Ever dip a pizza into a bowl of ice cream? Of course not — those are two awesome things that don’t go together at all. Metal band Boris and noise master Merzbow? Those are two awesome things that mix wonderfully together, like peanut butter and hamburger. You ever had a hamburger with peanut butter? You ever listen to the three studio albums, two live albums, and one EP Boris and Merzbow have made together? I rest my case.
In celebration of delicious partnerships, the two entities have gotten together for a new album called Gensho (Japanese for “phenomenon”) out February through Relapse. The album is a 150-minute double-disc affair with separate CDs for Boris and Merzbow, the former featuring reinventions of the band’s earlier material and the latter featuring entirely new compositions. Though the two records may be listened to individually, they are intended to be played simultaneously on multiple speakers at varying volumes, so that the listener may experience their own phenomenon, or “Gensho.” Hey, Gensho! That’s the album’s title!
The album’s roots lie in a 2014 collaborative performance Boris and Merzbow did for Boiler Room, which you can view below. After the show, they decided what they had done was so good that, heck, they should take it to the studio. They will be returning to the stage together on November 27 for a one-off show at Fever in Tokyo.
• Merzbow: http://merzbow.net
• Boris: http://www.borisheavyrocks.com
• Relapse: http://www.relapse.com