expected of the band. For the group to vault the high bar they set for themselves time and again is impressive, and to come through with the risk and ride of Le Risque is a wonderful occasion.