''Hypermagic Mountain'' is the fourth studio album by American
noise rock band
Lightning Bolt, released October 18, 2005.
Background
The band and their sound engineer, Dave Auchenbach, recorded the album in a house in
Providence
Providence often refers to:
* Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion
* Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity
* Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...
,
Rhode Island directly onto a 2 track
DAT master tape.
The album is a clear continuation of the sound they established on their previous albums, featuring a very dense sound composed almost entirely of distorted, often-processed bass guitar; loud, fast drums; and indiscernible vocals buried in the album's mix. The album's artwork was drawn by Brian Chippendale; the album's title was not decided until after the artwork was finished.
Critical reception
''Hypermagic Mountain'' was met with near-universal acclaim, with an average of 88 out of 100 based on 23 reviews on
Metacritic.
The same site rates the album at number 145 on the all-time highest rated albums, and as the fifth best album of 2005.
''
Stylus Magazine
''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog.
Addi ...
''s Roque Strew hailed the album as "another stride toward the perfection of
ightning Bolt'sprog-noise esthetic",
while ''Prefix Magazine''
's Aaron Richter called it Lightning Bolt's "most accomplished effort to date, one-upping 2003’s ''
Wonderful Rainbow
''Wonderful Rainbow'' is the third studio album by noise rock band Lightning Bolt. It is considered to be their most accessible album, featuring heavy but catchy bass guitar riffs and frenetic drums.
This album is listed in the book ''1001 Album ...
'' with a fresh sense of maturity."
''
Pitchforks Brandon Stosuy similarly described ''Hypermagic Mountain'' as the band's "most well-oiled album", but criticized that "somewhere in the middle a lack of variety creates a dull patch."
Joe Martin, in ''
CMJ New Music Monthly'', said that the album's "craft-refinement has an exhilaration all of its own".
Track listing
Personnel
*
Brian Chippendale
Brian Chippendale (born July 22, 1973) is an American musician and artist, known as the drummer and vocalist for the experimental noise rock band Lightning Bolt and for his graphic art. Chippendale is based in Providence, Rhode Island.
Brian ...
– drums and vocals
*
Brian Gibson – bass guitar
*Dave Auchenbach – recording engineer
References
External links
Lightning Bolt official website
{{Authority control
2005 albums
Lightning Bolt (band) albums
Load Records albums