Isis - Wavering Radiant (2009)

Isis
Wavering Radiant (2009)
One thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately is expose the weaknesses of In The Absence of Truth. Not that Absence was a bad album by any stretch, but it was missing that certain whatever-it-is that made you feel as if repeated listens would continue to reveal new and exciting subtleties. There were certainly good songs on there, but since its release in the fall of 2006, I haven't been back to hear them again. Exposing Absence's weaknesses is about the only thing that Wavering Radiant does immediately. You know that it is a stronger album when you hear it, but the magnitude of that strength takes a while to gauge. Even after several weeks of ownership I still wasn't sure where I'd place it in the hierarchy of Isis albums from best to worst.

Admittedly, my first few listens revealed a certain sense of staleness; that feeling that they as a band and I as a listener had been down this road one too many times before. Isis aren't a band known for sea changes between albums, and over time it seems like the differences that do exist from one album to the next is getting harder to spot, and perhaps is almost nonexistent; and that is especially pertinent here. Wavering Radiant presents the same basic formula as their other works as of late: the crystalline guitar tones, predictable clean vocal/growl variations, long post-rock buildups withs sludge crescendos, the token ambient album break. Even if you haven't heard this particular album before but have heard their previous work, chances are Wavering Radiant sounds eerily similar to how you thought it might sound, which is obviously a little disappointing if you were looking for more significant growth.

But there's something about this album that kept bringing me back. Once the initial disappointment faded, I actually discovered some nice touches here once I paid attention to the details. A lot of merits can be given to the production, which is getting more and more layered and complex to a degree that, to be honest, I notice but don't quite understand. Isis have experimented with sound on previous albums, but this one finds them taking those tricks a bit further, and with mostly positive results. You'll notice this immediately in the start of songs like "Ghost Key" and "20 Minutes/40 Years", even if they are eventually buried by Isis' standard song development methods.

In the end, Wavering Radiant is just good enough to satisfy me as a fan, but without some noticeable adjustments in the future this will likely be the last time I'll be able to say that with any level of sincerity.


Score: 6.5/10


"Hand of the Host"


"20 Minutes/40 Years"

Mastodon - Crack The Skye (2009)

Mastodon
Crack the Skye (2009)
"Hipster metal". What an unfortunate tag to have placed on you. Having your efforts reduced to nothing but a ploy to attract adventurous Pitchfork readers; a mere curiosity that provides a playlist break between Feist and Panda Bear and seems to say "Hey! Look guys, I actually like some metal!" -- in the same way MF Doom proves indie kids' hip hop chops. Mastodon deserve more credit than that; more than the fickle appreciation of trend-whore hipsters and more than to be marginalized by metalheads claiming the band isn't even metal anymore and therefore hipsters should look elsewhere for their token metal band. It was with this in mind that made it hard for me not to smile at the copper-colored sticker on the front packaging of this album, which reads "Crack The Skye - The New Album From Globally Revered Hard-Rock Masters Mastodon" There, "hard-rock"; in one fell swoop proving the metalheads right and the hipsters wrong and moving the fuck on with it. Ending the pointless debate and challenging listeners to take their music for what it is and not what the listener thought it was or wants it to be or what is and isn't hip. Or, you know, something like that.

So anyway, Crack the Skye. Actually, first...well, I don't know about you, but I haven't gone back to Blood Mountain that often in the past two-and-a-half years. At first I saw it as a marked improvement for Mastodon: further embracing the prog-metal direction they took and absolutely nailed with Leviathan, and getting tighter and more technical as a band. As time went on, though, I began to question the use of the word "improvement". It was a progression alright, but it wasn't necessarily better than what they'd done previously, because other than a few spins of "The Wolf Is Loose" (great) and "Capillarian Crest" (awesome), I could probably do without hearing the album again in its entirety. It's a good enough listen in the moment, but the songs just don't stick. But Crack The Skye? Sheeeeiit. I doubt I'll be saying the same about Crack the Skye down the road.

