HEAVY RAIN: Boris Live Report from Pomona

5/8/2016

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

On the night of May 7th, I had the opportunity to see the legendary metal band Boris live for the second time. The first time around, Boris was playing their recent album "Noise" in its entirety. This time around they were calling the tour a preview of "Memento Mori". "Memento Mori" is a song on their recent EP "Mr. Shortkill", but it's possible they plan to have a longer release in the future.

Arriving at The Glass House, the first opening band Ides of Gemini was just finishing up their set. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't all that into them. AUMA took the stage next, and I had a bit of the same reaction. Every once in a while they would devolve into instrumental noise which was a nice break from the otherwise basic metal. The real reason everyone was there was Boris, obviously. The audience went wild when the stage started to fill with fog and a loud drone could be heard from the sound system.

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

Finally, at 10:00 on the dot, Boris emerged onto the stage in a thick veil of fog. Taking only a moment to take their places on stage, they launched into the new and unreleased piece called "The Power". An instrumental song lasting upwards of ten minutes, "The Power" is aptly-titled. It was, well, a powerful piece of droning and heavy music. At some point they switched to another unreleased drone called "Sanpo".

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

The next song was "More", which I've reviewed previously for A-To-J. It sounds even better live! Boris was loud and enigmatic, shrouded in fog as they powered through these heavy songs as towering monoliths on the stage.

The next song was another new one, "Killmister". This was the focus of the "Mr. Shortkill" release, and a tribute to Motorhead's late vocalist Lemmy. The song includes "Many are called, but few get up" which is either a new composition or a Man cover, but mostly it's just heavy instrumental rock.

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

"Melody" was one of my favorite moments of the night. The opener to 2014's "Noise" has an unmistakable intro, and was among the best vocal performances of the night. Not THE best, but we'll get to that soon! "Melody" was INCREDIBLE, though.

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

"Memento Mori" followed, a chaotic and pummeling heavy metal piece which is pure Boris. What followed was the previously-mentioned best performance. If you read our review of "Gensho", you know how I feel about the Boris song "Heavy Rain". It was my favorite song on "Noise", and was redone perfectly for "Gensho". When the first hit of feedback came up, I knew they would be playing "Heavy Rain". The thinly-picked guitars echoed throughout the venue, which had gone silent in anticipation. Wata's soothing voice softly let out the first line, and it was perfectly ethereal. Then the wall of unstoppable force that is Boris hit hard with those notes everybody was anticipating. This song was simultaneously the quietest and loudest that Boris got the entire night. It was the perfect moment in time, completely unforgettable.

Boris by Justin Ashby © A-To-J Connections, 2016

Boris ended their set with another unreleased song, "Down". One final drone to close out the night. "Down" lasted about ten minutes, during which drummer Atsuo descended from his kit and dove into the audience, crowd surfing while Wata and Takeshi continued their drone on-stage. As Atsuo returned to the stage, Boris concluded their final song, took turns thanking the audience, and they were gone. There was no encore.

This was, so far, the best night of the year. Boris is incredible. They only played for about an hour, and they didn't play hits like "Pink" or "Taiyo no Baka" but those songs might not have fit in with the theme of the night. I do wish they had played "Farewell", which had been present on a couple other setlists from the tour. All-in-all, though, it was a fantastic show. I can't wait for the next time Boris comes around, and I'm sure it will be completely different!

-Justin

Boris Setlist The Glass House, Pomona, CA, USA 2016

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Boris is:

Atsuo Mizuno (Drums, Backing Vocals)
Wata (Guitar, Lead Vocals)
Takeshi Ohtani (Guitar, Bass, Lead Vocals)

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