Live Review: Boris, Eleventh He Reaches London

29 June 2013 | 10:23 pm | Kane Sutton

If fans were screaming, it was not heard by anybody, Boris noise levels felt like a pair of hands was squeezing your lungs.

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With over 20 studio albums in the last 15 years, not to mention EPs and collaborative records, Boris are a band that have drawn from a variety of different music genres, including metal, noise and stoner rock. Monday night's punters would be extremely fortunate to experience Boris' third album, Flood, which has developed something of a cult following since its release in 2000, and some extra noise/drone/experimental sounds and greatest hits from the band.

The first thought that hits you as you enter the indoor area is, “Shit, I don't have any earplugs.” A friend chuckled at me as I struggled through Eleventh He Reaches London's first three songs, pointing out: “Dude, they haven't even plugged in Boris' speakers yet.” A few cheapos at the bar and, my goodness, they helped. From then on, I was able to fully appreciate Eleventh's set, which was performed with passion and precision in front of  an already bulging crowd. “We're the winners of Perth's 'Next Big Thing Award, 2010',” they joked as they played a new song from their forthcoming The Dragon Cloud release, which was met with angsty love and headbangs aplenty from a vast majority of the crowd.

To the delight of the crowd, smoke began to pour across the stage and into the crowd as Boris took to the stage ten minutes early, and immediately we were immersed in an ear-splitting guitar drone as the three-piece from Japan made their presence known. Hands were raised into the air and mouths were open but if fans were screaming, it was not heard by anybody, as the band raised the noise levels even higher with a bass line so heavy it felt like you had a pair of hands squeezing your lungs. While most of the set was performed with this drone, the audience were also treated to songs of a more eerie nature that felt reminiscent of a horror-movie soundtrack. Some sections felt almost ritualistic; Takeshi Ohtani would sing a lyric before the drums would pick up and Atsuo Mizuno would shout “Wooo!” or “Yeah!”, which did nothing but build the crowd's enthusiasm. The last 15 minutes of Flood was a sensory overload, with the drones reaching all-time highs and left I and the rest of the audience feeling somewhat euphoric and light-headed, but we would all be reminded just how fantastic the performance was well into the night, the incessant ringing of the ears and we crawled into bed a testimony of one hell of a performance.