They haven't gone back to the drawing board or made any dramatic changes, but they've kept moving in the same direction: more prog, more crazy (some might say "stupid") concepts, more guitar godliness, but now with more focus and 25% more epicness. At 50-minutes divided into seven tracks, they didn't do their label's PR team any favors. Actually, they gave them one proper single: "Divinations", which has the shortest length (three-and-a-half minutes), the largest hook, and arguably the most blistering guitar solo in an album filled with them. It's obviously there to keep the label heads' hair intact, yet it doesn't seem forcefully tacked-on even if it is the weakest track. The other tracks are given a bit more time to simmer and they make good use of it; shifting and changing riffs at will and bringing it back together by the time it's all over. Take "Oblivion", probably their first album opener that doesn't assault your speakers from the 0:00 second mark. Three different vocalists have their turns at the mic, the best of which comes from Brent Hinds, who seems to have been looking to the Motown catalog (between drunken encounters with other bands) because he really brings the soul to this track, as well as others. Fear not: it's actually an asset; not anywhere near as awful as I've described it.

I''m going to be abrupt here, because I could potentially go on for a lot longer counting the ways in which this album kicks ass, describing in detail my favorite moments and whatnot (top two: Scott Kelly's excellent contribution to the title track, and the earth-shattering, devil horns-inducing final minute of "Quintessence"), but it's just going to get redundant and I like to restrict my use of the word "awesome" to two or less times per review. So here's the album's only flaw: the central riff for "Ghost Of Karelia" is blatantly recycled from the Blood Mountain song "Sleeping Giant". There, that's about it.

Crack the Skye is an incredible album. It's Mastodon's most complete work yet and undoubtedly the greatest thing they've ever done and probably will do. Only four months into the year, hard-rock, hipster metal, or whatever you choose to call it, has it's best album of 2009. I can't really say it more clearly than that.


Score: 9.5/10


"Oblivion"


"Quintessence"

Khanate - Clean Hands Go Foul (2009)

Khanate
Clean Hands Go Foul (2009)

Khanate's sudden disbandment in 2006 was a blow to the drone doom metal world; a world not particularly large in the first place, but also one not particularly diverse. This is precisely why Khanate stood out so easily. With metal veterans like James Plotkin and Stephen O'Malley (of SunnO))) fame; a household name to some) working with a vocalist of Alan Dubin's caliber, they were bound to reach heights not easily accessible to their peers. Sadly, we only got three proper albums from this venerable supergroup of sorts before...actually, wait...make that four.

Information on Clean Hands Go Foul -- whether it is an official release or a collection of b-sides, outtakes, etc. -- is hard to come by. The most definitive definition seems to call it the "long lost" Khanate album, possibly not originally meant to see the light of day. If that's the case, it makes their break-up all the more infuriating, as even their throwaway material trumps most of what you'll ever hear from drone doom. "Wings From Spine" is probably the most immediate the band have ever been, finishing the track in a brisk (for them) sub-seven minute time-frame and establishing the dark, catastrophic feel the band is known for. Alan Dubin's voice is once again the centerpiece of this sound; his deranged shrieks and growls adding immeasurably to the unbalanced nature of the music.

Some have complained about the Gollum-ish quality (as in the Lord of the Rings character) of Dubin's vocal style, which is a good way to put it even if it is meant to be belittling. But it's still so captivating to listen to that I was convinced that he could carry an album on his voice alone. "Every God Damn Thing" did a good job of proving me wrong on that. A 32-minute so-called "diss track" with sparse instrumentation and electronic buzzing noise, Dubin more or less carries the track, and the results are pretty boring and meandering. There's a glimmer of hope at about twenty-one minutes in where some guitar pops in and it seems things will finally take off, but as quickly as it comes it goes away, and ends up serving as a colossal middle-finger to anyone patient enough to listen up to that point.

Initially I felt that this song was a terrible way for the band to close out their career with, but in retrospect, maybe it isn't. If anything, it makes the me better appreciate the contribution of the guitar and drums, and the atmosphere they create that makes Dubin's vocals so unsettling. But either way, the album could've done without the song.

So long Khanate; you will be missed.


Score: 7/10


"Wings From Spine"

Ocean - Pantheon of the Lesser (2008)

Ocean
Pantheon of the Lesser (2008)

Ocean's 2005 debut album, Here Where Nothing Grows, was a fantastic display of heavy, bleak, depressing, suffocating, atmospheric doom metal. For 2008's Pantheon of the Lesser, the band have changed their game, giving us two new extended tracks of heavy, bleak, suffocating, depressing, atmospheric doom metal...WITH A FEMALE VOCAL ELEMENT! Whatever. It's not like doom is known for its sea changes (zing!). They have their niche and they're sticking to it.

