Hypermagic Mountain

Hypermagic Mountain, Lightning Bolt’s 4th album has been unavailable for nearly a decade since it’s 2005 release. Back as a double LP including a full drawing by Brian Chippendale as the D side Etching! The package includes a large scale 4-page book (previous pressings included a cd size book). Recorded at Machines with Magnets and Lightning Bolt’s home by Dave Auchenbach. Lightning Bolt play with abandon that is unmatched and remarkably undiluted and this album is just one more example of that raw power and sound. They are often called one of the loudest rock outfits in existence, both on record and on (or famously, off) the stage. Brian Gibson creates sounds that are unexpected and remarkably varied with his virtuosic bass playing and his inventive approach to the instrument, centered around melody rather than rhythm. The dizzying fury of Brian Chippendale’s drums twist from primal patterns into disorienting break beats as his distorted, and echoing vocals weave more melody into the mayhem.

Noise duo's fourth album was mostly recorded live to two-track (with some live mixing); as a result, the sound is more crowded and more amped than their previous efforts.

Discover Hypermagic Mountain by Lightning Bolt released in 2005. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.

It would be naïve though, to view Lightning Bolt as just another band thrashing at full volume.