Fantasy empire

"Sixth album Fantasy Empire is their first full-length of new material since 2009's Earthly Delights and also is their first effort put to tape with the full benefit of a highly functioning studio and long-labored production. Recorded at Rhode Island's Machines with Magnets studio, the nine tracks here are far and away the most high-definition recordings the duo has ever mustered, particularly bringing into focus Gibson's ever-demented and sometimes washed-out bass tones. Working with the limitations of their spare instrumentation, Lightning Bolt have slowly added texture over time by getting more into live looping and an ever-growing bevy of pedals adding dimension to Gibson's thundering bass tones. All of this comes into crystalline shape on Fantasy Empire".

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"`Fantasy Empire' is the first album the pair have made in a conventional studio, although if it polishes their sound, it's by a small increment. No matter: the rough grain is pretty much the point, opener `The Metal East' spraying from your speakers like wood from a chipper. Drummer/vocalist Brian Chippendale's delirious sing-song brings notes of fancy to tracks like `Dream Genie', but Lightning Bolt's aim remains simple: to batter you into ecstatic submission".

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