Oblivion Hunter＜Rainbow Splatter Colored Vinyl＞

Providence, Rhode Island noise duo Lightning Bolt built their reputation on Brian Gibson's muscular basslines, Brian Chippendale's nearly possessed drumming, and the happy horror show that happens when the two meet up. Lightning Bolt started up in the mid-'90s, but took their time with slowly developing their sound, evolving subtly over the course of five albums in a ten-year period between 1999 and 2009. Released in 2001, Ride the Skies was a buzzingly euphoric proclamation of noisy mania, while ensuing records reached into the influence of both hard rock swagger and harsh noise textures. Oblivion Hunter is a shorter statement from the band, culled mostly from loose, gritty jam sessions from 2008, tapes long shelved and forgotten until this release. There's a freedom to the playing that sets it apart from the more meticulously crafted confined chaos of Lightning Bolt's proper albums. Songs like the tom-tom battle cry of "King Candy" and the road-raging "Oblivion Balloon" sound like at least somewhat formed songs, with Gibson's proto-metal riffs propelled by Chippendale's pummelingly straightforward beats and delayed howling. The recording sounds decidedly tossed-off and raw, not unlike the band's earliest scuzzy lo-fi productions. Drumstick count-offs click the songs in and they all fizzle out into soupy endings marked by vocal chirps or bandmembers saying "We got it!" This is clearly not a pained-over studio affair, but there are moments when that works to the album's benefit. The candidness of Oblivion Hunter captures a lot of the band's spontaneity, which is one of Lightning Bolt's best attributes. ~ Fred Thomas