The best word to describe The Epic is "revelation." I will freely admit I don't pay terribly close attention to new jazz releases; it's not that I believe the genre has peaked and there's really no reason to keep up with it, but I guess it's more like I really don't know where to start and most albums I have listened to didn't necessarily feel terribly important in the grand scheme. Then, along came this record. Give it all the superlatives you possibly can. Greatest jazz album in decades, sure. Among the all-time greats, probably. I feel like Kamasi really showed me that it's still worth digging. Even in a genre where seemingly all the greatest works are 60 years behind us, there's always going to be the chance that something will stand the test of time, and boy oh boy does this ever. I will never get over the sheer hubris to release a triple album, where literally any combination of these tracks of normal album length could be the greatest album of any year this generation. Rather than spreading out the music over time and milking the creative explosion as long as he could, Kamasi was just like "here ya go." Legend.

Reviewed on Tuesday, January 31st, 2023, 12:04pm.

As it stands today, in 2023, this has still got to be their crowning achievement and the perfect representation of the energy this band brings creatively. It's almost too much to handle in how it's a constant barrage of rock and roll, but in the best possible way. A teeth-grinder, for sure, and I mean that in a positive sense, as weird as that sounds. It's an album that is really the sum of its parts in how they crafted it to be a continuous loop, but it still contains some of Gizz's all-time great tracks like "Robot Stop" and "Gamma Knife."

Reviewed on Friday, January 6th, 2023, 8:28am.

Quintessential early Gizz. They could have just kept making dozens of albums like this and still held a special place in my heart. It's fast, it's furious, and it's super fun. There's not a bad track here, and most of them are flat-out great, in particular the opening suite of "I'm In Your Mind," "I'm Not In Your Mind," "Cellophane," and "I'm In Your Mind Fuzz." Non-stop psych-garage greatness.

Reviewed on Thursday, January 5th, 2023, 12:28pm.

A definite crowning achievement for King Gizzard. It's amazing to me that they are able to tap into such complexity and math-like song structures and rhythms while still maintaining incredible listenability. These songs are both very hard to pin down but also hypnotic and grooving. I will be interested to see when their career is over and we have like 146 albums to choose from, how near the top Polygondwanaland remains. If I had to guess, it would be near the very top, if not at the very top itself. "Crumbling Castle" and the "Horology" suite among the album's many stunning standouts.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, 2:07pm.

It never ceases to amaze me how this band can constantly reinvent themselves, dipping into any genre they want, somehow making music at the top level within that genre, all while keeping their core identity dripping from every track. This album might be the crowning achievement in that regard. It's probably going to grow to be one of my favorite metal albums of all time, from a band that really isn't even a metal band. Astonishing. Straight rippers from start to finish.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, 10:00am.

I do legitimately think there's some filler here, but the bookends are just too insanely strong with "Head On / Pill" and "Float Along – Fill Your Lungs." Especially with the band expanding more and more into live improvisation, these two tracks will continue to take on new life over their career, which doesn't really happen with a lot of the other tracks here. A couple of the middle tracks like "Let Me Mend the Past" and "Mystery Jack" are solid in their own right, but the clear stars of the show are the aforementioned bookends, and they're good enough to buoy this album near the top tier of their work.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, 8:21am.

I remember when this first came out and I was less versed in the band and what they were trying to accomplish, this album was baffling to me. The opening suite of "Altered Beast" / "Alter Me" left me confused as this wasn't the style of music I knew the band to make, and it's all presented as one song suite. I might have even turned it off for the time being and moved on to something else. Coming at this now, it's a hidden gem for me. Not only is the "Alter" suite a major highlight, but the more standalone tracks, if you could call them that, like "Lord of Lightning" and "The Balrog" are major standouts. It all comes together with the Han Tyumi-narrated "Murder of the Universe" suite, which really came into focus when I saw them close their set with it. It felt massive, apocalyptic, frightening, and awesome. Everything they were going for.

Reviewed on Monday, January 9th, 2023, 8:51am.

Much like Polygondwanaland is an accomplishment for making complexity feel groovy, Gizz's microtonal music, with this being the first full album of such material, feels accessible while using unorthodox scales and tuning. The album all flows as one cohesive unit, but there are definitely some distinctly awesome songs here, like the all-time classic "Rattlesnake," "Open Water," and "Sleep Drifter." If there is any knock on the album it's that maybe it gets a little unfocused toward the end, or if not unfocused, at least a little less song-focused. The high points on this are too undeniable, though. Just a little less than perfect.

