Customer Reviews

Pink

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is an absolute winner. Haven't heard anything this exciting on the metal side of things since last year's Pelican release. These Japanese avant-rockers take you on a queasy and supremely loud ride thru' the best of American and British rock styles of the last forty-odd years and do these styles as well as pretty much anyone has ever done them because Boris do psych, punk, metal, sludge, shoe-gazer, whatever (that's my preferred term for them right now: "whatever-metal") absolutely on their own terms.

You'll be able to get a good part of their story in last Sunday's NYTimes Magazine feature (May 28, 2006!!!) on Sunn O))) and their Southern Lord label. It's all about how bands like Boris and Sunn O))) are putting a new and surreal face on metal. No longer is it just a choice between hair metal and thrash metal, Metallica and grindcore, songs about decapitation and songs about world-loathing. Boris's self-described dada approach puts them at the vanguard of "metal" bands (you've got to use this term loosely with these bands, 'cos they are bound and determined not to be crammed into a box; the best ones definitely succeed). Mastodon uses free-jazz drumming behind their punishing grind, Pelican's instru-metal creates beauty out of ambient time and harmony shifts . . . Boris? Boris does it all with a constant layer of shifting feedback beneath the wall of sound (think a louder and meaner VU or Bloody Valentine). They can be as disorientingly slow as the Melvins (from whom they draw their namesake--a classic song on _Ozma_); the difference is that they have their own unique lyrical approach and take the feedback attack in a less monolithic direction than do the Melvins. They can slap you upside the head with the terse directness of Motorhead, replete with a stinging guitar solo from Wata (that rare metal creature--a woman lead player). Again, this isn't quite your uncle's Motorhead, though. The feedback beneath infinitizes the sound, as Emmanuel Levinas might say if he theorized metal.

Lest you think this is merely a tour of loud music courtesy of three skillful Japanese impresarios, I implore you to buy this album. Words can only begin to express the visceral, emotional, and intellectual sensations that this band evokes. As is the case with all the best music, metal or otherwise, this is music that begs to be FELT. Like I said at the beginning of the review, there's a good chance that this uncompromising music will make you feel queasy, like the best of roller-coaster rides. Ride it all the way through, though, and you have one unforgettable and addictive experience. You'll get on over and over again and feel a new rush every time you hit the mad bends, curves, and topsy-turvies of this one.

Man. I love Boris. I love this album. A lot of people are saying it's got some pretty heavy shoegaze influence and I'm not about to deny that; It's pretty amazing that they can still rock just as hard (maybe even harder) than they did on either Akuma no Uta or Heavy Rocks while giving the sounds of bands like My Bloody valentine or Sigur Ros a go. Most importantly though, those MONSTER riffs that kept me listening to their previous efforts are still here.

I had read that this was a good album, it got good reviews. I liked the title and the band name and the comparisons to Sunn O))). I wrote it down so that I would give it a listen in the record store a few months ago, but never got around to it. I have aged in the last few years and my tolerance for loud, fast music has started to wane. I really liked the Sunn O))) "Black One" record because it felt like metal, but without the drums. I have loved music that drones since I have discovered it. Sunn O))) is fun because it drones and has a quality of evil to it that is missing in rock music. I kind of thought that Boris was going to sound a lot like "Black One."
A couple of weeks ago I heard a track on KUSF, I think it must have been "just abandoned my-self" and was really impressed. It seemed like it played for about 20 minutes and I just kept listening. I was suprised I didn't change the channel. Luckily, they announced the band at the end of the song and I decided I was just going to get the CD.
The CD arrived and I was immediately impressed by the cover art. There are three pieces of beautiful blotter paper, one is a partial Bosch painting. I put the CD in the stereo and the first song, "Farewell" was totally different from what I expected. It is like the best shoegazer song you have ever heard. It sounded so good on the stereo that after about half of the song I turned it off and decided I was going to save this album for a time when I could actually sit and listen, it was that great. Last week I went camping and brought a crappy CD walkman, this album filled my evening in the pitch black. I haven't felt this excited about a rock band in a while. Boris in some ways are traditional hard rock, but so much better than anything else I have heard in years in this genre. After hearing "Farewell" which is just a beautiful track, I was expecting more of this, but the album rolls right into some heavy music with the next track "Pink." While this is pretty heavy and can probably pull a lot of energy out, it is also just as suitable as headphone music to zone out with. As I listened to the album, there were times I wanted to break out and bang my head (well, sort of), I was happy just listening to the variety of tones this group can pull out. The drums are fantastic. "Electric" even has a fun high-hat, nearly disco thing going on amidst a whirl of electric guitar. While, the Sunn O))) influence is present, it's not really near that. "blackout" is probably one of the best droning on songs I have ever heard. I was actually thinking more along the lines of every great rock band's best material all mixed up. I remember the first time I heard Jane's Addictions first "live" album and I can't even say that JA were this good. I was also thinking of Smashing Pumpkins very best heavy music, but without the cheese. I could also make comparisons to Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Sonic Youth, etc. This is better, at least it is at the moment (it's still new). I am looking forward to the Sunn O)))/Boris collaboration coming out soon. My only fault with this album that is I do believe it is so good, it deserves to be listened to very loudly, on very good stereo equipment with no other distractions, which might mean it isn't going to get listened to very often. But then I guess that is what makes it special. I would hate for any of these songs to be overplayed on the radio, not that I see that happening, it's too good for radio. Looking forward to seeing this band live and have a feeling they are probably not going to let anyone down.

