Watch King Gizz tease new electronic album ahead of Field of Vision

When we spoke with King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard frontman Stu Mackenzie last year, he told us he couldn’t get enough of the band’s Eurorack, which the members have named Nathan.

“It’s just so deeply addictive and dense and endless, it is an absolute ocean with what you can do with that stuff,” he told Westword of the modal production equipment. “I still love guitar, but it reminds me of how I felt about playing guitar when I first started playing as a teenager. It just feels so brand-new … and we’re definitely doing things that I don’t think Eurorack was designed to do.”

Now, after performing rave sets with the bandmates gathered around Nathan for live production, Gizz announced on July 8 that its first electronic-music album is on the way. Dubbed “Alien Metal,” the album will be “out soon probably,” according to the announcement — hopefully before Gizz takes Buena Vista for its second Field of Vision festival Aug. 14-16.

With the announcement came a music video for the song “Level 5,” providing a taste for what’s to come. The band also shared a tracklist, with songs titled “Sapience,” “Alien Metal,” “Superheavy, Supercritical,” “For the Steel,” “Level 5,” “Rapid Alpha Decay,” “Uqt” and “Atomic Collapse.”

The newly released track is hard-hitting, weird and fast, exactly the type of music you expect when the band rolls out Nathan for its rave sets. The video features the bandmates performing tests on a grotesque alien. Watch below:

Of course, this isn’t the first time Gizz has explored new genres. After all, the band has 27 studio albums that feature forays into everything from blues rock to metal and prog to spaghetti western and even orchestral compositions on its latest, “Phantom Island.” That album’s release saw Gizz playing select shows across the U.S. with local orchestra collaborations, including a stop at the Ford Amphitheater accompanied by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

It was the group’s last stop before heading to Meadow Creek for the inaugural Field of Vision, which included a rave set, a drag night and acid yoga with one of the members’ moms. There was also tragedy at the festival, however, when attendee and massive Gizz fan Matt Gawiak passed away during one of the sets. But the band responded appropriately, dedicating “Float Along – Fill Your Lungs” to Gawiak the next evening as fans chanted his name.

Aside from FOV, King Gizz also announced a show at Under the K Bridge in New York, the same venue that inspired AEG’S Project 70 in Denver. And yeah, it’s probably worth the flight.