When it comes to making music, Boris never do anything the same way twice. Over a span of 19 years and nearly 20 albums (plus dozens of EPs, singles and splits), the chameleonic, Tokyo-based punk/ambient/drone/psych/pop/noise/metal trio has broached more genres, subgenres, microgenres, nanogenres, imaginary genres and hybrids than most bands know exist—all without ever repeating themselves. When it comes to pursuing variety well past the point of perversity, only the likes of Ulver and Circle hold a candle to them.

Extra-musical considerations are an altogether different matter: the band’s mischievous nature makes anything and anything—including themselves—fair game. Just as the cover of 2003’s Akuma No Uta paid lighthearted homage to Nick Drake and the title of 2008’s Smile did the same for Brian Wilson, new release Heavy Rocks finds the band referencing Boris’ landmark ’02 release, Heavy Rocks. Why not, say, Heavy Rocks II, Heavy Rocks 2, Smiley Smile or Chinese Democracy?

“Heavy Rocks seemed to be very natural and appropriate to us, literally,” drummer Atsuo emails. “The title expresses everything—this is heavy rock that Boris can submit and redefine—this is heaviness as of 2011. As with the original 2002 album, this is a statement from Boris. Beyond heaviness.”

To further complicate matters, Sargent House dropped Heavy Rocks and yet another new Boris album—Attention Please—on the same day: May 24. Apart from source, self-production (both were recorded in the band’s rehearsal space) and release date, the albums couldn’t have less in common on the surface.

Heavy Rocks is everything Atsuo claims and more—a stoner/shoegaze/punk/rock monument to invention enhanced by interludes of transcendental heaviness and graced by guests ranging from the Cult’s Ian Astbury to Ghost (the Japanese one) guitarist Michio Kurihara. Created specifically to showcase Wata’s vocals, Attention is less punishing, but way more otherworldly. Given that the guitarist’s previous singing spots have been few and far between, the album also reveals a new set of convolutions in the band’s fractal agenda.

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