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.