Even though the band haven't changed by leaps and bounds, the three year gap between the two albums have been largely good to Ocean (not to be confused with Germany's THE Ocean; that band does sludgy prog-metal, this is doom. DUH!). Any band with the skills to make a thirty-five minute track worth repeated listens must be doing something right. "The Beacon" blasts the album open with a heavy drum beat and a stroke of the guitar, and seems to hint at a fast start until that beat is left to linger in the air for several seconds, at once reminding the listener who they are. "Fast start" my ass; Ocean do everything slow.

The song builds, slowly of course, and the growling vocals sound more like the heavy howling winds of a thunderstorm. The song climaxes with the introduction of said female vocal element, at first singing, then screaming as the music begins to envelope her and the listener simultaneously. It's not very unlike the title track on Ancestors' 2008 debut, Neptune With Fire, but the styles are different enough between the two bands to avoid that feeling of déjà vu. After "The Beacon", the main job of the closing track, "Of the Lesser", is to not ruin the momentum; a job that it completes with flying colors, almost to the point of surpassing the excellent opener. At a scant (in comparison) twenty-three minutes, it's leaner on instrumental sections but no less epic in proportion.

For a time, the climax of "Of the Lesser" conveys a feeling of optimism...before punishing the hell out of that nonsense with a series of bass heavy, pummeling drum beats similar to the one that opened the album. "Save the optimism for post-rock bands", they seem to say. "We're all about dooooooom."


Score: 8.5/10


"Of the Lesser" (excerpt)

Opeth - Watershed (2008)

Opeth - Watershed (2008)
Opeth are one of those bands that have always been recommended to me. The one that often comes up casually in conversation from excited fanboys who make the comparison of _____________(insert metal band) to Opeth and are slightly, or not so slightly, taken aback when I can't say the reference hits home for me due to unfamiliarity. They're that band whose album's have always topped year-end lists and that I've made a mental note to check out but never did for some reason...until this year.

I'll remember Watershed as the album with which I finally took the leap.
I'll also remember Watershed as the album that permanently killed any interest I had in Opeth.

This is so beyond terrible that it takes an extreme level of patience for me to listen to it in one sitting. My first go-round with it spanned over a period of three days. Two days for my second listen. The last few I've been able to manage within a day, which recently culminated with the Herculean effort of actually listening to it all without stopping. I consider this one of the hardest things I've done all year. Please keep in mind that this is the same year that I ran my first marathon, juggled two jobs, began teaching English to African refugees, proposed to my girlfriend, revealed our plans to marry to her skeptical parents and successfully convinced them I wasn't just in it for the money. Somewhere in-between all of that: Opeth.

If I'm being honest, I don't dislike the music on Watershed as much as I dislike the humorlessness of the music on Watershed. Opeth are exactly the kind of band, and this the exact kind of music, that shouldn't take itself seriously. But I've seen no obvious indication to the contrary. Despite how technically sound the music is, it's still being played by long-haired, bearded dudes in their 30's who's fashion sense (all black) has not matured since high school. I pity the fool who can't see the humor in that.

And on that note, here's one more reason I'll remember Watershed: it's the album that made me realize just how badly metal needs more Devin Townsend's (of metal band Strapping Young Lad fame). Meaning, a guy that plays the music, respects the music, but also realizes the music is kind of silly if you really think about it.


Score: 3/10


"Porcelain Heart"

Samothrace - Life's Trade (2008)

Samothrace - Life's Trade (2008)

For this review I'd like to quote a passage from the 1998 book Hokkaido Highway Blues by Will Ferguson, a Canadian-born writer who made a living teaching English in Japanese high schools, and later, inspired by Alan Booth, decided to hitchhike the country from one end to the other and document his travels. In the following excerpt, he is reflecting upon the Japanese people's strange way of approaching the English language, and recalls a chance meeting with a former student of his:

"My students in Japan were determined to reduce English to mathematical dictums that could then be reassembled...When I ran into one [of them] out of uniform in a t-shirt that read ENJOY MY BROTHER!, I challenged him to explain the phrase. It was a wager, really, because I promised him ten thousand yen if he could do it. This young man was our top student, destined for one of Japan's finest universities, and he took up the challenge with confidence. "Enjoy is the verb," he said, "my is a possessive pronoun and brother is the object. The subject is understood to be you, which makes the sentence a command phrase. The exclamation mark adds urgency." He then held out his hand for the money. "But what does it mean?" I said. He looked at me, utterly baffled, and said "Enjoy is the verb, my is a possessive pronoun, brother is the--" Needless to say, I didn't pay him the ten thousand yen and he is still bitter about it. In his mind, he did explain it and all I did was welsh on a bet."

