Japan's bizarre fuzz trio Boris can be one of the most love-hate bands around. While drone fans are still watching out for their new releases, which happen to come every few months, even they'd agree that they're past their prime. From what I did manage to follow in recent years, 2005's Pink was a fine album on its own, it doesn't compare to their previous efforts. Altar with Sunn o))) was uneven but there was some redemption when they put out Rock Dream in collaboration with another wierdo Merzbow. The original wretched Jap version is slightly different from the version that Southern Lord put out, and this review only talks about the earlier.

I admit it, I hated it at first listen. There's way too much of cheap drum machines,  and electronic & feedback-laden noises have taken centre-stage and to make matters worse, Takeshi's vocals suck more than ever before. He was always a below ordinary singer but Boris was all about their instrumental eccentricity so tolerating a bit of his vocals on every album was a sitter. And that eccentricity slowly begins to sink in after a few more listens. The band have truly done things differently – yet fucking again. While everything else before this have always been about their live sound, even in a studio setup, Smile is where the band is actually pulling off written-pop-songs that might even go well on a Yoko Kanno discography but fuck it up (often in a good way) with their filthy extreme fuzz and overdubs in the way of electronic noises like never before in the band's history.

Slowly, the strange sounds of the album opener Messeeji start to get enjoyable and something like Buzz-In would almost be reminiscent of an early album like Heavy Rocks. There are beautiful and filthy moments, often in the same songs and throughout the album, some work and many don't. Considering how vocal melody driven this album is, Takeshi's voice kills it all. This had the scope to be a good album. Smile is worth a go for a fan, can't say the same for the rest. Boris need to cut down on the number of releases and concentrate on fixing the recent decline in quality instead.



Year of Release: 2008
Label: Diwphalanx Records (Southern Lord – English Version)