Japanese sludge metal band Boris performed all of the songs from their first album ‘Amplifier Worship’ at St. Andrew’s Hall in downtown Detroit on Wednesday, October 16, 2024.
SWOMP was in the pit for their performance. Check out the images we captured, below:
The band says they have reached a quarter-century since the release of their first album.
Boris has been in constant pursuit of their own ideal ‘heavy’ since their formation in 1992.
From the outset they became like a chimera, evolving at a rapid pace, establishing a unique style with extreme downtuning and megavolume.
Their broad sense of “Heavy Rock” swelled grotesquely, as it engulfed powerviolence, ambient and drone, with a trance component of krautrock and so on.
From Tokyo to the world, Boris spread out from the underground community to have their name become more widely known.
Five years after their formation, Boris went deep into the beyond of heavy music to make their first album, one that can be said to be a palace constructed in unexplored realms.
However, the album by no means serves as a peaceful “end” or resting place/”gravestone” for those compositions.
Rather, it was a map to the “beyond” that Boris drew up at the time, a blueprint pointing to the future.
25 years after the release of “Amplifier Worship”, that guidance has been revealed: a full length tour for performing all of the songs on the album in a double-drum-format Drone Set.
As a pioneering effort in Drone Metal, a palace under the name of “Amplifier Worship” was constructed and revealed as both a point of departure as well as a destination.
Amplified oscillations and volume, going from anguish to pleasure and back, being in fear as well as in awe at what can be called heavy— we venture into this palace of worship together.
For this tour Boris brought along Starcrawler, a band that intensifies the prayer of rock ‘n’ roll. (CHECK OUT OUR STARCRAWLER COVERAGE HERE.)
This only takes us further into the “beyond,” embarking on this worship service. Welcome to the ceremony!
In other Boris and Detroit news, the band recently announced that they’ve teamed up with Third Man Records for a 25th anniversary vinyl release of the album.
The limited / special edition vinyl re-release features cover art by Aaron Horkey by request of Boris, and will be available on the road and in stores on September 27.
“This idea came from Aaron’s real-time experience of ‘gummy worms in the jewel case’ at the time of the ‘Amplifier Worship’ CD release,” the band stated.
“The image of the frogs on the original jacket combined with the precise and delicate brushstrokes of Aaron’s style has created a new ‘Amplifier Worship’ world.”
Follow the band at https://borisheavyrocks.com/.