ALIEN METAL IS REAL!
On August 23, 2026, under the K Bridge in Brooklyn, King Gizzard closed out its U.S. run by doing exactly what King Gizzard does best: turning the unexpected into something that feels completely natural.
The setting was already surreal. Under the towering infrastructure of the K Bridge, thousands of Gizzheads gathered as the Australian six-piece prepared to transform the space into something that looked less like a traditional rock venue and more like a giant, psychedelic underground rave. By the time the band took the stage, the distinction between concert and dance party had essentially disappeared.
This wasn’t a crowd waiting politely for songs to be played.
It was a dance mosh pit floor of fun and letting out your energy for positive reasons.
And King Gizzard was the DJ, the metal band, the psychedelic jam band and the electronic experiment all at once.
The Brooklyn performance was billed as a rave show, following the band’s three-night run at Forest Hills Stadium. It also arrived just days after the release of Alien Metal, the band’s 28th studio album — perhaps the clearest example yet of King Gizzard’s refusal to remain comfortable with anything they’ve already accomplished.
Alien Metal is, in many ways, exactly what its title suggests: futuristic, strange, heavy and completely otherworldly. But calling it simply an electronic album doesn’t quite capture what the band has created.
King Gizzard has never been interested in genre boundaries. They’ve gone from psychedelic rock to microtonal experimentation, thrash metal, jazz, folk, synth-driven music and sprawling jam-oriented compositions. With Alien Metal, they took another left turn — diving headfirst into electronic dance music and metaltechno.
The album grew out of the band’s recent rave experiments and their massive modular synthesizer setup, affectionately known as “Nathan.” Rather than treating the synthesizer as another instrument in the arsenal, the band essentially rebuilt its creative process around it. Stu Mackenzie has described the experience as something that “completely rewired” his brain, forcing him to forget what he knew about music and approach it from scratch.
Using instruments and the board was the way to go to truly improve that type of show. So much more play with sound.That is what makes this band so great. The drive to keep creating and connecting with earth and people also other worldly things is what keeps me and others coming back for more. The strive to do what no one else is doing. This group of sheep have surely left the flock and transformed into wolves on the hunt to create something special we all can enjoy.
