Hard candy

When Boris announced that they’d release an identically titled follow-up to their 2002 fan-favorite hard rock masterpiece Heavy Rocks, people got hyped. And hype is a stupid thing to fall into, let me tell you, because it’s by nature not rooted in rationality. People assumed Heavy Rocks 2011 would sound the same as Heavy Rocks, and why would anyone expect that after the (almost) 10 years that have passed since the first album where Boris have been making completely different music?

Ignoring that, why would anyone want that? The first Heavy Rocks is simple by nature. The range of that sound was mined in one album, it needed to broaden if it were ever brought back. Who wants the same album twice? If you want the first Heavy Rocks, go fuckin’ listen to it. If Heavy Rocks 2011 were released with the same sound as the first everyone would complain it’s just not as good and the first Heavy Rocks already makes it irrelevant. By the fact Heavy Rocks 2011 is unique in Boris’s discography, it can’t be irrelevant.

Anyone with a fair hard rock mind could tell you Heavy Rocks 2011 is one of Boris’s best albums, certainly the best of their three albums released in 2011. Boris attempt to make a different sounding album than its predecessor by having more guitar effects to give songs individual identity (the laser sound effect on “GALAXIANS” is too perfect, for obvious reasons) and having more dynamics between the hard rocking songs, like “Riot Sugar,” with slower, atmospheric songs such as “Leak -Truth,yesnoyesnoyes-” and “Missing Pieces.” Somehow still, Heavy Rocks 2011 never manages to lose cohesiveness as an album. Anyway it’s great, one of Boris’s best albums, approach with an open mind only.

Never knew hard rock could be so sweet. “Riot Sugar” should have been the album title.