While most commonly associated with the doom metal and drone metal scenes, Boris are also renowned for their ability to regularly incorporate elements of many musical genres while maintaining an identifiable sound and quality. Boris have explored psychedelic rock, noise, ambient,...
[more]While most commonly associated with the doom metal and drone metal scenes, Boris are also renowned for their ability to regularly incorporate elements of many musical genres while maintaining an identifiable sound and quality. Boris have explored psychedelic rock, noise, ambient, sludge rock, post-rock, stoner-rock, along with more conventional, mainstream rock and roll styles.
Named after a song on the The Melvins' Bullhead, Boris formed in 1992 and released their first album Absolutego on their own Fangs Anal Satan label. Since then, they have released 16 studio albums (including Absolutego), and many EPs, 7" singles, and full-length collaborative recordings, on various record labels across the world.
Boris began their career as a hardcore punk band before quickly changing to a drone metal group. Their debut album, 1996's Absolutego, clocks in at well over an hour in length, yet features only one "song," essentially a collage of shapeless guitar noise -- with single chords sometimes stretching past the 4-minute mark -- and screamed vocals. Throughout their career, they would continue to dabble in this style; their albums Flood and Feedbacker also consist of single epic-length songs, though typically broken into smaller parts, and their The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked series could be described as being recorded experiments in the drone genre.
However, since about 2000, Boris has become more often seen as an updated version of the blues-rock power trio, influenced heavily by late-'60s and '70s groups such as Motörhead, Blue Cheer, and Cream. Boris first made use of this sound on their album Heavy Rocks, which has since become a fan favorite. This album marked a major shift in tone for Boris; comparing Absolutego to Heavy Rocks, it is as if one were comparing two very different bands.
Boris has collaborated with fellow Japanese musicians Keiji Haino, Michio Kurihara, and Merzbow, and also collaborated US drone metal band Sunn O))), for the well-received Altar, which was released on October 31, 2006.
Another important concept in the band's aesthetic is the idea of "uppercase" and "lowercase" Boris. According to Atsuo, if the band's name appears as "BORIS" on the record cover, the music is a relatively conventional dose of rock or metal. If the name appears as "Boris" or "boris," then, the music is most likely an experimental recording.
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