If you are new to the music of Boris, a quick Wikipedia or Discogs search could instantly become overwhelming. To say they are a prolific band would be an absolute understatement. For three decades now, Boris have been tirelessly releasing full length albums in-between touring the world. From insane collaborations, seven and 12-inch singles, EPs, live albums, remixes, and so much more — many of these releases see them playing within a certain chosen genre at the time or blending as many genres as they possibly can.
I personally got into Boris sometime in 2005 or 2006 when a friend burned me a copy of Pink to bring along on a road trip and I was hooked immediately. I even followed their live show for a week, sleeping in my car around the northeast during their Smile tour in 2008. As an avid collector of things, I tried tracking down nearly every variant and import that I could at the time while trying to piece together the differences between them. Eventually, it came to be too much and too expensive. That being said, I think there is something for every fan of heavier experimental music within the world of Boris.
Here, I did my best to sum up the main full-lengths as well as a few select collaboration albums as a jumping off point in their discography. It is equally for new listeners to decide where to start, or for casual listeners who may have dropped off at any certain point in time and want to get caught up. This is just the tip of the iceberg, really. I’m not a professional writer, just a die-hard fan. I know my opinions might differ from others and that’s okay.
The three best options for starters are notated with a * mark next to them.
Absolutego (1996)
One long song — slow and brooding, focusing on repetitious bass work while guitar feedback and clanking percussion slowly build for the first half of the album. It’s almost as if Sunn O))) heard this and thought, “If we just did this and slowed it down even more, we’ll really have something.” The middle section goes into Melvins-worship territory smeared into reverb before descending back into a feedback drone squall to finish it off.
Amplifier Worship (1998)
Building off of the middle section of Absolutego with more focus and urgency, this one is best for fans of sludge, doom, heavy drone, and a brief moment of the softer melodic material they will introduce in the future.
Flood (2000)
Another one-song album — only this time it’s broken up into digestible sections. There’s a real ebb and flow to the pieces from Part 2 through Part 4. The first section feels like it was tacked on unnecessarily after the fact since it doesn’t seem to flow with the rest of the album, but once you get through that, you’re treated to some of Boris’ best slowcore work that eventually explodes into a full-on assault on your eardrums. You can really hear them discovering their own sound on this record.
Heavy Rocks (2002)
Take anything you thought you knew about Boris from the previous three albums and throw it out the window. It’s as if, out of nowhere, they became the heaviest punk/thrash band you’ve ever heard — with song tempos damn near tripled compared to those previous albums. We have the type of lead guitar that Wata is now known for over the years: all feeling, aggression, beauty, and precision which shines most even when they take a short breather halfway through the album. There is even an appearance from Japanese noise legend Merzbow on a few tracks.
Akuma No Uta (2003)
Here we find Boris putting the brakes on the constant genre-hopping to put out a record that is a refined mix of everything they’ve previously done. The first half of the record focuses on their heavier doom and thrash/punk material, while the middle section features some of their best slowcore/psych work, before heading back into their thrashy, heavy material to wrap it up.
Feedbacker (2003)
The blueprint of Flood is here but is now executed by a band who really understand their abilities and power. Taking the now-typical post-rock pyramid approach to structuring a song, notes seem to float out in the air. This long piece builds to crushing heights before descending back into beautiful drones. This one is a must listen.
Dronevil (2005)
You’re getting three mini Feedbackers that serve more as means to the experiment of the release than anything else, it’s all in the title here. The album is split into two sides either meant to listen to individually or simultaneously. Individually, you have the softer drone side and the heavier doom side. When played at the same time with two CD players or easily found on YouTube where someone else already did the heavy lifting for you — you’re shown the fully-formed work.
Pink (2005) *
I would dare say that this might be Boris’ most widely loved record. It’s also one of three of their records I recommend to someone as a starting point in their discography as a new listener, and then work forward or backward from here. This is where they perfected a blend of all of the styles that they are known for: the heavy doom, the faster punk and psych rock, as well as elements of lo-fi and shoegaze. To make it fun for everyone, there is a different track listing and sometimes different track lengths between the Japanese and U.S. CD and LP editions.
Vein (2006)
This is where things start getting really confusing in the Boris discography…
There are multiple albums released at the same time under the name Vein:
The first is a lo-fi hardcore record with squalls of harsh noise over it. The first 11 tracks clock in at just under 20 minutes before a final slower heavy drone noise song takes up the last 10.5 minutes of the album.
The second album is a two-track album with each track coming in at just under 17 minutes. This album is harsh noise over heavy drone with the occasional explosion of drums.
