This massive two-LP set from Japan's gods of grime is intended to be simultaneously played on two stereo systems in two separate speaker sets, but like most people, I ain't rich, so I've only got one turntable and one meager stereo system, so I've got to experience the madness one track at a time, one LP at a time. Each LP offers one song per side, totaling just under 20 minutes per segment, but making for well over an hour's worth of music if you've gotta take it piece by piece. I actually haven't been a huge fan of Boris since their early days, and was always kind of saddened that they made somewhat of a directional shift, but I have to say that, for me, this is one of the better slabs of music I've heard from 'em in recent years. It's definitely still a little less active than I'd prefer, but there are some really effective moments throughout. In order to aid in the proper playback of both records at the same time, the two tracks on the first LP (aptly titled "Disc Drone") make up the "drone" piece of the puzzle, with "Giddiness Throne" taking side A with nothing but incredibly restrained low-end ambience that actually works very well on its own as a stripped down dark ambient noisescape. It's not very active or oppressive, but there's a really chilling atmosphere that ebbs and flows nicely throughout. "Interference Demon" is even softer and more reserved at first, sounding much more like feedback, but taking quite some time to slide into a more audible volume level that ends up being a hint louder and more layered than side A. But then it's time for the real action! "Evil Waveform" opens the second LP ("Disc Evil") and of course takes several minutes to finally start to build into concrete riffs and percussion, but once they do, it's nothing but gutwrenching sludge with pounding slow tempos and a really great sense of churning power to the gritty edge of the detuned guitar tone. Eventually things start to cave in to wails of feedback before bringing in some sparse, reverberated clean guitars over the course of several minutes before surprising you with a quick jump back to the oppressive sludge and feedback - with a few noisy leads to boot. "The Evilone Which Sobs" follows by starting off with some subdued clean guitars and a few harmonics with light effects, but what's interesting is that this passage is one of the scarce few moments I've experienced in any of Boris' more recent material that actually possesses some real feeling and emotion to it, making the transition all the more powerful when the throbbing distorted chords and bashing percussion finally take over. They don't stick around in full force though, allowing some curious feedback "solos" and melodic basslines to maintain a subdued feel with a couple of bluesy sounding guitar passages in the distance. Overall, the more 70's-esque riffing isn't as effective as the droning lead textures or the chugging chords (the latter of which is by far the most forceful element), but thankfully the second record is dominated by what Boris does best: Crushing chord progressions, sludgy low-end pulses, gritty noise and feedback, and so on. The records are both pressed on marbled gray vinyl and come inside of a thick, gorgeous gatefold sleeve designed by Stephen O'Malley. The outer packaging is done entirely in black, with a gloss overlay coat adding contrast to O'Malley's token three-dimensional layers of interweaving shapes, while the inside allows some white to show for the text, but maintains the gloss goat elsewhere. Also inside is a massive image that looks to be an Albrecht D?rer print (and not one of the ones that's overused) laid down in gold ink, so the entire package looks pretty god damn awesome if you ask me. I'm not sure how many listeners will snatch this up in order to experiment with layering the tracks from the two LP's together simultaneously, but as I said, it stands on its own in separate parts as well. It wouldn't hurt for the "Disc Evil" LP to be a hint more active, but I'm really digging the feel of "The Evilone Which Sobs", and as a dark ambient track "Giddiness Throne" is totally ace. The set is limited to 1,000 copies, and I'd imagine they'll go out of print at some point, so... this should indeed please the band's more dedicated fans, and might do the trick for a few casual observers as well.
[Misanthropic Agenda]
Running time - 80:00/40:00 (approximately), Tracks: 4/2
[Notable tracks: Giddiness Throne, The Evilone Which Sobs]
Misanthropic Agenda - http://www.misanthropicagenda.com
