Bridging the worlds of technical playing and noise chaos with a colour and imagination unlike any other band, Providence, Rhode Island duo Lightning Bolt began their hypnotic pummeling in the mid-’90s and grew to become one of the most powerful and unique entities in the indie scene.

Lightning Bolt first took shape in 1995 as a three-piece art school project. Initially, Brian Chippendale’s explosive, nonstop drumming, Brian Gibson’s Contortions-like basslines, and Hisham Baroocha’s vocals propelled them into a fury of volatile noise and orgiastic tribalism. The group helped found Fort Thunder, a music and art collective, and recorded a self-titled album that was issued through Load in 1999.

Lightning Bolt returned in 2015 with sixth album Fantasy Empire, their first new material in over five years and their first music recorded in a fully functional, high-end recording studio. After a similarly lengthy four-year break, the duo released their seventh LP, Sonic Citadel, in October 2019.