Boris & Uniform - Bright New Disease (Album Review)

Release Date: June 16th 2023. Record Label: Sacred Bones. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl

Bright New Disease: Tracklisting

You Are The Beginning

Weaponized Grief

No

The Look Is A Flame

The Sinners Of Hell (Jigoku)

Narcotic Shadow

A Man From The Earth

Endless Death Agony

Not Surprised

Review

Bright New Disease is the new collaborative new album between Japanese legendary Rock/Metal collective Boris and American Industria Metallers/Noise Rockers Uniform. I'm a fan of both bands and you can hear what each band brought to this album after hearing from the first time. Boris bring their classic style of Experimental Drone/Doom/Sludge grooves to this album with Uniform playing their demented and hybrid style of Doom/Industrial Metal/Punk/Noise Metal sounds. 

Both bands receive the perfect opportunity to play some of their most violently addictive and ugly sounds throughout the album. The songs offered on here move from all areas of the Doom/Industrial/Sludge Metal spectrum with heavy amounts of Distorted glitches and nightmarish Psychedelic freakout beats. However, there's a sense of DEMENTED fun to be had with this album and allows both bands the opportunity to play a more riff-centric style of music.

The songs all have a schizophrenic edge and Boris seem to be channelling their NO and Heavy Rocks (2022) creative persona for this album with Uniform just doing what Uniform do brilliantly well. The album does move at a frantic and chaotic pace that some of the finest ideas can be lost when listening for the first time. As they're a lot of different styles to take on. Both bands work amazingly well together on this record and both offer the same creative respect to each other when playing some of the heaviest and bleakest parts of the album.

Standout tracks include: You Are The Beginning, Weaponized Grief, The Look Is A Flame, The Sinners Of Hell (Jigoku), Endless Death Agony and Not Surprised.

These tracks I found the most engaging to fully listen to multiple times. The lyrics and vocals hit upon some pretty bleak moments with the experimental nature of the album still keeping the mood wonderfully surreal, emotionally involving and brutally honest. The album offers a wide range of different grooves and droned out textures which allows the Industrial beats from Uniform to be on the strongest aspects of the album. However, Boris's role shouldn't be misunderstood either. As they bring their "A" game to Bright New Disease for one of the most satisfying and original collaborative albums I've heard in a very long time.

If you're a fan of both bands then Bright New Disease is going to be one of your favourite albums of the year. 

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Rarely Unable PR for the promo.

Bright New Disease will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Sacred Bones from Friday 16th June 2023.

BORIS Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

Uniform Links

Facebook | BandCamp

Boris - Heavy Rocks (2022) (Album Review)

Release Date: August 12th 2022. Record Label: Relapse Records. Format:CD/DD/Vinyl

Heavy Rocks (2022) - Tracklisting

1.She is burning 03:41

2.Cramper 03:23

3.My name is blank 03:15

4.Blah Blah Blah 04:22

5.Question 1 05:21

6.Nosferatou 05:20

7.Ruins 02:38

8.Ghostly imagination 03:52

9.Chained 03:34

10.(not) Last song 06:10

Members

Atsuo

Takeshi

Wata

Review

Legendary Japanese Rockers Boris return with Heavy Rocks (2022). The third chapter within their Heavy Rocks series which started in 2002 and continued with 2011’s installment. Eleven years later and Boris returns with another round of 70’s based classic Proto-Metal sounds but given the Boris experimental makeover. This time, Boris brings a fresh chaotic Punk Rock creative spirit to the album and even throws in elements of Jazz for good measure. 

Heavy Rocks (2022) is fast paced and extremely dangerous with the band employing genres such as Crust Punk, Doom Metal, Psych Rock and Stoner Metal to great effect. This chapter of Heavy Rocks is extremely different to the previous chapters and that’s a damn good thing with Boris being BORIS.

Opening song She Is Burning advises the listener on what to fully expect with this album. Fast-paced and catchy slabs of Punk based Doom/Stoner Metal with a free flowing Jazz attitude. Boris throw in a few sneaky Crust Punk sounds that could have easily come from 2020’s NO album. This song and the whole album is perhaps best suited to dedicated fans of Boris and not the casual listener. Boris are in their element here and they sound like they’re having fun. Imagine that.

