Think Black Dice and a little coterie of puppies
The PFM negatives:
“Somewhere in the middle a lack of variety creates a dull patch, but even the more homogenized tracks slip by on the upped energy as well as subtle, virtuostic additions to the violence.”
“But even with added hooks and sharper flavors, LB's previous release, Wonderful Rainbow, still possesses more variety and a certain je nais se squall.”
The PFM positives
“most well-oiled album: song-by-song it chugs into rockier Van Halen, Fucking Champs, or Orthrelm territory”
“Hypermagic Mountain breathes like a battering ram: The drums are gargantuan and, conversely, the vocals fold nicely into the buzz.”
“Lightning Bolt make room for all their key ingredients: brief space excursions, lessons in dynamics, monster riffs, semi-humorous politicos, sugar-dosed energy. Everything you'd expect to find is here and in amped form-- festering bass (with that slippery balloon sound) and machete-slinging, crazy-climber drums.”
"Like the best of immediate-minded rockers, LB kindly deliver."
Does this = a 7.3 or should it be higher? I personally would have guessed something closer to an 8 or better but I suppose that is splitting hairs. It’s a damn fine record and rates in a test of strength not by ringing the bell but by blowing it to fucking bits.
This PFM review wins me over otherwise for a couple of reasons: The Small Factory shout out, the coterie of puppies line, and the Whitehouse reference, a band I know only one other person to be familiar with.
Ps: I have read several reviews that mistakenly call Lightning Bolt a doom band and this duo is WAY too spazzy and chaotic for such a label. Their Hello My Name Is tag should read electrostatic discharge. I wonder how I can turn that into a Halloween costume?
