Boris Albums (10)
What The Critics Say
Ah Boris, that Japanese juggernaut that has released no less than 18 albums since their inception in 1992; for many years, the Japanese trio was an underappreciated -- indeed largely ignored -- group that explored virtually all dimensions and terrains of feedback-drenched stoner, drone, psychedelic, noise, and thrash metal on its own terms. As a unit, Boris have also had an irritating penchant for releasing significantly different versions of their records in Europe, Japan, and the U.S., with this or that limited-edition single tossed in the mix, vinyl editions that were significantly different than the CDs, ad nauseum. They cracked something of a culture barrier when Southern Lord issued Pink in 2007, an album directly geared toward American audiences. They followed it the same year with the album Rainbow, with Ghost guitarist Michio Kurihara, and toured the U.S and Europe to support it. Southern Lord also issued the band's second collaboration with Japanese noisemaster Merzbow, a gig recorded in 2006 but released in 2007. To round out the first quarter of 2008, Boris have released Smile, the American version of an album released earlier in Japan on the punk/metal/psych Diwphalanx imprint. Boris change up the game plan yet again by releasing their first vocal album -- there have been vocals on other sets, especially where an entire side was one track, but this marks the first time that there is nearly an album full of them. Smile picks up where Pink left off, but is both more accessible and more extreme. The trio goes back to the noise aesthetic here, but also embraces something approaching noise pop in the process. They are still heavier than God fronting Blue Cheer, but they don't forget that songs usually contain recognizable melodies. In essence, while the Japanese and American versions contain some tracks in common, they feel like totally different offerings. Alas, the Southern Lord version released in the States is solid, but it is the lesser of the two. The Japanese version kicks off with "Message," a percussion-heavy noise and sonic overload cut that feels more like something that combines Konono No. 1, Suicide, and Loop. Americans get the trippy meandering cover of the Pyg song "Flower Sun Rain" (it's in the middle of the Japanese version). It sounds as if it were recorded at a gig from far off in the audience (at least at first); it's lo-fi and so melodic you'd swear it isn't Boris at all! It's an elegiac ballad with vocals for the first minute and a half, then begins slowly layering things on until the power rises at nearly three minutes. It's still ploddingly slow and dirgelike; it's a total psych-out tripper with wind effects washing through the channels, and a killer guitar break by Wata that shows up in the middle and moves into whacked-out overdrive near the end before seguing neatly into the thrashing screamer "Buzz-In," which features Kurihara's first of three guitar wildman appearances on the album. The Japanese version of the cut is a bit shorter. Another huge difference is that on the American one its melody is easily discernible through the guitar squall; on the Japanese version it's all rush, destruction, and blur. "Laser Beam" on the American copy of Smile is "Hanate" (Shoot) on the Japanese one. It may be the same song, but here again, the mix is completely different -- there's more guitar scream on "Hanate," and a lot heavier bass throb as well. "Statement" is unique to the American Smile, but not really. Freaked-out overdriven Wata solos, distorted chugging low-tuned guitars and bass by Takeshi, and popping tom-toms by Atsuo turn this into another punk metal meets Loop anthem. Why? Because it's a very different -- and less ferocious -- version of "Message," the cut that opens the Japanese album. Confused yet? "My Neighbor Satan" on the American album is called "Next Saturn" on the Japanese, and features Kurihara again. The title is the only real difference here; he also appears on the beautiful spacy "You Were Holding an Umbrella." Here is where the greatest contrast between the two albums lies. On the American version of the tune, it gradually builds into a wonderful psych ballad with some chiming, droning tones that simply morph into the untitled 15-and-a-half-minute jam that closes the set and features Sunn 0)))'s Stephen O'Malley on guitar. It begins very quietly, almost Fripp & Eno-like, and doesn't catch fire until more than halfway through. On the Japanese copy of Smile, "You Were Holding an Umbrella" moves into a complete distortion bomb before it actually comes to an end nearly a minute after the American one. The untitled freakout flip-out is more sinister from the jump. Backmasked and looped guitar sounds don't resemble Fripp & Eno because they aren't that gentle. They are more brooding, droney, and tense. It begins to open itself up with elements of feedback, trash-can cymbal sounds, tripped-out vocals, and more dynamics until it begins to soar at about the halfway mark. It's more than four minutes longer than in the American Smile, and is a different track altogether. While the American Smile is a worthy follow-up to Rainbow and Pink, it's the Japanese version of the album that makes it a masterpiece. That's why this one only gets three and a half stars. Hopefully, Boris will pull another of their seemingly random market moves and make this version available on wax, or include the American CD along with the vinyl, or whatever. As if this weren't enough, the Japanese cover art is also way better than its American cousin's. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
