Customer Reviews

Hypermagic Mountain

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The latest release from Lightning Bolt offers everything you've come to expect from the band: the noisiest and most aggressive sounding bass guitar in the business, spastic drumming that fills every sonic nook and cranny and devastating riffs that could wake a person from a coma.

Essentially the guys have managed to maintain their trademark sound, so hardcore fans need not fear. Where this album differs from previous Lightning Blot efforts is in it's production, which feels better. Not only that, but it's denser, at times creating the illusion of a thick unpenetrable wall of sound.

Where this album differs from noise rock acts in general is in it's attitude. Simply put, Hypermagic Mountain has a child-like exuberance about it. With song titles like "2 Morro Morro Land" and "Captain Caveman" it's comparable to a couple of kindergartners hopped up on sugar with an endless supply of energy. Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale sound like two kids happy to bang away on their instruments just because it's fun. The result is an album that hits the listener at full blast, never slows down, never gets boring or predictable, and is jubilant enough to put a smile on your face.

For many who come across this page, you might be largely unfamiliar with Lightning Bolt's work. These poetic descriptions of "a chainsaw through pudding meets a baseball bat and trash can" are more than a bit misleading.

At its heart, Lightning Bolt is a constant jam: Brian Gibson's fuzzed out, tuned up bass lines over Brian Chippendale's frantic, yet fluid drumming. It isn't just cluttered noise, there is rhythm and melody involved. What you won't find are sing along choruses, just monstrous sounds from unorthodox setups. The bass is tuned up to Cello tuning (in fifths, starting at C) and the drummer doesn't play on a hi hat (he uses a large ride cymbal's bell and a "ping" cymbal). Occasionally (on this album, "Dead Cowboy" is one of the few...) Chippendale sings through a phone receiver mounted in a mask (allows him to play).

While not as "accessible" as their last album, it does a better job of conveying their "magic". This album was done in a more "jam econo" (to borrow a term from the Minutemen) format: recorded on a 2-track DAT in a home studio.

The album's few lyrics touch a little on the political, instead of the tongue-and-cheek allusions of their earlier releases (a combination of the two has basically fueled other noise-rock bands, like The Blood Brothers). If you can understand it, there is a bit of GW Bush skewering... but that sort of brings up an undeniable point about the band: this is the true heartbeat of punk.

It's not a haircut, or 1-4-5 song structures that are co-opted by the mainstream... if anyone forgot other, more idealistic bands (Refused, Fugazi), Lightning Bolt is a bit refreshing. They have been together over ten years and continue to get better and just rock out. They haven't been hemmed in by scene kids or given an inch in artistic vision. Ultimately, the music is as much art as it is music: you don't paint to get famous, you do it because you have to ("...never trust an artist that tells you he has a choice...").

Lightning Bolt goes for the guts, loud and abrasive. If you are at least familiar with the bigger art/noise bands that have come into indie vogue (Test Icicles, The Blood Brothers, and to a lesser extent, DFA) then Lightning Bolt is worth checking out.

If any of this piques your interest, I implore you to buy this album (support the band). At the end of the day, Lightning Bolt is just two guys who are good at what they do, stick to their guns like few others, and do it all with very little ego (that is something unique in music).

I don't care if the other 11 tracks sounded like Christopher Cross as long as it had Megaghost on it I'd give it 5 stars still. It attacks your mind, your everyday thinking, it kills brain cells and normal sensitivity to anything else you hear, all will be sweeter after a trip to Hypermagic Mountain.

This is a band that I have been hearing a lot about over the years. They have been around for ten years and have had a lot of impact. They definitely were heard by DFA 1979, Wolf Eyes, and The Locust. And plenty of other bands. They definitely have had an impact on some crazy Japanese bands like DMBQ. This is two-man heavy rock. This is a good place to start for people like me who are often late to the game. Three or four songs into this and it's totally relentless. This music needs to be heard in all its loudness. I hate those old people who have earplugs. What the hell are you listening to? I am listening to this record right now (track six) and my hearing is damaged. But I am hearing this in all its glory. I don't think this is a record for mellow people or people with a heart condition. This is excellent.

I picked up this one and Wonderful Rainbow out of curiosity. I sat with the headphones on and did nothing else; just let the hyperactive tunes sink into my head... the music flat out Godsmacked me.

I found the sound is actually a bit more melodic and less "noise" than a lot of reviews are describing, but then again attempting a description here is a challenge. Be brave and pick up a disk by this band; they are a breath of fresh air.

HIGHLY recommended.

