METALHEAD ENVIES| KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD| "HAN TYUMI & THE MURDER OF THE UNIVERSE"

[@Lena-di2ln]

But the monologue is the best part 😭

[@Gavril007]

Yes it is.

[@DCslowmurda]

Ah finally, the pinnacle of Gizz in my humble opinion. I absolutely adore this whole section of the album, still get chills up my spine when it reaches it's ending. Thanks for getting around to reacting to it!

[@mysterioushiggs]

MY ONE ALBUM VOTE, I don't know why more people aren't saying it! But you should check out their album Polygondwanaland. It's a polyrhythm album. And the first track (Crumbling Castle) is one of their greatest tracks ever. BUT BE AWARE: You're gonna have to break it up kinda like you did Altered Beast. It's broken into 3 tracks per part, but you'll want all 3 in the same video. The order is: 1) Crumbling Castle 2) Polygondwanaland, The Castle In The Air, Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet 3) Inner Cell, Loyalty, Horology (best set in my opinion) 4) Tetrachromacy, Searching..., The Fourth Colour

[@jakeconibeer]

100% this!

[@Chabooki]

Its so good

[@Gavril007]

As a fellow musician here who cares more about instruments than vocals, this monologue is freaking amazing. But i understand your view point.

[@cheevocabra]

"When certain things are repeated a certain way it begins to drive me nuts. Drive me insane." *Me, nervously eyeing Rattlesnake...*

[@rockdariff]

😂

[@nothinginmyway5568]

Don't resist, give in to the rattle 🙌

[@maidentallica]

And yet he loved it!

[@acidhydra101]

tbh your interpretations and opinions of MOTU are REALLY interesting, I for one LOVE the title track, imo it's the song that defines the album, (though Lord of Lightning/Floating Fire is also a personal favourite), so your contrasting opinions on that kinda thing are really interesting to me maybe it's just my love of writing, as I can see how it wouldn't hit considering with this saga in particular it feels more like music written *around a story* rather than the other way around like with most music

[@eostwix]

jason galea is the guy who does all their album art, merch, and the majority of music videos and tour posters. hes a genius

[@AyyyGabagool]

Jason puts in so much work

[@tangerinecarrots4282]

because of all the spoken word, Murder of the Universe was probably the King Gizzard record that took the longest for me to fully love. i liked the idea, but like you i would’ve rather just had the music without the speaking. but the more you listen to it the more the lyrics are internalized and the whole thing comes together. it’ll also become easier to appreciate once you listen to more of their music and hear some of the references throughout the album. also for the next album Nonagon Infinity, i recommend watching the music videos for the songs that have them. Jason Galea, the artist for the band, does some really dope work for them!

[@kyles5513]

Jason is the f'ing man.

[@Chilled_Dan]

The monologue took some time to grow on me, but after seeing it live it became so epic😭 I think you’ll really love Infest the Rats Nest since it’s more metal focused

[@RitzPlays]

Nonagon was my first KG album and when i heard MOTU for the first time i also thought the spoken word was a bit too much for me. But seeing them live with Leah Senior last year at Red Rocks was eye opening and now im finding more and more to like about this and other stuff i didnt fancy before. Next album recs after Nonagon- Fishing for Fishies (completely different style but done exceptionally well) followed by Polygondwanaland and lastly Infest the Rats Nest.

[@ceegeeayee]

Ice Death Planets Lungs Mushrooms and Lava

[@AyyyGabagool]

TBH when this album came out in 2017, I didn't enjoy it at all and paid attention to the other 4 KGTW albums that came out that year. But then I came back to it in 2022 and realized how damn catchy the entire thing is. The more you listen to gizz, the more you'll get it

[@mysterioushiggs]

"The more you listen to gizz, the more you''ll get it" My god... truer words may never have been spoken.

[@AyyyGabagool]

KGTW greatest contribution to rock is taking everything you know about music and bending it to create something new and unique.