Second song Cramper is a more Proto-Metal offering with a fast-paced Punk Rock attitude. The song is stripped back in all the right places before a rebellious Psych Rock streak appears. The cautious and solitary sound of the song makes it appear that this album was recorded in the 70’s and that’s one of the main highlights of the whole album.

Things do become weirder and weirder with more abstract noises and sounds being added for good measure. The album becomes more Experimental and Jazz focused for the next few songs with My Name Is Blank, Blah Blah Blah and Question 1 being some of the standout tracks on the album. However, Boris doesn't stray too far away from the Heavy Doomed Out Grooves they’ve become known for over the last 30 years.

The second half of the album is not as experimental as the first half with Boris playing the heaviest sounds of the record. Other great songs to check out are: Nosferatou, Ghostly Imagination and Chained.

The final track (not) Last Track is a trippy and dreamlike song with delicate vocals and bringing a more nightmarish vision with a deep emotional core. One of the most interesting tracks on the album as it ends quite suddenly. Maybe, perhaps to be continued on their next studio release. This is a bold statement for Boris to end the album on but I never expected anything less from this legendary and groundbreaking band.

Heavy Rocks (2022) delivers all the goods that Boris are known for and I hope they don’t leave it so long for the next exciting chapter with the series of Heavy Rocks releases.

This is an essential album to own. Awesome stuff.

Words by Steve Howe

Heavy Rocks (2022) is available to buy now on CD/DD/Vinyl via Relapse Records from all good stockists now.

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

BORIS - PINK (Deluxe Edition) - Album Review

Release date: July 08^th 2016. Label: Sargent House. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

PINK (Deluxe Edition) – Tracklisting

1.Farewell

2.Pink

3.Woman on the Screen

4.Nothing Special

5.Blackout

6.Electric

7.Pseudo Bread

8.Afterburner

9.Six, Three Times

10.My Machine

11.Just Abandoned Myself

12.Your Name Part 2

13.Heavy Rock Industry

14.SOFUN

15.non/sha/lant

16.Room Noise

17.Talisman

18.N. F. Sorrow

19.Are You Ready?

20.Tiptoe

Band Members:

Atsuo

Wata

Takeshi

Review:

Legendary Japanese Sludge Metallers – BORIS are re-releasing their 2006 landmark critically acclaimed album Pink. So what’s different about this version. Well the original album remains undeniably the same but Boris have included another album of nine songs to this release called – Forbidden Songs. These songs were recorded at the same recording sessions for Pink.

Pink was the album that introduced me to Boris. I read various reviews at the time stating what a colossal album it was. I took the plunge and I listened to quite a few different versions that were released at the same time. I fell in love with BORIS's style of Noise, Drone, Doom, Grunge, Psych and Sludge. I didn’t realise at the time that this was BORIS's tenth album when it was officially released. Believe me, I had a lot of catching up to do after hearing Pink. If you’ve already listened to this album then you know what to expect. Heavy use of distorted and experimental sludge driven noise and the distinctive vocals of lead singer – Atsuo. Though it’s the riffs that hold your attention through out.

If you haven’t heard of Boris before or never heard Pink before then this album demands your full attention. As it’s quite a hard album to listen to and fully understand on your first listen. BORIS are known for changing their sound on various albums. If their albums are released as BORIS then you can expect a  Sludge/Doom/Drone Metal kind of album. If their name is spelt as Boris then expect a more drone/noise based experimental offering that sounds totally different to their other studio output. Sure it can be very confusing times waiting to see which version of BORIS will appear.

Forbidden Songs starts from – Your Name Part 2 and for the next fifty three minutes or so you’re treated to the same amount of heaviness and experimentation held on Pink. I can see why BORIS didn’t include these songs on the final version. Some of them are really superb songs but some of them fall short of what we expect from BORIS. I’m not going to say which songs work or don’t work as everyone will have different opinions on this album. Forbidden Songs is a superb album to be included as a cool extra on Pink but not so much as a standalone album. Though that doesn’t stop BORIS writing some spectacular moments of heavy sludge based noise to impress long-time fans with.

This is perhaps the most definitive version of Pink to own. It’s a brilliant way to celebrate the tenth anniversary of such a landmark album.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Rachel at Silver PR and Dave at US/Them PR for the promo. Pink (Deluxe Edition) will be available to buy via Sargent House from July 8^th 2016 on CD/DD/Vinyl.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp