Lightning Bolt - Earthly Delights

Lightning Bolt “Earthly Delights”, 2009

Bass and drum duo Lightning Bolt operate in a world of controlled chaos that shouldn’t make any sense. “Earthly Delights” will provide a smile to the dial of anyone seeking an alternative to easy listening music.  It’s not often that there’s anything that could be defined as soft or wimpy here.  “Sound Guardians”, for example, is the sound of metal against a sanding machine in a workshop as nails are being hit at a changing pace.  It’s difficult to listen to “Nation of Boar” without conjuring up images of cars exhaust fumes, tires squealing as race cars rev up their engines to do lap after lap.  There are vocals here but really they’re utilized as just another instrument as there’s no way of distinguishing them from the rest of the wonderfully abrasive racket.    The “Collusus” is the antithesis of the first two songs as it completely slows things down although the incoherent barely audible warbling is still a mainstay.   Loops go all over place over samples of gregorian or buddhist monks chanting in “Flooded Chamber” and when the instruments come in, the Eastern vibes and chants stay.

If you were looking for a dosey-do country barndance knees-up, there’s one of sorts in “Funny Farm” but only if you were also planning on slamdancing into the nearest wall.  “S.O.S” revisit the racetrack although this time it’s in space with assorted noises quickily coming in and fading out as the band pass the other spacecraft at warp speed with logic defying breakneck rythms. The crash sound at the end of this song is less nonsensical than the warbling utterances over the tribal hammering of the drumkit in the overlong twelve minutes of “Transmissionary”.  

Whilst the quieter tracks on “Earthly Delights” get lost in the ruckkus of chaotic noise.   Lightning Bolt’s capture a listener’s attention on the album best with their full-on aural assaults which don’t just demand attention but shoot piercing arrows right through the ear orifices providing a free lobotomy.  It’s easy to tell that these two guys really feed off other and highly likely melt faces off their audience however I’m left kicking my own ass for missing this noise-rock pair when they recently passed through town.


3.5/5

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