I have a love/hate relationship with the '80s. Despite being tied to that decade for age-related reasons (I was born in '76), I always try to contextualize the value of its cultural products, trying not to distort them through the lens of nostalgia.
One thing from the '80s remains etched in my mind more than anything else: the toys. The '80s perhaps reached the peak in quality concerning models, whether they were robots, action figures, or something else. And THE most coveted action figure series was undoubtedly the Masters Of The Universe.
Basically, a horde of muscle-bound fools, only partially human, but mostly monstrous. All of them shared the abdominal turtle shell, whether they were monsters or humans. Furthermore, and the reason this memory is connected to the second album (of the 5 planned within the year) by the Australians King Gizzard, was the presence inside the toy packages of small books that narrated the deeds of the hero of the moment, in a kind of decidedly improbable space fantasy world. Thus, the narrative plot behind “Murder Of The Universe” (this is the true nod to the Masters, intentional or not) resembles that of the Masters booklets.
The album is ideally divided into three parts. The first is the suite “Altered Beast” which narrates the deeds of a stellar beast that devours worlds; the second narrates the war between a phantasmagoric Lord of Lightning and the Balrog, and a final suite whose protagonist is an improbable cyborg called Han-Tyumi (anagram of Humanity) who wants to become human to experience death and puke (yes, it's all true). The narrative plot is related to two previous albums, “I'm In Your Mind Fuzz” and “Nonagon Infinity”, but I challenge anyone to understand the thematic links.
Musically? We're in the territory of the two mentioned albums, so a sonic garage attack similar to Thee Ohsees, but with a decidedly superior variety of tempos and rhythms. Additionally, the final part slows down, and the narrating voice of Han-Tyumi makes everything strangely fascinating. Although at first listen it seems like a monotonous album, you will soon find yourself sucked into this nonsense vortex halfway between garage, metal as an attitude, and 8-bit technology.
Be careful not to dream of Skeletor rummaging through your underwear drawer while Beast-Man tries it on with your girlfriend.
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