THE ANNOUNCEMENT
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are releasing their 28th studio album *Alien Metal* later this summer, and yes, it’s a full EDM record †§. The Melbourne band scrapped more material for this one than any album in their catalog — Stu Mackenzie says they deleted “entire albums, entire universes” †§ before landing on eight tracks of techno, hardcore, house, and jungle filtered through their psychedelic lens †. Lead single “Level 5” is out now †§.
THE DETAILS
- *Alien Metal* drops later this summer 2026 on p(doom) label §
- Eight tracks: Sapience, Alien Metal, Superheavy Supercritical, Kill For The Steel, Level 5, Rapid Alpha Decay, Uqt, and Atomic Collapse §
- Zero guitars — all synths, built around a custom modular rig the band named Nathan †
- Joey Walker introduced Mackenzie to Eurorack modular synthesis, which “completely rewired” Mackenzie’s brain †§
- Two rave shows in New York: August 22 at Forest Hills Stadium and August 23 at Under The K Bridge Park in Brooklyn §
- Three sold-out shows at Field Of Vision II Festival in Buena Vista, Colorado, August 14–16 §
SUPPORT
Die Spitz opens Forest Hills shows August 20–22;.VRIL plays the Brooklyn rave August 23 §.
WHY IT MATTERS
SKIP IT if you’re still holding out hope they’ll go back to guitar-driven psych rock — Mackenzie literally said he forgot everything he knew about music to make this †§. The real surprise is how much they threw away: most bands would release the scrapped universes as bonus content or side projects, but King Gizzard deleted entire finished albums to get here.