[@mysterioushiggs]

I keep finding myself agreeing with your comments lol

[@AyyyGabagool]

@@mysterioushiggs haha I just feel like something clicked and I finally understand the badassery of what gizzard Is doing to modern rock music, and it's beautiful.

[@drake9634]

Check out cardiacs

[@linn_iker]

If you liked PetroDragonic, you should try Infest The Rats Nest. It's also metal and has yet another fantastic story behind it.

[@bitterbum1]

I know that the spoken word kind of adds a layer on top of the instrumentation, and that layer can overshadow the rest...but imo it adds value to repeated listening. As you listen more and more, you notice the smaller moments and details. And even after that, once you understand all of the little elements, you start to listen to it in a "cohesive" way--like listening to a chord and not paying attention to the individual notes, but the atmospheric quality presented by the interactions of all the cogs in the machine. Also, "I am a black hole shitting into the void" is my favorite quote of all time

[@planet7085]

I get the feeling of wishing that they didnt "ruin" the song by overlaying a text-to-speech voice, or making vomit noises, etc. However, I think the deeper you get into Gizz, the more you can go back and really appreciate the concepts within each album, especially because the thing you're missing on this album is likely to be found on a different one nust the way you like it.

[@LucasLow-Falstad-wl6io]

Changes is amazing I vote for that

[@oImighty]

Welp, I love the closer on this album. But that's what the music's all about: to each their own! Hope you'll have a look into *Butterfly 3000* next. It's the complete opposite of what you've heard from them yet. There is one monologue at the end, though xD

[@TheDaily464]

They can be repetitive. But those songs grow on you as you said. The narrative on murder of the universe is the key part. I feel you are sorta missing the point

[@beanboybobby]

I understand and agree with your frustrations with this album. When I saw you picked this as your second album I was worried it would turn you off KG. I'm not sure this should be anyone's second king gizz album. I might get hate for this but for me it ranks in my bottom 10 albums. I'm glad to hear you're doing Nonagon next as I think itll iron out your frustrations. You're not going to love every album and that's fine; No sane king gizz fan does. Love the reactions man you're killing it.

[@beanboybobby]

Oh and after Nonagon Infinity, my vote is for Omnium Gatherum to get a more diverse sense of their sound, then a return to thrash with Infest The Rats' Nest

[@tangerinecarrots4282]

just found out that I’m insane lol

[@odstbane]

Both of these comments are my thoughts exactly. Motu is pretty hit or miss in my experience. Nonagon is a solid next choice but Omnium will give you a diverse set of music to react to and from there you can pick which style you want to hear more of

[@lovablemonty]

Well this just means that he has no where to go but up

[@neonchez]

one of the more interesting things about the gizzverse is that the albums are not in chronological order. its up to the listener to decide what order the albums should be heard. to me Murder of the Universe has to be the final album(chronologically). how can you have anything after the universe is murdered? the album takes place after humans have fucked up not only the earth but the entire universe. one of the running themes throughout King Gizz's music is every time humans try to solve their problems they only make it worse. what you are hearing at the end of this album is Han-Tyumi has finally succeeded in leaving his humanity, becoming a machine, which allows him to tap into the code of the universe and shut it off. the monologue at the end is Han's consciousness expanding to fill everything, fill the entire universe, become one with it and resetting to nothing. its the only way to fix all the horrors humanity has caused. then(in my opinion) the story just starts over. another theme running through all of King Gizz's music and destruction and renewal. the cyclical nature of things. including having an album(nonagan infinity)that loops back on itself. the songs on Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava seem to be largely about this also. with mushrooms feeding off dead things but allowing for nutrients and such to be returned to the earth for new life, volcanos being a destructive force but also the process the planet uses to stay geologically active. so i dont see why the story of the Gizzverse is any different. essentially, its about humans fucking up the earth after repeatedly making things worse, then fucking up the entire universe in their efforts to fix the problems they caused. leading to the only solution, The Murder Of The Universe. and thus a new beginning which humanity will fuck up again, and again, forever. in a never ending cycle of rebirth, destruction, death, and rebirth again. also, i don't know what people were talking about this album being similar to Nonagan. Nonagan is great. i would also recommend Infest the Rats Nests. very thrashy like Dragonic

[@Mana_Screw]

You have the right not to love everything. Glad you found KGLW and love them in general. :)

[@Botahbohlp]

Han-tyumi the acronym for Humanity

[@kyles5513]

Whoa, you're right.. jesus I love this band...

