Boris – Noise

June 17, 2014 • Sargent House

Boris has gotten a bit of a bad rap lately. And I can understand it—a string of less-than-exciting albums in 2011 and the stinker that was Präparat last year would be enough to put most people off. And I'll admit I had pretty low expectations for Noise—which is probably why I'm not feeling particularly disappointed with it yet. It's not great, not by a long shot, and it has its share of problems, but I'll take it for now.

Sound-wise, no surprises whatsoever: we still have Boris' standard alternative/stoner metal sound for half the tracks, some kind of post-rock thing for the other half, and remnants of that J-pop melodicism from a few years ago still hanging around. It's kind of like Präparat version 2, one of those mixed-bag albums where every track is a bit different and Boris still seems to be playing around with a lot of different styles because they can't decide on one consistent sound for one album, without really trying to nail the songwriting. At least this time they seem to be a little bit more focused than the last album.

But at the same time they still pull out some really awesome stuff now and again, and there are some moments on this album that make it worth listening to at least once. "Vanilla" has these really short sections where they transition into this super-atmospheric sludgy thing and it's fantastic. The slower post-rock-ish songs and doomy ones like "Heavy Rain" and "Angel" are pretty good as well—they are still pretty good at creating those kind of slow, jamming, crushingly heavy tracks. It's just a bit jarring when they move from one of those straight into something light and poppy like "Taiyo no Baka"; it feels so wrong.

All in all, handful of good riffs, lots of good atmosphere, but not a lot in the way of really great songs. It still feels like they're just going through the motions and I'm not sure if they'll ever put out something truly great again. Or maybe it's just that I really don't like the J-pop influence that creeps in where it doesn't belong. In short, probably exactly what I should have expected. If I didn't always listen to albums in full, this is one that would get severely edited in my library, but it'd still keep a few songs.

Melvins

May 28, 2013 • A&R Music Bar, Columbus, Ohio

I've never been much into Melvins, especially compared to most sludge/doom fans, but I figured I shouldn't pass up on an opportunity to see a band considered by so many to be legendary and hugely influential. I remembered a little too late that I don't actually like Melvins as much as I thought I did. Sure, they have some good stuff (like (A) Senile Animal) but I was never a big fan of their slow, drone-doomy material.

The show in general was a mixed bag: some of that slow, drone-doomy stuff, and some faster songs as well. Unfortunately most of what I saw at A&R was the former, and I wasn't taken with it. During the longer songs it got very repetitive, to the point where I got bored more than a few times (entertaining myself by seeing if the two drummers would hit the cymbal they shared at the same time). It didn't help that I only recognized perhaps one song (although, again, I don't listen to them much). I did enjoy when they did pull out the faster songs, which I could get into; there just wasn't enough of that. The sound was good, though; even with earplugs it was quite loud (though I felt like I heard more of it through my body than my ears, with all the bass frequencies going on). And to be fair, there were plenty of other people there who were enjoying it, and it's obviously a matter of personal preference, but my impressions weren't great.

Speaking of other people, Melvins have some real asshole fans. I guess any semi-famous band gets its share, but come on, have some sense of respect for others' personal space. And put a shirt on. Goddamn.

So after nearly two hours, I had had my fill, so I left (only the second show I've ever left early). But I had good reason. Tune in next time to read why in our exciting conclusion!
5 • Best Wizard Robe Award

(((o))) – Las flores del mal

October 13, 2008 • self-released

Another release from the recesses of my library; (((o))) is a Mexican noise / drone doom artist by whom I have a single album. That probably won't change, as Las flores del mal has never really made a good impression on me, coming off as a poor attempt to make music without any clue of what makes it interesting or good.

The music itself is very amateur-sounding and sometimes sloppy. The album's centerpiece "Las flores del mal" is a sprawling drone doom metal track that, after taking forever to build up with some subtle noise, consists of mostly smashing a single guitar chord and cymbal hit over noise before fading out as slowly as it came in. It's not impressive at all; it simply sounds bad. Not only do the guitar and drums not always sync up, but the tone is terrible, and again it's just one chord, over and over. "El sello roto" is almost exactly the same thing, except without as much padding to stretch it from five minutes to eleven.

The piano-based opener and closer don't help much, although they aren't bad themselves, if still a bit sloppy. But still, listening to this release is incredibly unsatisfying; I feel like there could maybe be a decent drone doom band in there somewhere if they learned how to do any songwriting and maybe practiced. The noise parts weren't bad, so that's something. Overall, though, Las flores del mal is simply pointless and not even worth the twenty minutes it takes.

3