To make it even more confusing, the album was re-released in 2013. On this re-release, the track list seems to be a mixture of both albums cut up to make a whole new album.
Altar [with Sunn O)))] (2006)
This collaboration album belongs in this list alongside the rest of the full lengths because it is not a throw away release for either band. You do get some of the heavy droning guitars that you would expect from both of these bands, but the real selling point is that it is filled with some of the most beautiful and somber pieces either band has done. Filled out with guest contributions from members of Earth, Soundgarden, and Jesse Sykes.
Rainbow [with Michio Kurihara] (2006) *
Another collaboration that should be included because Michio Kurihara played an important role in their touring line-up for this album and Smile. This is the second of three of their albums that I often recommend to people as a starting point. Though it starts off on the heavy side, with soaring vocals from Takeshi and big, melodic guitar leads; they spend more time in the psych rock realm on this one. Michio’s guitar leads are a perfect match for Boris at their softest moments, as well as when they turn the volume up.
Smile (2008) *
This would be the third release that I would suggest starting with for new listeners.
At this point, the band is running on all cylinders — It might not have some of their biggest songs like Pink, but I think this album perfects that vision. For a completely different experience, the Japanese release takes the more straightforward rock/punk songs and turns them into noisier remixes, then the slower heavy material opens the space up a bit more. I personally make a playlist using the track listing for the Japanese edition and replace the first four songs with the U.S. versions. If you’re a fan of the songs that feature Michio Kurihara on this album, you should search out the official live recording from this tour that features him on every song. In it, you can see him playing with extra ferocity and stretching out the bigger moments that would change nightly as you could tell they really melded together as a full unit.
Heavy Rocks (2011)
Another confusing era… Not only is this the second album with the name Heavy Rocks within a decade, but it is an era where they released three albums within one week.
Some songs are featured on multiple of the albums in different versions or different mixes from one another, some of which are different from the other singles or splits they were first featured on — Heavy Rocks (2011) is the most middle-of-the-road of the three albums. If you were into Pink, Smile & Akuma No Uta you’ll be sure to enjoy this too.
New Album (2011)
The pop record as made by the metal band Boris with a cleaner production than what they are mostly known for, deeper focus on hooks, melodies, and more traditional song structures.
Attention Please (2011)
If New Album was the pop record, this is the art school record. Leaning heavier on experimentation while still using the traditional pop structure, it is mostly devoid of big distorted guitars. This one is great for fans of the more post-punk and slowcore elements of Boris.
Präparat (2013)
Released exclusively in Japan as a limited-edition vinyl, outside of what feels like a few solidly formed ideas, Boris delivered a record of mostly studio experiments and half-finished ideas. With a band that releases as much as they do it’s bound to happen that a release isn’t going to be the best-of-the-best. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth listening to, but maybe check it out at a later time if your appetite for Boris hasn’t been met yet.
Noise (2014)
Much like Heavy Rocks (2011), we get another solid classic album from Boris in the style of Pink and Smile. From here onward (as of the time of writing) this is where it seems that the purposeful misinformation and misdirection campaign of releasing various versions of one album seems to have stopped. The differences between domestic and import versions mostly come down to an extra song or two, and sometimes different artwork.
Dear (2017)
Some have called this a return to form of their earlier work ala Absolutego and Amplifier Worship, which is mostly true, but it doesn’t come without everything they’ve learned in the 25 years since they started as a band at this point. The cleaner production, better use of dynamics, and more confident vocals peaking over top of everything, as opposed to being buried in the mix, really helps it stand out from the earlier material.
Love & Evol (2019)
I like to imagine Jack White seeing Boris performing at Third Man Records during the 10-year anniversary tour for Pink and being so rightfully blown away that he immediately asked if he could release a record for them. In order for him to release this double album of mostly drones and studio experiments, they have to agree to let him re-issue some of their earlier work that was in the vein of what he loved when he first saw them. They would later deliver on more of that type of material with NO.
NO (2020)
This record fakes everyone out at the start with one track that feels like it’s picking up where they left off with Dear before ripping through a set of crossover punk rippers, showing that they are truly masters of whatever genre they choose to play at any certain time.
It’s a shame the album was released in the middle of the pandemic and they were unable to tour off of it. This album really needed to be played in a room full of bodies slamming into one another.
W (2022)
Another album of what appears to be mostly studio experiments in their softer shoegaze and drone styles. Much of it meanders and just when you think a piece will start progressing or being pushed to its full potential, it’s cut short. More potential and style than substance.
Watch the video for “Beyond Good and Evil,” from Boris’ W, here:
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Photo courtesy of Thom Wasluck