For starters, leave all expectations of what a(nother) collaboration between Boris and Merzbow might sound like, because Rock Dream is nothing like Sun Baked Snow Cave, which was released by Hydra Head in 2005. This limited-edition double CD (5,000 numbered copies) was recorded live in November of 2006 at Tokyo's Earthdom festival. Rather than a free-form improvisation drone and noise fest, it features Boris running through their own set with the mighty noise master (here known as Merzbow One Man) as an additional member of Boris, transforming the power trio into a quartet. The band runs through its set, or, rather plods and hammers through it, from the 35-plus-minute "Feedbacker" and "Black Out" to "Evil Stack" and "Rainbow" on disc one. Make no mistake, there's plenty of noise here. Boris have never backed away from the loud and proud; it's just that Merzbow's textural additions give the band's already loosely based tunes on disc one more power and presence. The fantastic sound quality makes every one of these nuances ring in crystal distorto-sonic. Evidence as to what actual Boris songs sound like -- which are more in evidence on disc two -- can be previewed in the smoking rendition of "Rainbow" that closes the initial CD, with Wata's spooky voice and freakout guitar solos contrasted with the otherwise subdued tune. Merzbow brings a shockingly primeval yet controlled power to that mix. For all of its improvisation and volume overload, "Feedbacker" itself is amazingly listenable and its melody distinct. When it comes to "Black Out," it gets rougher, and "Evil Stack" is simply too much for mere mortals. But it's on disc two where everything really kicks into gear. "Pink" starts it off with a bang, and the band is in full throttle, rocking it to the rafters and beyond. Merzbow's complementary swathes of power electronics add so much to Wata's guitar and Atsuo's drumming is double and triple time, leaving Takeshi to hold this machine to the ground. "Woman on the Screen" is pure punk metal pyrotechnics, with drum whomp and bass and guitar scree poured through Merzbow's wildness -- in this short track he is totally unhinged. Think of Motörhead-accompanied power tools. As the band literally rages through "Nothing Special," "Ibitsu," and "A Bao a Qu" -- with lots of whoops and hollers to underscore this pure rock-out orgy -- the energy is unrelenting. The first 17 minutes of this disc are some of most intense in freak rock existence. Things slow a bit on "The Evileone Which Sobs," but only in tempo. It's still pure guitar, bass, and drum insanity and Merzbow ups the ante with enormous drones and a high-pitched swell that never goes above the higher end of Wata's guitar scream, keeping it all in some middle range of the doom zone. (Is she the hippest guitar player in rock or what?) The greatest moment of the entire proceeding, though, has to be the off-the-rails version of "Just Abandoned My-self," which begins at about 95 mph, gets to 120 mph, and then heads further into the red-line zone without abandoning its RAWK crunch. When Wata cuts loose on the solo, Merzbow gives her the biggest hammering wall of absolute maximum power to play off of, matching pitch and texture without being tempted to take it over the ledge into chaos. It walks the tightrope for the entire proceeding without once hesitating or falling over into simple excess. Feeling like a showstopper, it turns out that Boris has one more in the can in an eight-minute version of "Farewell" that could make Sonic Youth at their best look on in disbelief and total envy. Indeed, it's almost as if Jimi Hendrix and his keen melodic sensibility were backed by Glenn Branca's multi-guitar orchestra, but it's all just Boris and Merzbow. When Wata lets herself go here, it's sublime; she climbs that monolithic pillar of racket and brings order to the chaos with her solo temporarily bringing it near the ground again before it just explodes for the finish. This is a breathtaking gig and more than anybody would have hoped for, or, based on past listening experience, had any reason to hope for. Indeed, Rock Dream is exactly that, and sends heavy music in 2007 off with a grand display of mercurial, majestic sludge and wail. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
