New King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Release

Plus Umlaut Follow-up and Sword & Sorcery Trend

“Dragon” - New King Gizz Single

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have released a new single called “Dragon,” and I was ready to induct it into the Appendix LP canon after my first listen. It’s heavy, weird, and psychedelic - perfect for inspiring gonzo adventures for fantasy RPG games like Dungeon Crawl Classics. Check out these lyric excerpts…

The eye dilates
The air gyrates
A gate in the sky
A portal to die
A shriek from space
A mangled yell
Dragon descends
Welcome to hell

Terra firma
Earth murdered in the blink of an eye
Malevolent equivalent
Diabolify
Bending storms beneath its will
Firelight troglodyte
Dawn of eternal night

The following quote from the band’s press release indicates they are fully embracing thrash metal like they they did on their 2019 album Infest the Rats’ Nest:

“An off-the-cuff experiment, ‘Rats’ Nest’ went on to become one of the group’s favorites among their discography, and the album’s neck-snapping, devil’s-horn-throwing anthems remain highlights in Gizzard setlists to this day, stirring moshpits into ecstasy every night. It had been intended as a one-off, but ever since that maiden voyage into the feral wastelands of thrash, the Gizzards have heard the siren call of metal in the wind.”

You can watch the official video for the song here:

So good! The song is from the upcoming album Petrodragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation. Tell me you wouldn’t blind-buy an RPG product with that name! Here’s the album cover artwork:

They concurrently released a second song, the equally amazing “Gila Monster”…

I can’t wait for the full album to be released!

Umlaut Follow-up

"It's like a pair of eyes. You're looking at the umlaut, and it's looking at you."

-David St. Hubbins, Spın̈al Tap

Last month, I wrote about Jethro Tull’s new album and Ian Anderson’s opinions on the use of umlauts in rock music. Recently, A Journal of Musical Things posted a short blog post on umlaut bands. The author credits Blue Öyster Cult for originating the use of umlauts in band names. Amon Düül II’s debut album Phallus Dei was released in 1969, however, and predates the members of BÖC using the Blue Öyster Cult name.

Amon Düül II emerged from a West German art collective, and the origin of their name is less clear to me but seems to be grammatically correct. Therefore, I think it’s true that BÖC were the first to misuse a diacritic for purely aesthetic reasons. For what it’s worth, BÖC credits Alan Lanier with the idea of adding the umlaut, although rock critic Richard Meltzer claims he suggested it to the band’s manager, Sandy Pearlman.

Sword and Sorcery on the Upswing

I highly recommend Mark Finn’s The North Texas Apocalypse Bunker Weekly Report. He is a Robert E. Howard expert, and in his most recent newsletter he observes how the sword and sorcery fantasy sub-genre is on the upswing. He lists useful recommendations for recent anthologies and tabletop roleplaying games. I signed up to follow the Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age RPG Kickstarter that Mark recommended.