[@tangerinecarrots4282]

fyi, it’s anagram* not acronym. acronyms represent a long title or name, like NASA, or KGATLW!

[@Mana_Screw]

Listen to "polygondwanaland" album, thank me later.

[@john757]

The vinyl version I have of this record actually includes a little lyric book with art. Pretty sick!

[@maidentallica]

HELLO. MY NAME IS HAN-TYUMI. I AM A CYBOOGIE!

[@donkeydongle3691]

Murder of the Universe is really some heavy stuff, specially as a second album. you have to understand: in 2017 the guys promised 5 albums and they delivered 5 albums. Murder of the universe is so dripping, black, spongy and gross that it makes it terrific again. The lyrics, the links between the three chapters and the musical Easter Eggs, which tie in with other albums, are a plus. But as a second album for a newcomer... just too much and wrong. I definitely recommend Nonagon Infinity as the next album as this album is understood by countless people as the quintessence of King Gizzard. After that I would go to Polygondwanaland & only then touch the next trash metal album Infest The Rats Nest again. King Gizzard is primarily a garage band with heavy kraut, prog and psy elements & it is essential to understand where their sound comes from and where their strengths lie. Of course, trash metal is also part of it, but I recommend putting it later as a special dessert. Edit: Highly recommend to have the lyrics beside you while enjoying the music.

[@mysterioushiggs]

I don't think you need to be apologetic for any of your opinions, but I do have 2 comments for you going forward with King Gizzard: 1) You'll find that King Gizzard is *ALWAYS* changing it up. You mentioned how it was weird to come to this album after the last one, and you're totally right. But get used to that with them lol, because *pretty much* every album is different. And 2) You questioned why they do stuff like "Balrog balrog balrog" when they can clearly do sick vocals. To me, knowing all of their music, they use the vocals more like an instrument instead of just singing along. (I hope that makes sense lol...) So you get some REALLY cool and sometimes different sounding vocals (all this spoken word being an example of something they tried out with this album), but then similar to just strumming the same chord on a guitar, you get some repeating-the-same-phrase-over-and-over. I don't know, it's not for everyone. :) Like I said, I don't think you need to be sorry for you opinions on any of it. You like what you like, and that's that. If nothing else, I hope you can keep enjoying just seeing the crazy shit these guys come up with! lol

[@RandyMoonihoawa]

I highly recommend checking out Polygondwanaland next. Nonagon Infinity is an amazing album, but it's more of the same high-intensity, repetitive, never-ending rock that you seemed to get tired of on this album. The whole thing is designed to be played from start to finish on repeat, so the tempo very rarely changes throughout, and a lot of the songs blend so seemlessly that you don't even know when the next track started if you weren't paying attention. It'd be best to come back to that album later, after checking out some of their more diverse projects. Polygondwanaland is waaaay different than anything you've listened to so far. It's their most 70s prog-inspired album, and has some of their best work. Like MotU though, it has a "way" it needs to be listened to: Crumbling Castle Polygondwanaland The Castle in the Air Deserted Dunes Welcome Weary Feet Inner Cell Loyalty Horology Tetrachromacy Searching... The Fourth Colour

[@krentzplays]

Omnium Gatherum next! It has the biggest variety and some really crazy stuff on it! (comment again because my suggestion was buried at the bottom of my last comment)

[@JOEJETSON]

INFEST THE RATS NEST. Think you’d like it a lot more.

