BORIS - Smile

A quick note (especially for the peer to peer fanatics out there): the "Smile" you're about to read a review of is the Southern Lord edition. Be careful, because there's also a Japanese version out on Diwphalanx which, from what we hear, is a lot more noise-electronic oriented. On the back of the promo copy in my possession, though, I read that Stephen O'Malley ((Sunn0))), KTL) and Michio Kurihara (Ghost, White Heaven, The Stars) are involved here too, so the difference must lie in the mixing of the tracks rather than in the composition itself, as the Southern Lord press sheet more or less states. 

That said, Boris are a great band, even if not everyone seems to have noticed yet. No matter.

Boris are among the few still giving meaning to hard rock – with all due caveats, of course – in this early stretch of the new millennium, and "Smile" stands as vivid, and above all vital, proof of it. It also shows off the band's remarkable eclecticism, as they move from drone-rock to heavy metal, from psychedelia to noise with extreme ease.

Yes, this is a truly fine record, starting with the acid blues of "Flower Sun Rain," a cover of fellow countrymen Pyg (bought Japrocksampler yet? Go on, don't make us beg), moving through the eighties hair-metal of the supersonic "BUZZ-IN," "Laser Beam" and "Statement," and closing in glory with the untitled track, a psychedelic doom bulldozer that grinds on unperturbed for over fifteen minutes.

It could be the springboard for a commercial breakthrough. Let's hope so.

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04/05/2008