Lightning BoltBest Lightning Bolt Albums Ranked

Wonderful Rainbow

pitchfork

8.4

“Forming in 1995 and performing locally around Providence, Rhode Island, Lightning Bolt started out a sloppy but determined art-school trio with a penchant for Skin Graft-style noise-rock and aggressive live shows. It took them two years to get a record out, and when they finally did, it was released in a limited run of 750 copies. Since then, they've tightened up-- even dropping a member to become”

Ride the Skies

pitchfork

8.1

“Ah, the bass guitar. So overlooked, so underappreciated. Look how it sits, looking so innocuous, so pure. Its warm, rich tones and angelic harmonics tell a story of innocence and chastity. But its seductive curves, its smooth metallic hardware, and its rock-hard, finely crafted neck tell another story. Oh, how it begs to be perverted! To be slapped, to be twisted, to be warped, to be forced into m”

Sonic Citadel

fantano

8.0

“With Sonic Citadel, the two Brians successfully take Lightning Bolt's sound in a more melodic and accessible direction.”

Sonic Citadel

thelineofbestfit

8.0

“Lightning Bolt's Sonic Citadel is ferocious, hostile, and utterly exhilarating”

Sonic Citadel

loudandquiet

8.0

“There’s an amount of certainty that comes with a Lightning Bolt record, and their seventh is no different. The Rhode Island noise rock duo have seen little deviation from form in their 20 year existence: as always, there’s Brian Chippendale on drums, his microphone bound into a sort of makeshift Lucha libre mask, and Brian Gibson on bass guitar, adapted to include a banjo string, surging with more”

Fantasy Empire

pitchfork

8.0

“Fantasy Empire is Lightning Bolt's first LP in five years and it's also the first recorded in a proper studio. The sound is bigger and more defined—they haven't cleaned things up, exactly, it's just easier to figure out what's leveling you.”