Boris - Heavy Rocks (2002) - 2LP Vinyl Record

Boris formed in Tokyo in 1992 and have spent the decades since refusing to make the same record twice. Heavy Rocks, from 2002, is the one where they plant a flag in stoner rock and proceed to wreck it: fuzz piled on fuzz, riffs that swagger and then collapse into noise, sludge and hardcore bleeding through the edges.

It came out in Japan on CD only and stayed maddeningly hard to find for two decades. This Third Man edition is the first official vinyl release, remastered and expanded to two LPs, with demo versions of Wareruraido and 1970 closing out the fourth side. Lori S. of Acid King sings on the opener, and Merzbow contributes noise.

Anyone who has seen Boris live knows the volume is the point, the smoke and the light rigs and that enormous gong all serving the same end. This record gets closer to that feeling than anything else in their catalog. Note that the band later released two different albums also called Heavy Rocks, in 2011 and 2022. This is the original.

Side A
1. Heavy Friends
2. Korosu
3. Dyna-Soar
4. Wareruraido

Side B
1. Soft Edge
2. Dronevil
3. Death Valley
4. Koei

Side C
1. The Bell Tower Of A Sign
2. 1970

Side D
1. Rattlesnake
2. Wareruraido (Demo Version)
3. 1970 (Demo Version)