Reviewed on Thursday, January 5th, 2023, 7:50am.

If the three other tracks were as good as "The River," we might be talking about an all-time favorite album here. I feel they accomplished basically that with Ice, Death... in 2022, but this lays some major fundamental groundwork for that album to occur. It cements my opinion that this band is at their best when they are loose, feeling each other out, like a jam band, but doing things in their own style unlike any jam band out there. It's almost rhythmic jamming over taking turns soloing, which I think works incredibly well. Each song feels like an organism, shifting and pulsing as it moves along. Seeing them play "The River" back in October was a highlight for me for sure, and really showcased what I'm talking about above. Cavs wholly led the jam and the band followed his lead, all working together to build a big soundscape rather than something flashy.

Reviewed on Friday, January 6th, 2023, 12:52pm.

For the album that is somewhat of an afterthought in King Gizz's stellar 2017 run of albums, there is actually a lot to love here. I think the fact that Gumboot Soup is not saddled to a "theme" works in its favor, as it gets to showcase a little bit of everything that they can do, and some of these tracks stand tall inside the various styles that have become lynchpins for the band.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, 1:25pm.

I remember when this album came out, it was right on the heels of Infest the Rats' Nest, which I feel completely turned my perception of the band on its head, and it felt like a bit of a step backward. I think I had convinced myself that Gizz just needed to become a full-on thrash metal band, which I see now does them a big disservice, and this album proves it. It's a completely different style, still sticking with the environmental theme that I enjoy, but eschewing heavy metal for a kaleidoscope of psych. There are some real gems here like the somewhat goofy title track, "Boogieman Sam," the propulsive swamp-stomp of "This Thing," and the pulsing electro of the album closer, "Cyboogie." I wouldn't say it has any all-time classic tracks, but meshes really well as a whole.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, 9:00am.

I actually think there is a raw energy captured here that isn't necessarily present on their debut LP, which gives it the 1-point bump. The looseness of these songs lends itself very well to the way they're recorded and played, and in some ways that energy makes it feel a little bit more essential to their essence than any kind of songwriting could have done. The "woos" are abundant, the songs are fun, and it's a great time - basically a Gizz show in spirit.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, 11:51am.

Another kind of mish-mash album like Gumboot Soup that actually works really well. Some low points for sure, but, as is the case with seemingly all of these albums, there is at least one classic track on here. "Work This Time" and "Hot Wax" both belong on the shortlist of the best Gizz tracks. Though I do hope that these days are behind the band and this album is not one I reach to very often unless I'm doing a full discography run, it definitely has its place in their history.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, 8:04am.

This is probably the most definitive embodiment of my least favorite lane of Gizz, which is still just awesome music when the mood strikes. It even has a few really classic tracks like "Trapdoor" and "Sense." Just always gonna prefer a little bit more fuzz in my Gizzard.

Reviewed on Tuesday, January 10th, 2023, 3:20pm.

This style of Gizz's is probably the one that I reach for the least. I enjoy the flow of the album and overall it's an enjoyable experience, especially the middle section where Han-Tyumi makes an appearance. Something like "Tezeta" hits really nicely, as it's a really unique sound and structure that feels very intentional. Some of the rest of Sketches comes off as kind of generic light psych rock.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 4th, 2023, 3:00pm.

A solid, if forgettable, early effort from the Gizz. It's actually hard to believe how far the band has come from this style. I wasn't aware of the band at this time but I never would have said they'd become a favorite, if not the favorite, band of mine. Having said that, "Sea of Trees" and "Cutthroat Boogie" are still really solid tracks, even in the scope of their full output.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, 11:45am.

This honestly has no right to be as good as it is, even if it's ultimately very minor in King Gizzard's catalog. If the band didn't churn out albums at an astronomical rate, doing something this gimmicky would probably be way more of a waste of time, but it's kind of a fun blip on the radar as-is. Of their very early albums, this one is pretty solid, and really does stand out by way of the old western narration going on. The earlier albums of somewhat generic garage rock fare don't stand out like Eyes Like the Sky does in that context, so for that it's notable.

Reviewed on Wednesday, January 11th, 2023, 10:47am.