Boris (band)

Boris (ボリス, Borisu) is a Japanese avant-garde metal band. Currently, the band's personnel consists of drummer-vocalist Atsuo, bassist-guitarist-vocalist Takeshi, and guitarist-vocalist Wata.

Boris takes its name from a song on the Melvins' Bullhead, and released its first album, Absolutego, on the group's own label, Fangs Anal Satan, in 1996. Since then, they have released 23 studio albums, including Pink, Heavy Rocks and Akuma No Uta, a number of EPs, 7" singles, and full-length collaborative recordings, on various record labels around the world.

History

Boris was originally a four-piece band, with Nagata on drums. Nagata departed in 1996 leaving Atsuo to take over drumming duties and it has remained a three-piece since.

In Japan, Boris release most of their music on the indie label Inoxia Records. Though relatively unknown in their home country, a recent series of reissues on US label Southern Lord Records has seen their popularity in North America increase dramatically, even gaining them widespread recognition in the mainstream music press. Many of Boris' vinyl releases feature similar artwork for the inner label of the record. This is a parody of the original Roger Dean artwork that Virgin Records used for many of their releases (seen here).