What do you get when you pair the most diverse Japanese power trio with one of the same country's most inventive guitarists? Rainbow pairs Boris, a band who makes so many different kind of records -- though all of them in their way are "heavy" -- and Michio Kurihara from Japan's longest running freak scene band Ghost, who are also known to change sounds, themes and operational M.O.'s each time they record. The end result is a series of psychedelic songs -- yes, songs (albeit sung in Japanese with lyric translations in the booklet) -- that provide the Boris trio of Takeshi (guitars, bass, vocals), Wata (guitars, vocal, glockenspiel) and Atsuo (drums) an opportunity to do what they do best: invent spooky, time-shifting soundscapes for Kurihara to play off of without drowning in jam band fever. This does not sound like anything from other Japanese bands like Musica Transonic, White Heaven, Mainliner, or Stars. It's a memorable and disciplined series of songs that feel more like something Ghost would do than anything else, but Kurihara is restrained in his primary band behind Masaki Batoh; here he gets to cut loose with some of his more involved six-string freak-outs and electric humbucking sickness. Parts of this set, such as "Starship Narrator," are up-tempo wailers that go right for the heart of the psychedelic beast. Atsuo's drums are heavy in the bottom end, and a muddy, hissy noisescape provides open space for Kurihara's guitar explorations and extreme wah wah pedal, whammy bar, and finger-flying intensity to break the track into pieces with his solo. Beautiful. Contrast this with the next cut, "My Rain," where the soft, melodic interplay of guitars floats over backmasked tape and subtle outside-the-frame distortions. It's simple, beautiful and brief; a break in the Maelstrom. While everything here is worth hearing, especially since the way the tracks are sequenced makes this feel like an album, one tune leading to another, moving forward into an unknown that is sensual, spacious, multi-textured and beautifully articulated. "You Laughed Like a Water Mark," where acoustic guitars, muted drum kit, controlled feedback and Kurihara's fuzz warped guitar cut through the lyric line to underscore and bring home the poignant words. It's poetic, driven and hypnotic in its seeming monotony, though there is so much going on it's impossible to note it all in one listen. "Sweet No. 1" is pure Boris style freak-out sans drone. It's heat-driven rock that pushes Kurihara to let that knife-like tone soar above before he is driven to his wah wah pedal and complemented by Takeshi playing back in call and response. It's freaking nuts. There are vocals but they are more shouted than sung in the heart of the beast that this wailer is. Rainbow is the most cohesive collaboration Boris has ever done. It towers over their recording with Sunn 0))) and is a completely different animal than anything they've done with Merzbow. It's a sign of their sheer musicality and dynamic diversity as a group. As for Kurihara's place, this album was a vehicle for him to shine as a player, as a creator of textures and tensions, but also to engage with a band that fully "gets" his other side apart from Ghost. This is what great, uncompromising neo-psychedelic rock is all about: it draws from the past and points ever forward into the unknown future. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Sun Baked Snow Cave'
Release Date 8/23/2005
Tracks 1
Label Hydra Head
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
If you have the endurance to sit through its full 62 minutes, Boris with Merzbow's third release, 2005's Sun Baked Snow Cave, will certainly take you on a sonic journey. Comprised of a single instrumental track (which shares the same name as the album title), it all starts out about as minimalist as you can possibly get -- single notes plucked on a nylon string guitar. But eventually, the piece begins picking up some steam, by incorporating other sounds, including buzzing insects and various electronic scrapes, all while the volume increases as well, before eventually ending in silence. The press release states that "Sun Baked Snow Cave may be both perfect for Rob Zombie horror movies, and for a small baby's gentle night sleep." Hard to sum it up better. Sun Baked Snow Cave is recommended to fans of the modern-day experimental ambient genre. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide
'Boris at Last - Feedbacker'
Release Date 8/2/2005
Tracks 5
Label Conspiracy
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Easily identifiable by its rather clever, Nick Drake/Bryter Layter-inspired cover art, Boris' Akuma No Uta in many ways offers a back-to-front cross-section of the Japanese trio's entire career, in all of its many stylistic varieties. Both the nine-minute, molten lava introduction and the closing title track delve in ambient drone tendencies (reminiscent of Earth and label mates Sunn 0)))), while a pair of comparatively brief submissions -- "Ibitsu" and "Furi" -- offer succinct, rudely distorted acid garage psych (think the Stooges, only cruder and heavier, or Spine of God-era Monster Magnet, but more energetic). As for the mid-album piece de resistance, "Naki Kyoku," it takes all of 12 minutes to carry out a gradual crescendo: from its mildly psychedelic, oddly "Freebird"-esque beginnings, through an extended mid-section offsetting equal parts guitar soloing and vocal chanting with fluid bass twiddling over ambient space rock sound effects, before finally arriving at a suitably shuddering sonic earthquake with its feedback-laced finale that's fit to level Tokyo. Standing out negatively amid all of this is the loose and unfocused, mid-paced jam number "Ano Onna No Onryou," which comes off both overlong and uninspired by comparison. Still, five winners out of six attempts is nothing to wrinkle your nose at, making Akuma No Uta almost guaranteed to please both longtime Boris aficionados and newcomers looking to sample a good summary of their talents. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
On first listen to Boris' Pink (domestically issued on Southern Lord), longtime fans of the Japanese heavy metal trio would be pressed to say that they crafted it for American audiences. This is significant to be sure. On the opening track, "Farewell," one can hear so many un-Boris-like traits -- a bit of Ride and My Bloody Valentine here, a bit of Isis (who were influenced by Boris!) there, a trace of Sigur Rós, Nadja, and Jesu, too -- that one wonders if this is a send-up spoof that's proof that they can do it better. Even if that's so, it's only a part of this glorious slab of din and rock-is-power's puzzle. Takeshi (bass, vocals), Wata (guitar), and Atsuo (drums, vocals), have not followed in the footsteps of their younger countrymen Mono in crafting dramatics and dynamics, as evidenced by the title track which follows. If anything, this is raucous, riffing speed metal married to the garage rock trash aesthetic of Guitar Wolf. Here is where Atsuo's rim shots match in triple-time the low-string, down-tuned, freakzoid riffing of Wata's and the pure squalling throb of Takeshi's bass wail. Fuzzed out, ripped and torn and shredded riffs and propeller kit work take Boris to an entirely new level of "heavy." The rootsy metallic thrash of the band outdoes anything they've done before -- "Woman on the Screen" sounds like Iggy Pop fronting the MC5 of Kick Out the Jams in the Sunn 0))) era -- all in two-minutes-and-thirty-eight seconds. Speaking of Sunn 0))), "Blackout," a crawling, plodding, menacing scree of distorted bass and bluesy high-string electric guitar, is a track reminiscent of their earlier records, like Absolutego from 1996 -- and may have influenced their American counterparts. "Pseudo-Bread" is in-the-red in everything: distortion, speed, high-rocktane metal. The 18-plus-minute "Just Abandoned My-Self" employs everything used in the album to the moment. Beginning as a pure thrash metal burner, it begins its exploration of texture, noise, and sonic murder at a slower tempo in six-and-a-half minutes. It's like Acid Mothers Temple only more focused, and slower to evolve. Wata's guitar playing feels incidental to Takeshi's propulsive bass crunch and drone, which becomes pure controlled noise abstraction at about 122 minutes, and takes it out until only the sound of microtonal feedback remains, blasting everything into silence. Pink is easily the most cohesive, adventurous, and straight-ahead rocking recording of their 12-year career. If indeed the set was consciously made with Americanski audiences in mind, good; then more power to them. Boris are the kings who have set the metal bar very high on Pink. It's an album to be reckoned with. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
With their second full-length album, Boris takes their sludgy, Melvins-influenced doom rock style and gives it a heavy psychedelic slant. The album is divided into five tracks, but like their other albums, Absolutego and Flood, it plays out like one extended piece and is meant to be listened to straight through in one sitting. It starts out with a slow, ugly doom riff that repeats for several minutes before heading into a stretched-out, psychedelic jam section on the lengthy second track, "Ganbou-Ki." After another succession of heavy riffing, psych-rock jamming, and a little bit of up-tempo punk action (the first part of "Kuruimizu," which still retains a Melvins-like feel), they move into several minutes of spacey, surprisingly pretty guitar/bass picking, similar to much of what's on Flood. Finally, they settle into a dense guitar/bass feedback drone à la Earth for the lengthy final track, "Vomitself." The album as a whole feels like a sort of journey in terms of how it opens in one vein, moves through various other sections, and then closes in yet another style, but it also maintains a consistent mood (and they don't use the word "doom" to refer to this type of music for nothing). In any case, Amplifier Worship proves Boris to be on the more innovative (not to mention heavy) end of the sludge/doom metal spectrum and is recommended to open-eared fans of the style; casual listeners, on the other hand, will probably have trouble getting into the album, since it does require some patience. ~ William York, All Music Guide