[@LaDarko]

Fishing for Fishies You really need to see what else they can offer. Perfectly great album for variety and a taste of what they can do with out being too repetitive.

[@Sergei_WHY]

Laying in a cool bath in complete darkness, keeping a steady concentration of several funni molecules in my blood with a vape, and listening to this part through wireless headphones, I could feel the Universe being murdered. One of my favorite experiences. I loved the spoken word parts in this one even in the daylight; wouldn't have been nearly as interesting to me without them :)

[@AyyyGabagool]

Yes, the descriptiveness of the narration and the mounting chaos of the instrumental paints a literal perfect mental image. its like a Da Vinci painting in your head.

[@justin_laclair]

Thanks for covering this album man! I'd definitely suggest reacting to their live condensed version of this on KEXP. It's one of the videos that got me hooked on them and it goes hard live. Their technical abilities shine and there's much less of the spoken word. kzbin.info/www/bejne/fWa9ZZWjlsSni68

[@lovablemonty]

So fucking fire dude 😎

[@maciekwoyda870]

For someone who has listened to two KGLW albums, you seem relatively unsurprised anyway. It's a good sign. I vote for 'Omnium Gatherum'. It will allow you to better understand this extraordinary group of musical omnibuses and will be a good stepping stone to the next albums. 'Gaia' could be the icing on the cake for you. Despite the bizarre content, this is one of my favorite albums.

[@kyles5513]

You're pretty much right. This band f'ing jams.

[@vulturescircle]

Good job sticking through it and giving an honest review. I thought MOTU was pretty bland the first time I heard it too.., it’s definitely a grower through listening to their other music and letting it ferment. I know you’re looking to get a full scope of the band, but I really hope you listen to infest the rats nest (starting with planet b) sooner then later!

[@epicclam]

Listen to polygondwanaland. It has probably their best song (crumbling castle) and is very proggy

[@maidentallica]

You will grow to love Han-Tyumi, I used to be against it but here we fuckin go!

[@dillionbowman672]

From what I know of a few of their newer albums, you're probably close to spot on that these evolved out of the band jamming together. The album "Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava" 's song each feature a unique Greek mode and were build from hours of the band jamming together.

[@AlexTheKid48]

As much as I love the spoken word passages, I've always hoped they would do a special vinyl release with both the regular version and an instrumental version, but I believe I read somewhere, maybe from an ama or something that they don't ever plan on doing so. I've also always really enjoyed hearing songs from this album live! I hope that you will get a chance to go see one of their shows soon, as the live experience is something else! I'll also put my vote in for Omnium Gatherum as its a real mix, although i do have one concern, but I'm not going to say it as dont want to taint or spoil anything haha.

[@maidentallica]

Han-Tyumi's voice is Natural Reader's app Charles' if you want to shit into the void yersel

[@andresr1995]

Brother, King Gizzard is a jam band, thats just how they started and that's how they is. A lot of their songs are too long and too repetitive to most people. But i think you'd really enjoy their live performances and music vids since you're actually a musician. Doing full album reviews will definitely get tedious and annoying. In my opinion if you want to have fun in your vids; just stick to live and music videos. Murder of the Universe was not a great album to start on.. watch this link, it'll show you their jam vibe while giving you an insight of how their live shows can be, I'll leave it up to you to make a reaction or not, it's them back in 2014ish when they were youngsters and ill let you know its a jam so itll be repetitive but the jam is great kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH6cgKJ7isydqLM its the Mind Fuzz Medley

[@lovezvidz]

Infest the Rats Nest Nonagon Infinity Polygonwanaland I think you'll like Infest the Rats Nest the best, it's closest to PetroDragonic Apocalypse. Besides that, Nonagon Infinity and Polygonwanaland are heavi(er), have more vocal complexity and have interesting instrumentation I think you'll enjoy from a proggy prospective

[@tritonneptune3834]

nanagon infinity is like one long song, it's great but if you're a bit fatigued from that type of stuff check out Iron Lung, Crumbling Castle or Magma (their live KEXP performance) imo better than the album version by a mile.

