Boris

Japanese experi-metal trio Boris are now getting their 15 minutes with a mention in the New York Times, though fans shouldn’t fret over their former proto-sludge heroes selling out just yet. A full decade since their Melvins-esque drone opus Absolutego, their latest album Pink builds upon the staid rock momentum started by last year’s Akuma No Uta, adding more mainstream dynamics and fuzz-choked riffs that’ll have Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor supporters square-dancing in the streets. Surprisingly, the album opener "Farewell” smacks of the mellow vibe of False Cathedrals-era Elliott, while the title track rings of a poppier version of fellow countrymen Zeni Geva. The supercharged "Woman on the Screen” and "Electric” retain a stoner rock swing akin to Small Stone bands, but "Blackout” creeps back into Boris’s original comfort zone: the primordial, psychedelic muck that spawned Absolutego and 2001’s Amplifier Worship. The resin-caked "Afterburner” and the phenomenal "Pseudo-Bread” (the latter replete with Weezer-like "hoo-hoo” backing vocals) could be copped from Monster Magnet’s Spine of God long player, and the all too brief "My Machine” is deftly reminiscent of Pink Floyd’s "Echoes.” Closing the album is the 18-minute noise-fest "Just Abandoned My-Self,” showing Boris’s continuing infatuation with chaotically controlled strata of feedback blare. Certainly one of the year’s more unique records, Pink will bowl over casual Radiohead cats while remaining cacophonous enough to appeal to those discerning Merzbow proselytisers.