Boris
Heavy Rocks

There are bands that produce the same album 4 or 5 times, thinking that by changing its name, they can fool us into believing they're not always serving us the same crappy rehash, failing miserably. And then there are Boris. Almost 10 years later, they release an album that bears the name of one of the cornerstones of their work, Heavy Rocks, to be precise, producing an album of equal beauty but with completely different hues.

A hint of this change in "color" starts from the artwork, which in this case is a lovely delicate violet, instead of the orangeofthecastlemadeofstonerrocksand. And then, of course, the content. And here, there's much to explore. If the opening takes us back to the acid shores of their previous works ("Riot Sugar"), with overflowing guitars, Melvins-like progression, and a cosmic solo, it's immediately evident there's a lot in the fire. With "Leak-Truth, yesnoyesnoyes-" (and also in "Jackson Head"), we enter the world of shoegaze and melody, echoes of the Smashing Pumpkins and an "epic" feel, Atsuo's voice is a real pleasure for the ears. The emotional peak is reached with the boundless suite "Missing Pieces," with drums recorded underneath, guitars creating an ethereal and melancholic atmosphere, the missing pieces of a life that might not return the same, and a monolith of noise that appears in these elysian fields, ready to disrupt every peace broadcast. The dirty soul isn't lost and the crust assault of "GALAXIANS" is here to prove it.

The ever-evolving hydra from the Land of the Rising Sun mocks those who can't seem to evolve.. And the album "Attention Please" (released alongside these "Heavy Rocks") is here to reaffirm this concept, but that's another story.