[@HMan2828]

So, the story of this chapter is Han-Tyumi is the last human to be born from a womb, turned into a cyborg, at the end of his life. He's alone with a shred of humanity left. He's bored, and misses being human. So he builds a machine to let him experience humanity. It's a soup of nanobots in soy protein grown in a vat. He gives his creation intelligence, but it's not happy, and refuses to participate in Han-Tyumi's experiment. So, Han-Tyumi plugs himself in and assumes direct control. Experiment goes awry, nanobot soup escapes the vat and consumes everything around him. Keeps consuming and growing until everything is vomit and destroys the entire universe in the process. This chapter ties in with the Polygondwanaland album, the story on that album follows a protagonist on some planet while Han-Tyumi is in the process of consuming everything. "Crumbling Castle" is a direct reference ("Water's rising up, thick and green, crumbling castle, Inching closer each century, crumbling castle") to the last song ("Castles crumble in landslides and I munch the rubble, it tastes good"). It also ties in with Nonagon Infinity (Robot Stop is basically Han-Tyumi going from human to cyborg). Nonagon Infinity sounds nothing like this album though. The overarching narrative between the albums is what makes this one so great.

[@kyleaguiar3447]

I didn't jive with MOTU in full until I saw Balrog live then went back for a re-listen. They started as a garage rock band so even as they evolve past that genre repetition is still part of their formula. Edit: wanted to also say when getting into microtonal gizz most including me recommend FMB. I think you might like KG and LW more cause its more variety less repetitive.

[@nothinginmyway5568]

Yo if you love petrodragonic definitely give Infest The Rat's Nest a go Both albums share similar themes and genres, with ITRN being a little bit more raw and "to-the-point"

[@Khaosjdub]

OMNIUM GATHERUM. I know I’m late to this reaction but I really think omnium would be a great one for you to react to. It’s a mix of basically every type of style the king gizz does in one album. Every song is wildly different and would be a fun one for you to see what Gizz is capable of

[@BlasphemousVerses]

Murder of the Universe grew on me. Concept albums are usually King Gizz's strongsuit and some nail it more than others. Nonagon Infinity has a LOT of callbacks and repetition however it is the best album they've made imo.

[@ericleventhal]

I would definitely recommend Polygondwanaland as the next album to tackle. It's their most prog rock album and will definitely scratch the Pink Floyd and Yes itch. The song Witchcraft from PetroDragon is similar in style to Polygondwanaland. As others have mentioned, the album is four suites, the first of which is one song (crumbling castle). The other three are split between three songs each.

[@john757]

If you didn't cover all of Infest the Rats Nest, that'd be a good move! Beyond that you've gotta do Nonagon Infinity and I'm in your Mind Fuzz. I think you'd like Ice, Death Planets (ect.) as well and even their different stuff like Butteryfly 3000

[@elina.livilou]

I agree with other comments that MOTU is ALOT to go through as the second album and I agree with you on the monologue, I wish there were a bit less of them. Omnium gatherum is one of my favorites, so diverse and every single song is a banger 💥 But you absolutly also should do Nonagon Infinty 💫 since it’s an iconic KGLW album. Then tap in to one of the microtonal once, they are all great! (Flying Microtonal banana, KG and LW). Their jammiest album would be Ice death planets lungs mushrooms and lava 🧘‍♀️

[@TheDaily464]

My intro into King Gizzard was KG. Musically, it is very interesting.

[@krentzplays]

I've been hoping to get a remaster of this album without the spoken word for YEARS, but I doubt it's going to happen. But I agree - the narration is too much. I'm a big King Gizzard fan, but this is not one of my favorite albums. It is still early in their career though. I think it's a really cool creative experiment, but it really feels like 3 or 4 good songs with a lot of bloat. I still say you should review Omnium Gatherum next!

