Boris
Akuma No Uta

A band unknown even in the realm of alternative music, the crazy Japanese trio Boris can be considered as (sorry for the anglophone term) the underground of the underground.

In the late spring of 2005, the record label Southern Lord decided to release "Akuma No Uta", the most complete and representative album of the eclectic and prolific repertoire of the Japanese band. The first track "Introduction" is a nine-minute foray into drone music: a riff that strongly resembles Sleep is repeated to exhaustion with minimal yet significant thematic variations. The music that emerges seems to come from the depths of the ocean, loaded as it is with reverberations and distortions, emotion, and suggestions. No sooner do you recover than "Ibitsu" and "Furi" arrive, two tracks where Boris unleash all their feral frenzy: like Stooges at double speed, with breaks and tempo changes à la Hendrix. Fierce and incandescent. The heart of the album then opens, the twelve minutes of "Naki Kyoku": a continuous seesaw between languid and melancholic arpeggios, ambient pauses, psychedelic jams, blues solos and emotional crescendos that nominate this track to become the "Stairway To Heaven" of the land of the rising sun. You're left stunned by the scenarios this music manages to represent. "Ano Onna No Onryou" fully embraces top-notch stoner rock: Kyuss and Fu Manchu mixed in a hard and aggressive track that brings to mind the best music of the '70s. And just when you think the best has already been revealed, "Akuma No Uta" arrives: four gong strikes and the riff from "Introduction" reappears, and the music explodes in all its violent majesty. A track that starts slow and mighty but accelerates within minutes in a devastating progression, like Blue Cheer tackling acrobatic rock. A truly impressive finale that leaves the listener stunned once again.

In light of what Boris have demonstrated with this album, there is nothing left but to wish them to achieve what they deserve: fame, commercial success, and to be considered as one of the best rock bands on the planet. If this doesn't happen, then it means people truly deserve stuff like Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party. Sayonara.