Boris' "Smile"

Since releasing their last album, Pink, in 2006, the Japanese doom metal trio Boris has been far from idle. In fact, 2007 saw them release collaborative projects with fellow doom titans sunn o))), Japanoise godfather Merzbow, and psych guitar eminence Michio Kurihara. Their new album, Smile, will be released April Fool's Day on Southern Lord, preceded by a 7" which is available now. Their discography, while still dwarfed by that of their countrymen Acid Mothers Temple, who must release a new record every week, is both vast and varied, encompassing epic extremes of stoner sludge, punk thrash, and psych spaciousness. But if you think you've heard all the tricks in their trick bag, one listen to Smile -- a feast of shifting dynamics and tonal colors, produced by You Ishihara, also a muso of note (White Heaven, The Stars) -- will make you think again.

In its first 30 seconds, the opening track (and single A-side) "Statement" gives you motorik electronic percussion, burbling bass, a damped guitar string syncopating like an African drum, and "woo-hoo" falsetto vocals. WTF, you might think, a Boris dance record? Then the rhythm guitar introduces some dissonance before a whooshing (backwards?) guitar solo swoops in, along with almost poppy lead vocals. Some sizzling electronics pan rapidly back and forth to create a head-spinning soundscape, followed by some acidic fuzz guitar. Some static, a crying baby, some kid babble, then a blast of guitar signals the start of "Buzz-In," and we're back in Heavy Rocks territory, the song's punk forward motion broken up by blast beats from Atsuo and a full-throated, shrieking Takeshi vocal. Wata unleashes a noise apocalypse to kick off "Shoot!", her buzzsaw oversaturated guitar riding atop what sound like electronically distorted taiko drums. The song reaches a full-on, pummeling climax -- like a steroid-and-human-growth-hormone-enhanced version of the Yardbirds' chicken-scratch "I'm a Man" finale -- before the song closes with a gentle acoustic guitar and quavering vocal.

"Flower Sun Rain," a cover of a song by '70s Japrock supergroup Pyg (an amalgam of veterans from top '60s Group Sounds outfits the Tigers, the Tempters, and the Spiders), starts off with the familiar rumble of Takeshi's bass before the form of the song emerges, a loping ballad with an arcing solo in the style of Love It To Death/Killer-era Glen Buxton that you can actually slow dance to. "Next Saturn" pits cool (keyboard) against white-hot (guitar) accompaniment over jackhammer electronic percussion, giving way to the densest forest of lysergic guitar tones imaginable. "Dead Destination" opens with an orgy of overheated Frippertronic guitar surfing on a wave of fuzzball thrashing as though it's going to be a reprise of Pink's extended outro "Just Abandoned My-Self" before achieving a level of sonic meltdown worthy of Acid Mothers Temple at their most abandoned.

"Your Path Is the Umbrella" starts out with a gentle lament over a clock-like, mechanical rhythm before Takeshi's brutal bass kicks in midway through to start off a droning finale with a beautifully melodic fuzz 'n' feedback ride (thinking how wrong the Back From the Grave garage comp guy was to complain about the Yardbirds' "guitars that sounded like violins" or some such piffle), flowing seamlessly into the 19-minute-plus bonus track, which seesaws back and forth between Flood-like spacey ambience and squawking, skronking chaos and thence into one of Boris' trademark stately doom processionals, slowly deconstructing itself into waves of pealing feedback, like giant behemoths caught in an electric tar pit.

Boris retains the ability to surprise us with new variations on a now-familiar approach. While Smile might lack the grand sweep of Flood and Feedbacker, it's a worthy successor to Pink and Akuma No Uta and a mind-melting piece of work on its own terms.