Boris — Flood

A lot of Japanese bands have acquired mythical status in Europe and in the US. Boris are one of those. Flood is their third studio full length, and a very different proposal to their usual doomy music. Most people know the Japanese trio through their Absolutego album, released last year on Southern Lord and if they pick Flood because they liked Absolutego, they are in for a surprise... Gone are the lengthy drone passages, the über-slow doom rock bits and the singer’s screams, please welcome space-rock, post-rock, ambient and minimalism.

Once again a 70 minutes song, divided into 4 tracks, this thing starts very quietly, with almost no sound to be heard. Then comes in a little guitar theme, repeated constantly for 11 minutes, some drumming slowly getting its way to erupt in a frenzy reminiscent of the sound of water invading some place after a dam got broken.Track 2 could be described as the calm moment coming after the storm. Very chilling and melancholic piece of music which could feature on any Gastr del Sol album, on a fellow countrymen Mono record or on any chilled out tune by any (good) post-rock band around. Moving, really.

In track 3, comes for the first time some vocals, very melodic (a first for Boris), accompanying the guitar alone and the unexpected happen: a return to (relative) heaviness. First, the guitar starts to get a little distorted, then the sound of crashing drums, heavy melodic guitar riffs and the return of those melodic, emotional vocals.Track 4 marks another twist, most of it being a very creepy ambient tune which will not sound out of place in the gothic haunted mansion I plan on buying when I get rich..

Most people associate Boris with pure heaviness, slow and loud doom music, sometimes very droney, but with this release they proved that they are in no way easy to pigeonhole, standing as one of the most compelling acts around. If you ever come by one of their records, don’t let it pass you by as neither their own LP's nor their collaborations with artists such as Merzbow and Keiji Haino will disappoint you. (BTW, if any of you has Heavy Rocks, let me know).

If floodings were as nice as this sounds, Prague and Leipzig’s inhabitants would be the happiest people on earth right now, take my word on that. Now please someone release their stuff in Europe, now please someone have them touring over these shores. Please. PLEASE, godammit!!!