SmileBoris once produced an album called "Amplifier Worship" and this title explains a lot about their sound. Stacks of crusty old valve amplifiers cranked to the point of exploding are at the core of everything they do. Initially they focussed on producing long droning waves of distortion and freeform open-ended song structures. More recently, with their last album "Pink", they have moved towards traditional song structures and with more focus on vocals. "Smile" continues this trend, but with a more metallic thrashy guitar sound on some tracks replacing the looser more Stoogey vibe of the shorter songs on the previous album. There are some long, droney tracks on "Smile", with the final clocking in at over 15 minutes, though maybe not enough to appeal to some fans of their earlier work. "Smile" is about big dumb rock thrills, playing as loud and as wild as possible, something Japanese bands like High Rise have been doing better than anyone else in recent years. Boris continue and expand on this tradition, they are versatile and skilled enough to play in a variety of styles from trippy to brutal and make them work. -- Nick Ilot
:: Boris/Smile - Southern Lord/Soulfood.
