Few bands consisting of only a drummer/vocalist and bassist would be able to carry that arrangement for almost 16 years, but few bands are Lightning Bolt. Sticking true to their roots since 1999, Fantasy Empire is their first record in five years, and also their first recorded in a professional studio. This has not at all dulled their sound: it is still as blown out and distorted as ever, and as before memorable riffs and melodies lie beneath the primordial low-end sludge.
The more conventional studio setting that Fantasy Empire was recorded in may give a certain extra depth to the sound, but Brian Chippendale's manic drumming and unique, broken-megaphone like vocals lose none of their impact, nor does Brian Gibson's unique bass sound, which slips from bass to guitar to synth sounds and back again, often within the same song.
The opening song "The Metal East" encapsulates this wonderfully.What sounds like a conventional guitar riff, caked in distortion, is cast into a mass of low end fuzz and unrelenting pounding.What could almost pass for a keyboard slips in at the end to make things even weirder."King of My World" has the duo trying out an almost funky lurch, with an overall lighter feel to the song overall and again what could pass for a synthesizer in the lead.
The songs that stand out the most for me are the ones where the two Brians embrace their inner stoner and pump out their completely unique spin on riff-heavy '70s classic rock."Over the River and Through the Woods" may have that memorable big riff sound, but with that expected Lightning Bolt unhinged approach to music."Runaway Train" is another slab of big guitar(like) sounds and grimy, filthy low end bass guitar tones.With a memorable stomping beat and chaotic "rock out" closing, it is the perfect balance of structure and disorder.
The album concludes on the 11-plus minute "Snow White (& the 7 Dwarves Fans)", with the duo cramming as much of their sound into a single piece of music.While it might begin with a disturbingly clean, slower paced prog rock opening, the two cannot stay restrained for that long.Soon it is their normal blown out sound, with frenetic vocals vying with dense bass murk to be the most prevalent element to be heard.The final quarter is itself an impressive pairing of unnatural bass sounds and insanely rapid, complex drumming, shifting dynamics and just a brilliant mass of sound.
Lightning Bolt may have been using the same gimmick for a decade and a half, but Fantasy Empire shows that they manage to keep it fresh and innovative after all this time.With Chippendale and Gibson both using their instruments to make sounds that they were never intended to make, these songs manage to be odd outbursts of noise while still pushing out catchy riffs and memorable rhythms.
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