This pretty much sums up my feelings about the fundamentally sound, well-performed, yet altogether unfulfilling doom metal on Life's Trade. Samothrace = the Japanese student (if that wasn't obvious).


Score: 6.5/10


"Awkward Hearts"

Nadja - Truth Becomes Death (2005)

Nadja - Truth Becomes Death (2005)

Screw it. I'm just going to try stream-of-consciousness writing for this one. The truth is that I've had this for a while but have been unable to find the words necessary to review it. I guess the easy way to do it would be to just say what I think about it. Well, it's awesome, like one of the best albums I've heard this year kind of awesome. And I suppose that's all that really needs to be said. The point of any review is basically to express how you feel about the album and why the reader should care. I've already taken care of the first part.

The second part I've already screwed up by admitting that I can't find the words for it. I've just outright admitted that I'm not a person who capable of reviewing this album, so there's no reason for the reader to stick around. But assuming that one does, I'll keep going.

Truth Becomes Death is one of those albums that makes you understand the potential of a genre. Drone doom metal had been around in some form for years before this album came around. Earth and Sunn O))) aren't exactly small names in the metal world. Neither is Justin Broadrick, who has made the sound a little more accessible with his Jesu project. But when I was getting my feet wet with the genre, it was hard to find the album that made me care about it; that made me see it as more than white noise. Truth Becomes Death is that album, for me. Just like Lightning Bolt's Hypermagic Mountain helped me see what can be made from noise rock, Truth Becomes Death has helped me understand what drone doom metal, in all it's heavy, suffocating glory, is capable of.

So if there's one thing to take out of that paragraph, it's that anyone interested in exploring drone doom would be doing themselves a favor by making this one of the first albums they check out. It's pretty much a modern classic.


Score: 9.5/10


"Bug/Golem"

Ancestors - Neptune With Fire (2008)

Ancestors - Neptune With Fire (2008)

October 24th, 2008
"Whoa....Om, you've just been pwned."

That was the sole note I left about Neptune With Fire after my first listen to it, meant to express my immediate appreciation for this album in comparison to my lukewarm opinion of Om, one of Ancestors' musical peers. Like Om, Ancestors specialize in epic, 15+ minute progressive/stoner/doom metal marathons. It's a risky format, as it only gives the band room for two to four songs per album, meaning the album becomes a real drag if any of those songs falter at any moment. And don't even think about trying to recover from one bad track. There's just no room for filler. Om, however, have become quite good at providing an awesome opening track that ends up desperately trying to carry the aimless, less interesting music that follows. Ancestors, thankfully, avoid such mistakes. Two tracks. Both fantastic.

The opening title track starts off with a heavy stoner rock section with vocals (sounding a tad like Electric Wizard's Jus Oborn) before lapsing into a psychedelic, effects-laden guitar solo, which then builds back into heavy rock territory for the climax. The pacing throughout is excellent, as even at 17-minutes long it still feels too short. The even more epic "Orcus' Avarice" begins with church organs before launching it's low-end, slow rolling guitar attack. Though instead of going again with the loud-quiet-loud structure, the track eventually introduces a ghostly, almost operatic female vocal part to close out the song's last third on an unexpected dramatic note. In simple terms: it rocks.

Neptune With Fire is a stunning debut by Ancestors. So powerful in execution that not even cheesy lyrical themes and my least favorite Arik Roper cover art in a while can hold it back from greatness.


Score: 9/10


"Orcus' Avarice" (excerpt)

Caïna - Temporary Antennae (2008)

Caïna - Temporary Antennae (2008)

It seems that a lot of heavier bands naturally mellow out as they get older. This, of course, coincides with the typical process of maturing outside of a musical perspective. Young people live in extremes, see things in black and white, and only age brings out that ability to see the gray areas. Understanding this makes me more accepting when formerly heavy bands return with more subtle and/or varied albums (but at the same time makes me less accepting of people who complain and dismiss perfectly good albums just because the band isn't as heavy anymore). In fact, I expect it, and find it a little ridiculous when bands with members well into their 30's continue to stick to the tactic of sheer aggression and energy. It often seems forced and unnatural regardless of (or perhaps especially because of) the band's past efforts.

The central member of Caïna, Andrew Curtis-Brignell, is not yet in his mid-twenties (as is my understanding) and Temporary Antennae is his third full-length in a career that is as many years old, so it's a little more difficult to explain the changes to his sound on this album, which is gradually moving away from being black metal with forays into post-rock and singer/songwriter, to being more post-rock with forays into black metal. You won't find so much as a growl surface in Temporary Antennae until fourteen minutes into the album and have to wait an additional four minutes for a blast beat.

