For even the most dedicated fans, keeping up with Boris can be damn near impossible; it often feels as if every other month the band hits us with a new release to dive into, typically in a completely different style than whatever came before. Regardless of the challenges it often presents, I try to check out as much of their output as I can, and I was excited to hear that they would be releasing their new album W via Sacred Bones Records, the label that brought us John Carpenter’s excellent Lost Themes Trilogy. What would it sound like? What wild new stylistic directions would they take their music in this time around?
As I alluded to above, one of the many wonderful things about Boris is that you never know which version of Boris you’re going to get from album to album, and for W the chameleonic Japanese trio have largely stepped away from the crushing drone/doom and sludgy punk of recent releases such as Dear and No to present us with one of their most ambient and atmospheric collections of songs to date. The album sees guitarist Wata handling the bulk of the vocals and her delicate voice works perfectly with the dreamy minimalism of tracks such as “Icelina” and “Beyond Good and Evil”. Boris blends elements of shoegaze, ambient and noise to create surreal soundscapes more suited for hallucinating than headbanging.
In fact, only traditionally heavy moment comes in the form of “The Fallen,” a four minute and thirty second sludge/slugfest that is perfectly placed at the center of the album; whereas many heavy bands will place a mellow track or interlude in the middle of an album to break up the heaviness, Boris flip the script by placing a heavy track in the middle of W to break up the mellowness. It’s a friendly reminder that Boris can still be ridiculously heavy whenever the hell they feel like it and adds yet another surprising facet to the album; just when you think you have all the answers, Boris changes the questions.
While frequent collaborator/legendary psych rock guitarist Michio Kurihara (Ghost, White Heaven, The Stars) is conspicuously absent from W, it’s still pretty far out; much of this can be attributed to the fact that whether they’re conjuring up Earth-shaking drone/doom, throwing down on some heavy rock, or indulging in noise and ambient sounds, Boris have a knack for creating albums that are beyond immersive. I took the liberty of listening to this shit after indulging in some of my favorite “smoky treats” and I felt like I was swimming in pure sound for a little over forty minutes, which ain’t no bad thing. Listening to W while altered probably won’t melt your brain (that’s what Earthless’ new album is for), but it does make for an extremely pleasant trip.
Boris’ discography is so vast and so diverse that trying to determine where exactly W ranks within it is about as far from an easy task as it gets. I can however say with great certainty that the album grows on me a little more every time I listen to it and it’s very rapidly becoming go-to album to listen to after smoking a fatty in 2022. The direction of W may disappoint fans of Boris’ heavier/doomier material, but those that also appreciate their wildly experimental side will find a great deal to enjoy here.
THKD 