Don't let the cover art (a take on NICK DRAKE's "Bryter Later") fool you into thinking this is mellow singer/songwriter stuff. Although anyone familiar with this Japanese power trio will probably know that. "Akuma No Uta" is the third BORIS release on Southern Lord records (after "Absolutego" and "Amplifier Worship"). It starts with "Introduction", a 9-minute piece of droning doom of the kind that Japanese weirdos like Keiji Haino are so good at. It's followed by two furious rockers that the press info likens to HENDRIX-meets-THE STOOGES but if I have to compare I'd say they're roughly situated somewhere between MOTÖRHEAD, BLACK SABBATH and VENOM. The fact that they're sung in Japanese is not a problem at all, since it's all played with an intensity rarely heard in most contemporary so-called stonerrock.

The volume is turned down a few notches for the intro to what will turn out to be the album's standout track, the 12-minute long "Naki Kyoku". Despite it's length and its high psych-quotient BORIS never sounded more accessible than this. The album closes with "Ano Onna No Onryou" and the title track, both immensely noisy pieces of freaky 70's style hard rock, played with a raw punk intensity.

My guess is that even people already familiar with BORIS will be pleasantly surprised. Although the kind (or kinds) of music they choose to play is pretty old-fashioned, the sheer loudness and intensity with which it is all played gives me the same feeling I had when as a wee young lad I heard VENOM for the first time. Utter amazement! Be it making horror movies or playing heavy rock, the Japanese seem to better than us at just about anything. "Akuma No Uta" is an astonishing rock record/racket.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: myspace.com/borisishuge

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Naki Kyoki

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