2006 is only half over, but it's hard to imagine anything better than this coming out any time soon. A VERY high energy stomp w/ incredible texture & incidental ambient noise to give the riffing some depth. It doesn't really matter that you can't understand the words; the vocal melodies will capture you immediately. The slower pieces (incl. the opening track) recall the best of 90's ambient rock, while the fast pieces - which will make you charge around your apartment until you're out of breath - have a brilliant punky-metal bounce to them. The rhythm section, particularly the drummer, propels the band madcap over the amazing rough terrain carved out by a nastily distorted guitar. A release more for those interested in feedback solos that traditional solos, this CD is the beautiful bastard child of Motorhead & The Mary Chain. A must listen for anyone interested in high energy music.

Yup, Boris is now officially my favorite band.

Pink is like taking all of your favorite bits of every other Boris album, from their straight up heavy rock to their droniest dirges, making it even better, and putting it all on one cd. When I try to think of a way to describe the sound... I can't say just one word.

Energetic. Pretty (the sound, not the pinkness). Loud. Heavy.

Just a fantastic album from start to finish.

Every bit as good {at least, I thought so} as their only other CD that I've heard so far - 'Amplifier Worship' (see my review). A worthy slab of good stoner metal from this Japanese trio. Definitely Melvins-inspired as one fully experiences the refreshing opener "Farewell", the ripping title cut "Pink", their monster rocker "Afterburner", "My Machine" and the eighteen-minute "Just Abandoned Myself". Check it out.

and I've never heard anything like this. Smashing Pumpkins, Melvins and Sigur Ros with a really *bad* attitude and a woman lead guitar.

Just like the Japanese to take rock and roll and do it better than practically anyone I've ever heard...

I just ran out to Other Music to get this on my lunch break, and I was excited right off the bat. The packaging is very cool. Its hot pink, with see through pink vellum for the cover, wrapped around a sheet of acid, with one tab missing...haha! Thats all before I even got back to listen to it...

After listening to this, I am completely blown off my rocker...I was listening to alot of Mogwai lately, and enjoying their new song, "Glasgow Mega-Snake" and their old great "My Father My King" and wondering why they didnt do more of that bombast sorta thing...and I kept thinking of this Boris record. I have Flood, which is great by its own measure (waaaay more ambient now that I have something to compare it to), but I heard this one was balls to the wall. So, upon putting it in, I am treated to a wash of sound, ala My Bloody Valentine meets Mogwai, and I am happy so far, but still looking for the crunch...next song, title track "Pink", practically blew me out of my freaking seat!! From there the album is just pure a crushing locomotive of fuzzed out sludgy black sabbath punk metal...it is grueling, and tight, and the riffs are sky high....but wait, it does the pretty pyschedelic Mogwai/ My Bloody Valentine thing pretty well too. and best of all, the record is seemless, flowing from one texture to the next....I am very happy I bought this, and am almost ready to go out and buy Akuma No Uta which Ive heard is awesome as well. But this record is a complete package of extrememly well done, high adrenaline rock and roll sludge...You will not be dissapointed...

Boris is a Japanese trio named after a Melvins song. ("Boris" is the first track on BULLHEAD from 1991.) But PINK is like a jacked-up Melvins, an amazing blast of diverse rock styles that might as well be an instrumental album since the vocals are in Japanese. There are tiny, impossible to read lyrics in the insert, but based on what little I could decipher I don't think we're missing much...

Moody post-metal, fast hardcore punk, Sabbath-style metal riffs -- all these and more are slammed together for a hyper-drive trip, and it certainly makes great driving music! If you are looking for something to jolt you out of a slump and revive your faith in the healing power of ROCK MUSIC, look no further.

Great William Blake art on the insert too!

this album is super fuzzed, stoney, hazy, visceral, profound rock and roll. these guys will rock your face off. nevermind that the lyrics are in japanese. you don't need to understand the words to appreciate what these guys do. boris shows that music is a universal language. i don't really know what else to say. this album is good to listen to while driving.