BORIS 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: The first of three albums from the Japanese post-everything auteurs titled Heavy Rocks, arrived in 2002 with the second and third installments coming in 2011 and 2022, respectively. These volumes served to allow the group to fully explore their heaviest tendencies with full abandon, and none are as adored or praised (or essential to own on vinyl) than the minimal orange adorned first entry. Plumbing the depths of psychedelic stoner rock, heaving sludge and cavernous doom metal, all whilst retaining accessible grooves and absurdly catchy riffage, this is Boris at their most abrasive, face-melting and imposing, while also serving as a solid entry point into their beastly 20+ album discography.

Review: The first instalment of the three-album cycle from Japanese post-everything auteurs Boris, titled Heavy Rocks, originally landed in 2002 with the second and third volumes arriving in 2011 and 2022, respectively. These projects offered the subversive trio a chance to fully explore and expand their heftiest tendencies with total sonic abandon, with none being more adored or praised (or vital to collect on vinyl) than the minimal orange adorned first entry. Plumbing the depths of psych stoner-doom with forays into heaving sludge metal, all whilst retaining catchy grooves and absurd riffage, this is Boris at their most abrasive, face-melting and imposing, while also serving as a solid entry point into their beastly 20+ album discography. This pressing also comes on orange vinyl for the extra aesthetic-bothered collectors.

Review: Originally conceived in 2019 during a tour with industrial hardcore purveyors Uniform, Japanese psychedelic noise-rock juggernauts Boris would invite their co-conspirators on stage to reimagine the trio's classic "Akuma no Uta" as part of their encore, with the resulting chemistry inspiring both acts to begin crafting a fully collaborative album. Many years of exchanging ideas from one home studio base to another has finally bore fruit in the form of the hideous yet glorious Bright New Disease. Combining almost every nuance of each group's genre-less machinations, the project swells and extends in every sonic direction from harsh walls of screeching noise to retrofitted Japanese D-beat hardcore, with time in between for aquatic, shoegazing serenity and mechanized industrial venom.

Review: Japanese fuzzed out psych-tinged post-rock monoliths Boris never seem to rest on their laurels for long. Just last year, they repressed the first instalment of their three Heavy Rocks albums (originally released in 2002), and unveiled the grinding Bright New Disease collab LP with industrial hardcore outfit Uniform. That's before even mentioning the surprise Fade LP that landed at the tail end of 2022. Starting 2024 as they mean to go on, their latest endeavour is a years-in-the-making split album with Tokyo alternative space-rockers Coaltar Of The Deepers, featuring both re-recorded versions of older cuts as well as both acts covering one another's material. Boris member Takeshi has often cited COTD as a major influence, with the band even covering 'To The Beach' in 2019, which was, in turn, produced by COTD leader Narasaki. Now, finally arriving at Hello There, we have Boris providing an oppressive rendition of COTD's 2007 track 'Serial Tear', while the band return the favour with a more ethereal, aquatic re-imagining of Boris' 2014 single 'Melody'. That's before even touching COTD's cover of The Cure's 'Killing Another', which needs to be absorbed with as little outsider input as possible, so we'll shhh now and leave this long-gestating gem in your very capable hands and ears.

Review: 2006's Altar served as the long awaited musical meeting of minds between Japanese experimental psychedelic noise-rock trio Boris and Seattle robe-adorning drone metal behemoths Sunn O))). With an impressive collective of integral contributors such as Kim Thayil (Soundgarden), Joe Preston (Earth, Melvins, High On Fire), Phil Wandscher and Jesse Sykes, the project has gone on to become a grandiose display of oppressive, punishing, experimentalist metallic drone, crossing not only borders but oceans. This severely overdue 2xLP reissue comes courtesy of the incomparable Southern Lord, offering both the devout and newcomers alike a chance to finally experience this opus in its undiluted purity (and without having to indulge vinyl flippers).