The signature lazy journalistic move to pull when a heavy band mellows out is usually to compare them to Neurosis. And when said band does delve into post-rock, lazy journalists will also name drop Godspeed You! Black Emperor as an influence for those parts. This has to stop. It's as if Neurosis are the only metal band to ever combine the heavier parts their songs with a softer post-rock sound and that Godspeed is the only post-rock band in existence. Don't worry, though, I'm above such lazy journalism.

That being said, the way that Caïna jumps in and out of heavy segments seems to invoke the style of Neurosis Isis. "Willows and Whippoorwills", with it's brooding buildup that eventually gives way to the growls of Curtis-Brignell, would make Steve Von Till Aaron Turner proud. But Caïna do more than enough to separate themselves from other post-metal Isis clones. Take "Larval Door" as an example, though it comes completely out of left-field, especially having followed the crushing "Tobacco Beetle". Caïna's website mentions 80's pop as an influence, but it's somewhat disorienting to have it injected so suddenly into an otherwise dark and foreboding album. "Them Golds And Brass", which manifests into three distinct segments, draws comparisons to Godspee Explosions In The Sky with it's spoken word part in the middle, as well in other areas with it's guitar work similar to that of Efrim Menuck's best moments. *ahem* Of course I meant Munaf Rayani. Munaf Rayani's best moments. Yes.

I suppose my only complaint is with the absence of any acoustic tracks similar to "Constantine The Blind" or "Wormwood Over Albion" from Mourner. On top of being two of the album's best tracks, they added more variety to the music. But that's a minor issue considering that Temporary Antennae still delivers. Mourner was a grower that rewarded and improved with each listen. Temporary Antennae has the same quality, while innovating enough to keep the listener anxious for what they'll bring next. Anyone looking to fill the post-metal void in their lives in 2008 should look no further.

Score: 8/10


"Tobacco Beetle"


"None Shall Die"

Capricorns - Ruder Forms Survive (2005)

Capricorns - Ruder Forms Survive (2005)

Who out there doesn't enjoy a pleasant, unexpected surprise? No one? LIARS! Well I certainly do, and while listening to Ruder Forms Survive, I got one. I was really digging this record until the third song came on. The first two tracks had established Capricorns' brand of instrumental sludgy post-rock rather powerfully, and I was happily anticipating an album full of more of the same. Then, on "The First Broken Promise", on an album that I believed to be completely instrumental, a familiar voice appears out of the darkness. It's Eugene Robinson.

See, Eugene Robinson is an artist and vocalist that I've made no secret that I quite admire, therefore I'm obviously a huge fan of his band, Oxbow, and pretty much anything that he touches (artistically, that is). So having his unique vocal stylings show up completely unexpectedly on an album that I randomly purchased used was kind of like running into a good friend in a place that you least expected but right where you needed him.

Given my admiration for Robinson, it shouldn't be surprising that this my favorite song on Ruder Forms Survive, but Capricorns aren't exactly slouches without him. As I said, the first two songs, as well as the following four, hit hard, and are excellent works of groovy, sludgy post-rock. Reminds me a little bit of Pelican's old stuff, back when they had balls.


Score: 8/10


"The First Broken Promise (featuring Eugene Robinson)"


"1440: Exit Wargasmatron"

Trees - Lights Bane (2008)

Trees - Lights Bane (2008)

What's with this trend of the 30-minute doom album? Who resurrected this? Did the guilty party feel that doom fans had long been spoiled by the doom records that stretched easily past the one hour mark on a consistent basis (the Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, if you will) and figured that our greedy doom-loving asses had had too much for too long? Or were their intentions more noble, feeling that doom had come to a point where it was getting too overblown, and figured some fans would welcome a more streamlined doom album? The answer is likely that I'm reading way too much into this and have just wasted several seconds of your time. But if it wasn't obvious at this point, Light's Bane, at 27-minutes, is yet another entry into the "doom LP's that feel more like EP's" category.

And of course it's good, otherwise it's length wouldn't be a problem. Comparisons of Trees to the now defunct Khanate are more than valid. The music is just as intense, slow, and suffocating. Vocalist L. Smith's delivery isn't quite as memorable as the shrieks and growls that came out of Alan Dubin, but it does the job. I found myself wishing that the changes in the songs were slightly less subtle. At first it was easy to miss the variations and have the whole thing sound like one jumbled mass of noise and screams, but I did begin to recognize the nuances and started to "get" the songs after repeated listens. It's a minor complaint, and may have more do to with my own listening habits than any flaw on the band's part.

