''Heavy Rocks'' is the twenty-eighth studio album by Japanese

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band Boris, released on 12 August 2022 by

Relapse Records Relapse Records is an American independent record label based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Matthew F. Jacobson in 1990. The label features many grindcore, death metal, metalcore and sludge metal artists. History The label was ...

. It is the third Boris album of this title, with the previous ones released in

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and

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; all feature the band exploring hard rock and heavy metal sounds. The band described the album as both a celebration of their 30th anniversary and as part of a continuous evolution in their music. The album was preceded by the singles "She Is Burning", "Question 1", and "My Name Is Blank".

Critical reception

Upon its release, the album received generally favorable reviews from critics. '' Blabbermouth'' called the album "diverse and captivating" and concluded that it is "one of the year's most interesting left field, heavy music releases." ''Metal Injection'' described the album, along with its predecessors of the same title, as an attempt by Boris "to go yard on arcane '70s rock and proto-metal screwballs with a pine tar-lined avant-garde/experimental clobbering apparatus." Jon Hadusek of ''

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'' described the album as illustrating the band's love of "1970s hard rock and heavy psych" while retaining their well-known experimental impulses. Writing for ''Yahoo News'', Hadusek also noted that the album is a fitting continuation of Boris's previous ''Heavy Rocks'' albums, with the band "completely unleashed and in pure rock ‘n’ roll mode" in contrast to their more frequent

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-oriented albums. ''

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'' described the album as "channel

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the classic proto-metal sounds of the 70's into something all new." ''New Noise'' concluded that the album will satisfy fans of Boris's more straightforward rock albums of the past, but possibly not fans of their experimental works. ''Spectrum Culture'' called the album "an ebullient and energized collection of unashamed, to use the title of an earlier masterpiece, '

amplifier worship ''Amplifier Worship'' is the second album by Japanese band Boris. Excluding the "one-long-song" albums, this is one of only two Boris full-lengths to have vocals on every song (the other being 2008's ''Smile''), and the first time that Takesh ...

'.” Thom Jurek of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

concluded that "Boris continue to willfully and eagerly engage a tense musical restlessness that keeps them sounding unsettled, ambitious, often feral, and in a class of their own."

Track listing

Personnel

Boris *Takeshi – bass, guitar, vocals *Wata – guitar, keyboards, echo, vocals *Atsuo – drums, percussion, vocals Additional personnel * SuGar Yoshinaga – production, guitar, synthesizer, vocals * Koichi Hara – mastering, mixing * Fangs Anal Satan – design * Yoshiko Ikeda – translation

References

{{Boris 2022 albums Boris (band) albums Relapse Records albums