OK, so if you are just cruising around amazon and don't no anything about lightning bolt, let me fill you in. I've heard people describe this band as the following: Two Helicopters kissing, getting hit in the chest with a sonic MACK truck, getting beat over the head by a beatiful girl with a baseball bat, a duel between jack hammers and chainsaws, and being stoned to death buy speaker feedback. Personally i like it, the first time i heard their album "wonderful rainbow" i was in my car and thout of it as just noise; then i got out of my car, fell to my knees and realized my soul had melted. no joke, its a true story. well anyway, they were born out of an art school in rhode island as a rock power duo (bass guitar and drums) even though it sounds like 30,000 monkeys... their early "work" are random pieces of musical information that your head finally pieces together into kinda music before the "song" throws your head under a tractor. their new stuff (Hyper magic mountain) is less rediculous.. and kinda catchy...kinda, you realy have to hear this band to understand what i mean and hypermagic mountain is a good start. its hard to get into the feel of Lightning bolt, so its best to take baby steps.

so here is what you are gonna do.
1)buy hypermagicmountain
2)fall in love with lightning bolt
3)buy the rest of thier music
4) prepare yourself
5)see them live and try to survive... i almost exploded

OK, here's my take this peace of work. I think this is one of the most intense, brutal, and "in your face" cd I've ever owned! Lightning Bolt is one of my favorite bands, and I've had all their cd's before this one, and I have loved all of them. I was so excited when I got Hypermagic Mountain. Like others I was expecting Wonderful Rainbow or Ride the Skies, but when I put the cd in, it blew all my expectations away! This album makes everything else I listen to a yawn (even the other Lightning Bolt cds)! So, I think this is Lightning Bolt at their best and loudest! I can't wait to hear these songs live, 'cause there's no doubt in my mind that I'll go crazy along with everyone else!

Also, how could I forget the art-work!! The art-work alone is worth buying! There isn't an inch of this cd that isn't cover in crayon!! So, Hypermagic Mountain keeps my ears and eyes overwelmed with excitment and joy.

Boy this is something else! It sounds like a jam but obviously isn't. The basic riffs define the song backed by over played drum madness a la Mitch Mitchell but always in harmony with each other. Truly this is western music returnd to shamanic presence more than will allow our western minds to split animal from Victorian thought over it. Bestial.

Lightning Bolt has gone through some evolution during their existence. Their first album, "the yellow album," was basically pure white noise. On their next two albums, Ride the Skies and Wonderful Rainbow, they showed some growth by taking their chaotic sound and infusing it with some catchy hooks, rhythms, melodies, etc. On the Power of Milkshakes DVD, the drummer mentions that one of their friends/fans/roommates/whatever had said to him that Lightning Bolt had begun to "write songs." It wasn't a compliment, it was a criticism. They were point it out as a flaw. And the drummer seemed to sheepishly agree. "Yeah, I guess we did kinda lose our way. We never should have started writing actual songs. Sorry, we won't let it happen again." Not a direct quote of course, but that the impression I got from whatever he said.

So, I can't say I'm surprised that, for the most part, this new album actually sounds closer to the first album than to Skies or Rainbow. Being that I personally think those albums are far, far superior to the first album, I'm not really digging this too much. There are a couple of "songs" (track 1 and the second half of track 7 come to mind) but most of it is just thick murky noise that takes effort to sort through in order to find the song kernel hidden inside. When they do break out a riff, it's usually a low-brow pummeling assault, as opposed to the playful and ironic stuff they've done before. Sometimes I like noise, but I've come to expect more from Lightning Bolt.

I'm going to keep this short. Mostly because I'm not quite sure what went wrong here.
I find _Hypermagic Mountain_ something of a let down after _Ride The Skies_ and _Wonderful Rainbow_.
While this is faster and louder than either of their previous albums, in _Hypermagic Mountain_ is a loss of energy that is prevalent in the other two albums. It's not as rhythmic as the others, which takes away a big part of what this band is about: the fans listening and rocking the $%*@#* out. I don't even find myself tapping my finger when I listen to this album, let alone wanting to thrash around my apartment in a drunken frenzy (I'm listenign to _RtS_ right now and keep having to stop typing so that I can bang my head and tap my feet).
Also ultimately lost is the feeling of democracy. While in _Ride the Skies_ and _Wonderful Rainbow_, all instruments play equally important roles-- drums, bass, and vocals all seem to duck in and out and hide within one another, and even on occasion appearing for short solos, each-- it seems here that the drums are taking back seat to the bass (which sounds more like a whiny lead guitar than ever) and even, on rare occasion, back seat to the vocals, which are weaker (though louder) than ever, at one point resorting to clichéd-sounding reverb.
One reviewer had it right in saying that Lightning Bolt had given up writing proper songs with this album... and while that reviewer was claiming that as a good thing, I would wager that it makes the tracks feel as though they're without direction or purpose; one track is seemingly composed of 90% buid-up, 5% crescendo, and another 5% of winding down, which leaves me feeling more frustrated and unsatisfied than anything else, thinking "God! I need that fix BAD!!"

All in all, I'd say this album is one thumb up, one thumb down. Sub par for this duo, but way better than most other stuff out there.