The band's sound is typically loud and aggressive, though the group cites composers Philip Glass and Sun Ra as compositional influences.

[2] Bharoocha left the group in 1996 to continue with another RISD band that would eventually become Black Dice, and Chippendale took over vocal duties.

[3] For the first few years, Lightning Bolt was primarily an improvisational band, touring the United States for months at a time and "just playing".

During these formative years, Chippendale and his freshman-year college roommate Matt Brinkman began to set up Fort Thunder, a disused warehouse space in the Olneyville district of Providence.

The space eventually came to house a number of local avant-garde artists and musicians, including Brian Ralph as well as Lightning Bolt.

The accompanying writeup praised the increased clarity and fidelity of the recording, as compared to their earlier work, citing as a parallel example "... the scene in The Wizard Of Oz where a sepia tone gives way to Technicolor; it opens up new vistas to the sound, while giving the band an opportunity to exhibit more involved musicianship.

[2] The band's sound consists of Chippendale's frenetic drumming, his usually incomprehensible vocals, and Gibson's rhythmic bass guitar – an example of which is the song "13 Monsters", where Chippendale sings a playground style counting chant through heavy distortion over the instrumentals of his drums and Gibson's bass guitar.

In the film The Power of Salad, Gibson attributes much of their success to volume: We used to get more negative reactions when [we] didn't have as loud of stuff.

In one interview, Gibson states that his experiences in Lightning Bolt "has showed [him] the power of an extremely limited palette.

"[27] Lightning Bolt's lyrics, when decipherable, are generally tongue-in-cheek, covering such topics as fairy tales, heavy metal clichés, terrorism, anarchy, and superheroes.

Lightning Bolt are known for their so-called "guerrilla gigs", preferring to play on the floor of the venue rather than the stage, creating a tight circle of spectators around the band.

[29] In 2004, Lightning Bolt played on the doorstep of radio DJ John Peel's chalet at noon during the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, about which neighbor Steve Albini of Shellac and Big Black commented "Best alarm clock I've ever had.