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Oct 23, 2019Sonic Citadel towers over its surroundings as one of the best albums of Lightning Bolt’s career to date.
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The WireOct 16, 2019Sonic Citadel is a showcase for titanic, incisive riffs, gnarly yet immediate, accessible. [Oct 2019, p.56]
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Oct 15, 2019There is restraint here, an alien concept for a band of Lightning Bolt’s usual undiluted abandon, but there is also the gleeful harshness which makes them such a force of the underground music scene.
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UncutOct 10, 2019This is a corporeal and cacophonic record, but all ear-bleeding mayhem it isn't. ... Lightning Bolt continue to spark. [Nov 2019, p.28]
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Oct 10, 2019Sonic Citadel is Lightning Bolt at their most poppy and accessible.
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Oct 10, 2019The record proves that Lightning Bolt are still very much a force to be reckoned with.
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Oct 10, 2019A multi-faceted and especially curious collection of Lightning Bolt material, Sonic Citadel shows the band still growing and developing nearly a quarter century in.
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Oct 14, 2019Underneath all the fuzz, there’s always been pop sensibility at work; Lightning Bolt riffs have been catchy in their own warped way since Ride the Skies. But at points, they allow those instincts to come into startling focus.
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Oct 10, 2019The presence of a handful of genuinely hooky songs doesn't mean the record is an easy, fun listen. But people who are on Lightning Bolt's exceedingly loud, chaotic vibe should find plenty to like here.
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Q MagazineNov 19, 2019While the proceedings might be more restrained than usual on the '80s hardcore-aping Husker Don't and Sabbath clatter of Halloween 3, if you think Lightning Bolt have softened you're very much mistaken. [Jan 2020, p.110]
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MojoOct 22, 2019They remain ridiculous, but thunderingly good fun. [Dec 2019, p.91]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 15 out of 16
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Mixed: 1 out of 16
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Negative: 0 out of 16
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Oct 14, 2019
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Jun 22, 2022
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Feb 9, 2020