#meanwhile ITRN is a wrecking ball

[theleanbean]

Curious why you think ITRN has more stronger songs, which would you say? There's only a few songs on ITRN that stand out to me whereas PDA's weakest song is the most ITRN song on that album (Supercell). And what do you mean by more defined? Just coherent thematically wise or do you mean music wise?

Uh oh you've opened a page in my 1000 page essay on king gizzard and the lizard wizard's music.

Bear in mind this 50 page essay might seem like I hate PDA, I do not. It's just hard not to sound negative when comparing two things in which you prefer one over the other. I honestly think that PDA took the lessons that the band learned from ITRN and made it their own. The album sounds like they had a lot more fun with it, for better... or for worse....(jk)

My main reason on why I prefer ITRN over PDA is that I like the theme of Rats Nest a lot more than that of PDA. While albums don't necessarily need a message to be good, I think that ITRN having a well-defined message (and resolution) makes it more meaningful and memorable to me rather than PDA.

While both albums do have plot lines that are about humanity screwing themselves over. I feel like ITRN has a more grounded call-out, through that of the rich deforming the earth and leaving everyone else behind to die, is stronger than the metaphorical destruction that PDA has both by that of the dragon and motor spirit(?).

Initially, when it came out I didn't even care about ITRN, but once I sat down and listened to it with the lyrics open I was able to understand and appreciate it more. I have a hard time doing that because of prose that lies within PDA, the album uses a lot of tropes that are common in older forms of English and fantasy stories. Thematically, the prose actually fits really well with the fantasy setting and demonstrates the crazy writing capabilities of the band.

On the other hand, that style of writing feels too polite to me. It reminds me of the type of language that i heard at church (sorry gizz) to the point where when I'm just reading it alone, my brain puts it in the same cadence as the stuff that i heard at church that I also never processed into my brain. Like the most sterile way to talk about the horrors.

PDA doesn't have a "Satan points me to the rats nest moment" and the message (if there even is one) is obscured by language that I struggle with which makes me feel quite stupid because I don't even know what the dragon is a stand in for, or even if it's supposed to be a metaphor for anything. Because to me, the Motor Spirit is oil, but the witches are witches, and the dragon is a dragon, but if only 1/3rd of the album is a metaphor why should I think that it's saying anything important. The album has implications of a message but the fantasy elements just throw it completely off because I can't find connections between them and reality.

To me PDA comes across as silly while ITRN is more of an angry album. I have strong (and a bit fond) memories of leaving my customer facing jobs during covid, and just cranking ITRN in my car for my ride home. Maybe its not fair to compare an album that I have long term connection with, over one that just came out, but if we were voting without nostalgia Changes would have destroyed Gumboot Soup.

ITRN is an album that I can put on when I'm mad and I can work it out through some good loud music. Which is not something that I find that PDA does for me, because it doesn't make me feel anything at all, I can enjoy it, but it doesn't stick in me like many other songs and albums in King Gizzards Discography.

It doesn’t feel sinister like the first 30 seconds of Superbug or the last minute of hell does. The dragon talks about destroying the earth and gobbling up people, and I feel nothing.

By obscuring the message, PDA comes across as more goofy and is easy to see it as the album where witches screw up and summon an evil dragon that eats everyone. Which, if that were the story-line alone, it's easy for me to prefer ITRN and its more grounded extinction message. And if that isn't what the album is about then what is it about because I literally can't tell what its a metaphor for. You put on Planet B or Mars For the Rich, everyone knows what you are listening to. The space part in ITRN does not do that as much, but because of its structure it means that by the time Hell plays you've received a payoff. The first 4 songs present an issue, the next 4 songs present the response, and Hell is the resolution. PDA's resolution basically happens in Gila Monster, because none of the songs after that present anything new that you haven't previously been told in Gila Monster.

I honestly think that my main hang-up is that I want more out of it. It's got a strong concept but no real payoff and doesn't build itself up to anything. Supercell & Converge are the different executions of the same thing. Gila Monster, Dragon, & Flamethrower, are the same way. The album doesn't even resolve itself as it ends with what I'm assuming is a teaser. (Which don't get me wrong it does get me excited for the other album, but long-term once that other album is out, what's the point) PDA is presented and created like a concept album, but holds itself back by not doing that and resolving itself. If PDA was instead created as another album with individual songs that tell a story like Changes, Omnium, or IDPLML I think that I would be more forgiving towards it.

As for song enjoyment, in my personal opinion, Perihelion is probably one of the best songs King Gizzard has in their discography. In my listening to PDA there are songs that I enjoy, but with my current music tastes there aren't really any that stand out as something that I'll be listening to over and over long term.

Like I think that Motor Spirit has a cool guitar solo and Ambrose's singing in Gila Monster is funny yet enjoyable. I like Flamethrower's call back to Motor Spirit, but more than anything, that song makes me more excited for the 'techno' album that they keep teasing with its long synth ending.

Between the two albums though, the only song I skip in ITRN is Organ Farmer, while in PDA I don't really care for Supercell, Converge, & Dragon. Flamethrower is also an interesting song because until they get to the part where they start singing Flamethrower, I do not care for it, after that it's good though. I like how Flamethrower was that same guitar pattern that Dragon has so I don't have to listen to Dragon to hear it. And as mentioned earlier I very much enjoy the synth riff at the end of Flamethrower as well. It really makes me think hmmmmmmm...

The music videos for PDA are better though. As a fan of scifi gizz, I like how Galea made the dragon a robot, and they seem to actually have more ties into what the song is about. The way he animated the dragon to the guitar is so funny lmao, every time I hear it or that part in flamethrower all I see are its little leggies scurrying back and forth.

tldr: OP feels like ITRN's extinction message is a lot stronger than PDA's is and also that Perihelion is just an awesome song.