Just so we’re clear from the outset of this review: Lightning Bolt aren’t metal. By their own admission, they’re more of an “art-damaged rock band” than anything else. But on Fantasy Empire, the seventh album in their now more-than-20-year career, Lightning Bolt reach a level of ecstatic aggression most metal bands don’t even hit, through a relatively simple combination of distorted bass riffs, indecipherable vocals, and Brian Chippendale’s relentless drumming. And, as always, I find bands that skirt the line between metal and some other genre to be the most fascinating and the most illuminating.
Originally coming from the fertile noise scene in Providence, RI, the two dudes named Brian who make up Lightning Bolt have built a rickety empire around a simple combination of bass and drums, loaded with fireworks and constantly changing. Instead of recording each song on Fantasy Empire as a live or nearly-live take in their practice space, the band changed up their methods and went into a studio that would allow them to do overdubs. Even so, Lightning Bolt haven’t lost an ounce of their raw, off-the-rails energy. The recording process let them capture each song before it got too manic or overworked as the band was trying to nail a live take. Songs like “Runaway Train,” which sound like a few blues riffs chewed up and spit out, evolve as new motifs are introduced by both bassist and drummer, but still manage to hold together some kind of rhythmic identity. It sounds like freedom, pure chest-thumping light and sound distilled and translated into noise.
In the band’s most recent profile on Pitchfork, interviewer Marc Masters asks Lightning Bolt if metal was an influence on Fantasy Empire. Chippendale answered, “I’m a big metal fan, but my drumming isn’t metal. I don’t use the same set of tricks that metal drummers do. It’s always interesting to know if metal fans like us.” His drumming is really wild, hitting everywhere at once and still managing to keep the beat. What distinguishes it from metal drumming is its lack of organization.
Lightning Bolt’s sound isn’t organized; instead it moves organically, with songs jumping ahead of themselves in an effort to say everything. “Over the River and Through the Woods,” for example, marinates on a single motif before a Boredoms-esque freak-out at the end. Chippendale sounds absolutely gargantuan on “Mythmaster,” beating out the song’s introduction over his counterpart Brian Gibson’s ominous bass tones, holding the same beat save for periodic explosions where it sounds like he’s hitting everything in his kit at once.
I’d be remiss not to point out that Chippendale’s solo project Black Pus released a split LP with fellow Thrill Jockey artist Oozing Wound, who call themselves thrash metal but play it to such a height of absurdity that it crosses over into noise. It’s like how the repetitive guitar work on “Dream Genie” here on Fantasy Empire sounds like a humorous nod to guitar heroics, or how the bass line of “Horsepower” might sound a little like the bass line on Metallica’s “Four Horsemen” put through a blender.
For a band that’s been based around such a simple premise for so long, it’s amazing they haven’t gotten stale, but instead kept up their energy and creativity over twenty years together. Metal bands should take a hint from Lightning Bolt, find their sweet spot together, and just play recklessly.
– Joy
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