Lightning Bolt - Wonderful Rainbow
Critic Score
Based on 8 reviews
2003 Ratings: #23 / 355
User Score
Based on 523 ratings
2003 Rank: #79
Liked by 81 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic
Imagine all the best aspects of Fred Frith, Derek Bailey, the Ruins, Slayer, and Ornette Coleman all thrown into a blender together. Then imagine them on speed. This one's a keeper.
90
Tiny Mix Tapes
There's a brooding musical maelstrom just beneath the surface of "indie rock," and it's led by the likes of Lightning Bolt.
84
Pitchfork

Lightning Bolt have gone even artier on us with Wonderful Rainbow, and by balancing their strong-armed aesthetic with unexpected dynamics, they're now proving themselves as artists with actual range, a band that can deliver beyond the novelty that got people talking; perhaps for the first time on a broad scale, Lightning Bolt will have them listening instead.

82
Coke Machine Glow
Nonetheless, an excellently innovative, precise, and enjoyable listen, in a…shredding, blistering kind of way.
80
No Ripcord
Horror rock, avant-garde, art experimental, call it whatever, but know that the eye-twitching, blackout noise rock served up by Lightning Bolt remains the ultimate in unabashed, neck-throbbing rock and roll music.
80
Uncut
The music is purposeful and powerful.
80
Mojo
Stellar noise pollution.
70
Prefix
The striking visceral and aesthetical impact of the band's live show, which are so vital, are lost in the recording. This is not comfortable music, and listening to it in a comfortable setting doesn't don't do it justice.
amygoodall
84

THISISGODOGMUCSIC

maryfreegirl
80

Crazy ass instrumentals as usual, this album seemed extra noisy

LetalShertly
91

Headbanging so much on this. I love the chunky guitars and fast drumming, so good!

Darlsei
65

It picks itself up enough at the end to be a little enjoyable, but I was honestly bored by most of this. The transition from Hello Morning into Assassins is one of the best moments in Noise Rock, but most of the rest of the album falls extremely short, especially from Dracula Mountain to Crown of Storms. It is far too repetitive and one sided, no matter how crushing the instrumentation is. The lack of substance really holds it back sadly.

ChazzaMaate
88

Ohh, so this is what it's like to have your brain fried inside of a microwave? Gotcha.

Honestly, it's quite apt that the band is named 'Lightning Bolt', because this album sounds like if you were to get struck by Lightning. Also because everything is played up to the absolute extreme at such a blistering pace. I kinda knew what I was in for the moment I saw that they toured with Melt-Banana, but even then, I was still surprised with how chaotic this was. If you at all enjoy acts like Black ... read more

notarya
90

hell yes

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Track List

1Hello Morning
0:55
79
2Assassins
3:43
93
3Dracula Mountain
5:10
94
42 Towers
7:08
92
5On Fire
4:42
90
6Crown of Storms
5:09
91
7Longstockings
3:17
87
8Wonderful Rainbow
1:29
81
930,000 Monkies
3:49
88
10Duel in the Deep
6:16
94
Total Length: 41 minutes

Year End Lists

#23/Pitchfork
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