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From the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Nonagon Infinity

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

2016

Nonagon Infinity
Album Summary

This album has been submitted by a user and is not included in any edition of the book.

Nonagon Infinity is the eighth studio album by Australian psychedelic rock band King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. It was released on 29 April 2016 on ATO Records. The album is designed to play as an "infinite loop" where each song segues into the next and the last song segues into the first, so that "the record can be played front-to-back-to-front-to-back and the sound won't break". The title is a reference to this idea, as there are nine songs on the album that could be played "infinitely". Considered the band's breakthrough album, Nonagon Infinity earned positive reviews from critics and gave King Gizzard greater international exposure, while becoming their first release to make the top 20 of the Australian albums chart. The album "controversially" won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2016, with some accusing the ARIA of miscategorizing Nonagon Infinity. The album won Best Album at the Music Victoria Awards of 2016. The band has referenced or expanded upon various aspects of the album on subsequent projects. The opening track, "Robot Stop", briefly features use of microtonal tuning, a technique explored further on the band's follow-up, Flying Microtonal Banana, while themes from Nonagon Infinity were revisited in "The Lord of Lightning vs. Balrog" suite from their 2017 album, Murder of the Universe.

Wikipedia

Rating

3.34

Votes

122

Genres

  • Rock

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Reviews

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Jan 23 2024
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5

I like King Gizzard, can't believe they don't have wider acclaim across the music scene, they seem to have a pretty big online following. I might like Rat's Nest more than this album but this is still great. 9/10

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Jan 23 2024
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5

I really liked this, and I feel like I've been stingy with my ratings at times. So in keeping with the theme, I'm going to give this a 9.99 repeating out of 10.

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Jan 22 2024
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4

I bought into Nonagon's gimmick for the year it was in heavy rotation, starting on a new track each time. It doesn't add much to the record. Gizz pull from infinite energetic musics to make this record, making it probably the most interesting starting point in their discography. Can't decide whether I would quibble about particular albums' inclusion in a list like this; Like all the projects, this one is a uniform more-than-solid.

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Feb 14 2024
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4

I liked this much more than I thought I would. A bit too frenetic for me at times, but a lot of interesting stuff going on. Strangely reminiscent of progressive rock at times, e.g. Yes. Will listen again. 4 stars.

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Jan 23 2024
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5

Not my first foray into the realm of the Lizard Wizard. Just a damn good damn for music nerds, perverts, and weirdos (which I am)

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Mar 14 2024
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5

Yeah, I can appreciate what is going on here. My biggest beef with KG&TLW is their wall of sound, but the shortness of the album makes it much more reasonable. Good add.

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Mar 14 2024
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5

My favorite album, by my favorite artist. I remember when I first listened to this album, after meaning to check out "that lizard band" for a while. I put it on while doing some mindless work at my job, and it absolutely blew me away. I think I listened to the loop of the album 3 times in a row that day. And it's been looping in my mind ever since.

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Apr 27 2024
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5

NPR is responsible for introducing me to the Gizzverse - they had this LP streaming on their website, and I couldn’t ignore the band name, so I gave it a listen. Thus was my introduction to King Gizz and their distinctive brand of fucking insanity. As far as gimmicks go, the endless loop album has definitely been done before. What makes Gizz’s attempt so memorable is how relentless the entire 41 minute run is. Even in its gentler moments, the album has at least one out of the seven band members playing their ass off on any given instrumental. These moments, however, are more the exception than the rule – usually all 7 Lizard Wizards are going at once, helmed by Stu Mackenzie’s inspired yipping on top of a massive slate of guitar and double drums. Couple this in with some simple but catchy garage-rock songwriting, and each track is left with a distinct personality plus some insanely good riffs. Of course, it’s the sum of the parts that makes this such a great LP. I’ve always been a fan of artists bleeding tracks into one another, and KG pulls that off flawlessly here. Even better is the use of consistent motifs outside the track they star in, almost as a short intro or easter egg for what’s coming down the line. The whole album thus feels remarkably solid and consistent, a canon in itself. It’s a remarkably satisfying listen that at once is a whole meal in itself while leaving you itching for another loop – a record store in Chicago had this LP’s genre listed only as “fucking incredible,” and I think that’s a fitting accolade all in all.

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May 29 2024
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5

This album is the perfect starting point for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Their particular brand of progressive neo-psychedelia just works. It plays with dynamics, rhythm, and reoccurring musical and lyrical themes throughout this infinite loop of a record. The band's influences are obvious, but they avoid sounding like a rip-off and are able to create something unique. They are incredibly prolific but manage consistency well.

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Mar 04 2024
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3

A fun romp. I love the ambition, but I don't think this is infinitely playable.