[@Furao80]

I can't wait for you to hear Paper Mache Dream Balloon, haha

[@crustytaco123456789]

I would recommend polygondwanaland next

[@pizzarellayt]

When you get to Nonagon, I would not suggest listening on KZbin. I won't spoil it, but Spotify would be a better option (maybe with an adblocker if you don't want to buy premium). My first Gizz song was Rattlesnake, which is an incredibly repetitive song, like The Balrog but for nearly 8 minutes, and I love it. For an album suggestion, I'd suggest Paper Mache Dream Balloon. Its the exact opposite of this album. One more thing, this album has a sort of Behind The Scenes video titled "A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLANET EARTH"

[@HenNgTr]

Would love to see how you feel about Crumbling Castle

[@rockdariff]

Im on nonagon infinity atm but Im working my towards it for sure

[@boltron7674]

Han-Tyumi is an anagram for Humanity. If the repetitive lyrics aggravate you, prepare yourself, they do it a lot but I think you’ll get used to it. As for next album, Nonagon Infinity would still be a good choice as it might be when most of the fan base first discovered them. Or for something completely different do their first microtonal album, Flying Microtonal Banana. Or Paper Mache Dream Balloon - acoustic Or Butterfly3000 - electronic

[@magma_fire_bagwan]

Anagram, not acronym. Just tryna help

[@ElricZin]

Fishing for Fishies

[@sebastianorellana6593]

Nonagon Infinity next! You have soooo many good albums to react to from these guys

[@BeddyT]

You gotta do Gumboot Soup next!

[@lovablemonty]

Bro. When ever you get to microtonal flying banana album from gizz. Let it be know they came out with that album first early 2017 and then MOTU dropped at the same time as when they went on an American late night show. I forgot which one. Imagine if they showed microtonal album instead? A lot more fans i feel would have caught on cause its an easier album to get into in my opinion.

[@norsoundjay]

I had a hard time getting into MotU when it got released, one of my favorite gizz records now though. Would recommend you checking out Polygondwanaland, Nonagon Infinity and Infest the Rats Nest (in a sense, PDA is basically a combination of all these three)

[@katzyy4851]

This song live is nastyy

[@trapdooroodpart]

i agree with you, the spoken word sometimes hides the music too much, that's what keeps me from enjoying this album as much as others. based on your thoughts, you might better leave nonagon for later, although you will definetly dig it (second favorite of mine after Flying Microtonal Banana). I would confidently say you will enjoy Infest the rat's nest & Polygonwanaland. Cheers!

[@NaarmGigsIdiot]

Yeah you're right about the jam lmaoo They come up with some loose concepts then just jam a lot and see what sticks.

[@AyyyGabagool]

huge kudos to trying to improve your setup

[@red_apocalipse]

You are a metal guy so I recommend listening to their other metal album infest the rats nest. Cheers

[@RADCONDESIGN]

If you want to go completely left field I would say listen to Butterfly 3000 next. Otherwise Infest the Rats Nest will be more up your alley.

[@planet7085]

Also, get KZbin Premium, kill the ads dead.

[@geoffadavis]

Nonagon Infinity had the most comments last time. Stop doing it dirty. You will love it. No spoken word. Trust me

[@maidentallica]

"I don’t usually play favourites, but I think this is my favourite Gizz record. Mostly because it’s the stupidest and ugliest thing we’ve ever done. I knew this record would be liked by some and loathed by many. I didn’t mind - this was the music I’d been hearing in my head that no one had made yet. I hope one day we make something studiper and uglier, but ‘till then… you’ve got MOTU. Love, Stu"

[@borisahsmann7190]

I would indeed check out Nonagon Infinity next. It is a classic and I'm pretty sure you'll like it. From what you've heard on this album, it sounds most like the first chapter, but still pretty different I would say.

[@Botahbohlp]

Infest the rats nest next!

[@gusgus420]

Bruh I don't want to be a pessimist but if you didn't like the Han-Tyumi monologue (😢) you most likely haven't or won't understand Gizz anymore 😂