Still, I keep coming back to the length. Even though I'm trying to judge the album based on the music that's actually there, it's difficult not to think of the music that isn't. As if it's expecting something to follow it, "Black" lacks the climactical quality that an album closer should have, so when it ends it's hard to shake the feeling that a third song should be starting. But alas, your (insert music playing device of choice) tells you a different story. And as a result, Lights Bane comes off like a teaser trailer before the real show starts, though it's tantalizing enough to build anticipation for what's next.


Score: 6.5/10


"Nothing" (excerpt)

Harvey Milk - Life...The Best Game In Town (2008)

Harvey Milk - Life...The Best Game In Town (2008)

Sometimes an album just finds you at the right time...or you find it; however it works. I was looking for something sludgy and heavy after realizing that 2008 had brought somewhat of a drought in the metal department for me. Add to that my fiancee was out of town and I had absolutely no idea what I should do with myself. The fact that I exclusively listened to Life...The Best Game in Town in the midst of that ten day period -- which was filled with a Grand Theft Auto IV binge, maintaining my worst diet and hygiene habits since college, and not really bothering to get dressed and do anything productive unless it was absolutely necessary -- was actually really fitting in hindsight.

This, my friends, is man music. Huge sludge riffs. Deep growls. Rock with balls -- man music. Macho man music minus Macho Man. You can almost smell the beer, cigarettes, sweat, unwashed clothes, and farts emulating from this album. Rumor has it that listening to this makes chest and facial hair grow faster (it worked for me!). It makes having a breakfast consisting of soda pop and frozen pizza left sitting out overnight sound like a good idea.

Absurdity aside, Life..The Best Game in Town really is a pleasure. The opening track,"Death Goes to the Winner" starts off deceptively as a harmonic ballad before Creston Spiers gruff vocals and the hammering kick-drum and guitar riff storms in. From that point, the energy of the album seldom drops. On top of having plenty of sludge to satisfy what I was looking for, the album also mixes elements of punk and avant garde metal to keep things fresh. There's still time for this album to be dethroned, but right now, this is tops for me in the metal category for 2008.

Score: 9/10


"Skull Socks & Rope Shoes"


"Roses"

Boris - Smile (2008)

Boris - Smile (2008)*

*Japanese release reviewed here

Cacophonic? Yeah. But there's no reason to have expected differently from a Boris record. They're certainly no strangers to harsh noise, and some moments in Smile have them at the harshest that they've ever been, while other moments have them at their softest and most melodic, sometimes in the same song. But that's Boris for ya.

The album starts off with the excellent "メッセージ", a drum driven masterpiece that, other than "花･太陽･雨", is the easiest song on the ears. One writer compared this song to TV On The Radio if they were trying to be a Japanese noise rock band, which is so painfully accurate a comparison that there's no need for me to try to think of a more creative one. After "BUZZ-IN" has you scrambling for the volume switch, the also excellent "放て!" kicks in, which is a complete mess of a song and still manages to work well somehow. So well, in fact, that you'd have to go back to Lightning Bolt's 2005 album Hypermagic Mountain to find a better noise rock track. "となりのサターン" is somewhat of a departure for the band, as it introduces some electronic elements, the result of which almost sounds like a pop song. In an interview for Pitchfork, drummer Atsua spoke about the band having an admiration for Japanese glam rock bands of the 1990's. While I haven't heard any Japanese glam rock and he declined to name any names, I imagine that this song comes closest to paying any sort of homage. The rest of the album has a rather large sound that, due to lack of verbal ability and in depth knowledge of music history on my part, I'll compare to arena rock. It's stadium sized Boris, and though no individual moments stand out, the listening experience is every bit as intense as at Last -Feedbacker-.

Coming off a somewhat high profile release in Pink, the band probably recorded with more pressure and anticipation than they ever have. Most people would probably agree that this isn't their best record by far, but even so, it's still likely going to be one of the better releases of the year. If fellow Japanese noise/post rockers Envy made this exact album, it would've been the best thing they've ever recorded. Fans of the Boris will definitely dig this, but Smile is unlikely to win them any new ones. Their loss.

On a side note, the Japanese version's foam/plastic packaging is quite awesome, worth every penny of it's ridiculous import price.

Score: 7.5/10

"メッセージ"


"放て!"