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Aug 11 2024
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3

This record only really does one thing, to the extent that songs are pretty difficult to distinguish from one another. The one thing is quite pleasant and accessible 2010s/20s rock music, so is not unenjoyable. Rating: 2.5 Playlist track: Robot Stop Date listened: 10/08/24

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Jan 30 2024
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2

the first song was pretty good, but then it seemed to continue on for the rest of the album. Very samey samey samey samey

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Feb 13 2024
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2

I can understand why someone would want this in this list. When I first saw them live I was really impressed. Hearing it now, I can still understand why. But it is not really my kinda music anymore. Sorry guyz!

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Feb 22 2024
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2

One of most overrated acts in the last 10 years

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Apr 29 2024
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2

Meh. It wasn't that good. Nothing was memorable about it.

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Sep 28 2024
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5

Nothing else to say but that King Gizz are THE best band that will ever exist in my lifetime. Have been procrastinating on putting forward my user submitted only because I can't decide which gizz album to choose. Good to know Nonagom has already been selected. Also bonus fact was in a hospital today and walked passed a sign pointing in the direction of a Gamma Knife, had no idea it was a real thing.

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Feb 16 2024
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4

King Gizz are brilliant musicians with a truly unique sound. Not our favourite King Gizz album (Butterfly 3000), but its unique concept—that it has no beginning and no end — sets its apart from all the other albums in the 1001 list in its execution. 4.4/5.

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Mar 24 2024
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4

This is a strange band. I've heard a few of their albums, just all over the map. This one is pretty catchy indie rock? Upbeat, sounds like fun. 4/5.

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May 16 2024
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4

Loved it. Driven on by robust drumming on an acrolite kit, which is a bonus.

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Jun 26 2024
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4

Wasn't familiar with this band, what incredibly high energy, will check out more of their stuff 4.4

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Jul 08 2024
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4

Overrated by King Giz fans (although it is still their best album) and the "concept" isn't as interesting as they seem to think it is. That being said, it's still a bop and Robot Stop does slap hard, although the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to it.

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Oct 30 2024
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4

I think I made a similar point about Prefab Sprout on the original 1001 list - sometimes there is a price to be paid for giving your band a particularly stupid name. Minus a star for that. Now I've actually listened to their music they certainly very good.

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Jan 31 2024
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3

Interesting and fairly unique, some of it gave me Stereolab vibes. A little repetitious in tone though maybe that's supposed to be more design than flaw given the idea that it is meant to be one continuous loop.

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Feb 13 2024
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3

Like a Perpetuum mobile, this keeps on going and going and going - never loosing any energy or momentum. Pretty impressive!

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Mar 04 2024
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3

Love what they are going for, but for me this album is likely more fun to play than listen to. I do need to look into my King Gizzard though cause some songs of theirs really work with my sensibilities.

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Aug 25 2024
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3

Raucous contemporary psychedelic-prog that is musically on point and never loses an ounce of energy from start to finish. But I lost interest somewhere in the middle. Fave Songs: Robot Stop, Big Fig Wasp, Gamma Knife

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Sep 08 2024
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3

This band gets a lot of respect from me for the amount of albums they put out in a short amount of time. And it seems people respect the quality. I've tried listening to a few albums, and this one I've tried a few times. However, the songs still seem bland and very similar to each other.

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Oct 01 2024
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3

Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, garage rock, jazz fusion, heavy metal. Ni fu ni fa.

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Oct 10 2024
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3

I've always avoided this band because their name is so cloyingly annoying. I wasn't right to. But I wasn't necessarily wrong either. It's a sort of scuzzed out psych-garage rock, but performed by incredibly accomplished musicians. On a record it sounds... Very technically proficient but a little dry. But I can absolutely imagine that these would come alive if you saw them live. So I can't rate it highly, but I think I now see their appeal.

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Nov 14 2024
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3

Australian garage band, if that's your thing

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Nov 15 2024
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3

These guys are like chameleons with music. They play every genre and churn out albums like bands did back in the 70s. Overall this one was pretty cool. I like the transitions in songs and thought the general alt rock style was solid. Felt like it was 80s mixed with modern style. Overall a cool album. 7.2/10

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Apr 25 2024
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2

Another Australian obscurity. It gets better as the album progresses although there is a definite riff through the first two songs. Not really my thing, but certainly more melodic as it goes on and not quite as “hard” rock as it first appears.

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Oct 18 2024
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2

Disappointing. I was looking forward to this, but it is just buzzy, high energy rock with a jazzy randomness and a vocalist that doesn't do much for me. It all starts to sound the same unless the repeat the title over and over and over again (I'm looking at you Mr. Beat). There's nothing that particularly catchy or engaging... maybe the last track, Road Train, has a glimmer, but by that time i have long ago checked out.

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Oct 18 2024
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2

I've heard of them before, but I don't know when and I don't know why. They seem to be an interesting enough group. Not sure that I'd be able to listen to the down under version of Iron Butterfly for too many times, though.

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