BORIS / Attention Please/Heavy Rocks (Sargent House)
Two co-released new records exhibit Japanese arty metal crew BorisÕ radical messarounds
with genres seemingly numbering in the dozens. ItÕs a typically untypical bent from this proudly schizoid crew that has never claimed to truly understand
the heavy sounds they explore, their idea being that getting it all ÒwrongÓ will invariably lead to amazing new discoveries. The bandÕs twin current mutated
fascinations fly ever further away from the ostensibly ÒmetalÓ or hard rock roots from which they grew on the moody Attention Please, replete with an
after-closing disco decadence of wasted robot beats and insinuating synth coils, an urgent but kinda detached emphasis on steamy, sexy noir; its heaviness
is largely implied in highly melodicized tunes that feature the wistful but unintelligible vocal emissions of guitarist Wata, such as the brooding but tension-filled
title track in which Wata gets your attention like the teacher who deliberately talks very quietly; ÒHopeÓÕs driving, punky beat is sweetly laced with Mellotron
frippery but slotted through with metallic rifferini; on ÒParty Boy,Ó WataÕs vocal coo darts in and out of buzzy synths atop distorto bass slabs and a thumpthump
four-to-the-floor. The bandÕs newfound melodic grace shines on ÒSee You Next WeekÓ and ÒTokyo Wonder LandÓ despite the subtly insistent scree of e-guitar
and about a thousand obscure wisps of electronic sound. Meanwhile, Boris has also issued Heavy Rocks, a companion piece/updating of the album of the same
title of 2002. As the title semi-jokingly indicates, you get the far more brontosaurus-stomp side of the band, though as a smearing of the metal palette itÕs
decidedly of a piece with the tracks on Attention Please. Tracks like ÒRiot SugarÓ and ÒLeak -Truth, yesnoyesnoyesÓ do battle with low-end, headbang and out
and out noise, from doomy sludge to Deep Purple-esque mini-epics to that Metallica-esque hash of thrash unto classic hard rock.
BORIS 
