Boris - Flood (2000)

Flood is a great album and is Boris' most ambient release. 4 songs that flow directly from one to the next, each clocking in at around 15-20 minutes...The first track begins with a picked guitar line that repeats infinitely until layered with the same guitar line starting at a different measure. (think "row row row your boat" from elementary school) this creates a nice polyrythmic guitar interplay which has the effect of being very hypnotic and soothing while also feeling slightly dangerous, like the prelude to a storm. As the track nears the middle there is this incredibly huge wollop of reverbed kick drum that thuds in from time to time, eventually swallowing the whole track, leading one to believe that something terrifying might happen soon, which, after one more thud, drops us into track 2. Track 2 is downright pretty. its a very quiet melancholy affair with a pretty guitar line that has a little bit of a classic rock feel and some sparse simple drumming, but way more in line with the pace and tonality of a Mogwai song, this meanders for a while without getting boring before ascending to a sort of solo leaving us on track 3. This begins with some washes of leftover sound from the previous track minus the drumming and slowly cathartically adds some electric guitar to create a nice wall of noise before slowing to a stop and then turning into a noise sludge riff that sounds like some kind of triuphant collapsing of the heavens (almost like a metal power ballad in ultra drop D tuning), which then cresecendos into a formless and destructive tidal wave of noise. the noise and intensity are almost to the breaking point and its almost advisable to plug your ears and close your eyes because it sounds like the world is about to end as the track comes to a close (except in this case you should do your best to keep listening). Track 4 begins after the squall of noise has subsided and leaves us with an extremely ambient drone of various noises and tones. mostly some light feedback and fragments of previous melodies. as if everything that was played previous to track three has been destroyed by the end of track 3 and track 4 is what has been left in the disasterous wake.

the album should be listened to as a whole, as many will find delight in the cacaphony that is built from such pretty ambient textures and then completely annihilated. This album stands as a monument to time, a prelude, the onset, the event, and the aftermath. Rock music rarely captures natural themes so succinctly and Flood is the perfect recording of its namesake.