“We don’t feel comfortable calling Dear a return to our slow and heavy style,” says Tokyo’s amplifier worshipping experimental metal institution Boris. “We’ve been heavy since day one.” It may be so, but I’m not alone in thinking some of their more recent releases have been a shade lightweight.
Dear most certainly is not lightweight, crushing power chords and ultra-low tempo grind dominating. It packs a high percentage of slow, ribcage-rattling behemoths which thunder on well past the six-minute mark with deliberate, oppressive force. The ten-minute title track is beyond immense, a megalithic trudge into the bowels of the earth, the guitars downtuned and overdriven to Sunn O))) level. It’s heavy, alright, and reminds us that Boris are capable of producing monumentally crushing drone.
When they do up the pace, as on ‘Absolutego’, it’s a full-throttle churn. That’s heavy, too.
There is contrast, and some moments of remarkable grace and tranquillity. ‘Beyond’ is cinematic, vast and while punctuated by immense crescendos, it’s understated and atmospheric, and has a real emotive pull. ‘Distopia – Vanishing Point’ builds gradually over the course of 12 minutes from a place of serenity to draw the album to a close with a seething burn of overloading guitars.
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Dear feels like a proper Boris album, and a damn good one at that.
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