The stage at Neumos was full of large amps, an extra large drum set, and a gong; this was going to be a thunderous show. The lights dimmed and fog spread across the stage, creating an epic, almost pretentious, landscape. But when Boris finally came out, with spotlights shining on their beautiful Asian faces and Takeshi ripped into his double necked guitar, we were reminded why this was our favorite Japanese experimental stoner-metal band.

Boris rocked through a diverse set, ranging from noise, psychedelic, ambience, and straight out metal. Most of their songs had a constant solidified distortion sound, similar to My Bloody Valentine. This set tone for how sludgy and noisy the band’s show is. Through the noise, you could clearly hear the clever riffs, forging the differences in the precision of the songs. They even got down and creepy with ambient sound, featuring Wata singing softly and disturbing, as if she forgot she wasn’t in Massive Attack.

Boris was at their best when their songs turned very stoner-rock, getting slow and almost boring, but then picked up into blaring psychedelic noise. At these moments it was easy to lose it all and get completely absorbed in the atmosphere created by the band.

The show ended with Atsuo furiously bashing on his gong, every bang sounding like exploding glass. He eventually fell backstage while the rest of the band wailed and drowned in their own noise, eventually slowing down into utter nothingness.

I had forgotten how interesting and diverse metal can be, and Boris was the perfect reminder.