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Chunky Shrapnel features live performances hand-picked from the band's 2019 European tour and includes a musical score written by Stu Mackenzie that adds a ‘magical touch of alien melancholy' throughout. It's an adrenaline fueled psychedelic trip that captures the energy of a live concert while also creating something tailored and unique to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. The band also announced a feature-length motion picture by the same name that follows King Gizzard's explosive performances from the perspective of the band. "John Stewart followed us around for a few weeks through Europe," says Mackenzie. "It was fun and funny and wild and weird. Sometimes an inconspicuous fly on the wall, sometimes an intrusive camera man one inch from my face. Always exciting though. Chunky Shrapnel was made for the cinema but as both concerts and films are currently outlawed, it feels poetic to release a concert-film digitally right now."
A musical road movie dipped in turpentine, once a song begins you're stuck in the roller coaster ride quicksand that there is no escape from just like the band. The film's contention is clear from the outset, it's going to be a "journey" not a "lecture," an incurved experience rather than a linear one. The band, nor the film-makers, were interested in making a self congratulatory "behind the scenes expose" film. It was a direct decision to keep the inner workings of the band's personality at arms length, it is the music they were interested in exploring. The approach was taken that the film's protagonist should be the "on stage" performances, that was the focus. With this, they abandoned multiple cameras and cross cutting during performances, turning the camera into a vehicle for the audience to experience the show through, rather than placing them in a crowd or side of stage.
At 96 minutes, Chunky Shrapnel more than earns its length. At times gently holding your hand and at other times smashing a bottle over your head and dumping your body in a heaving crowd. There is an inevitability to the film, a driving, ever accelerating spiral that climaxes in a 15 minute medley that spans four countries.