Archive Volume Two: Drumless Shows

AMG Review of Archive Volume Two: Drumless Shows

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

Archive Volume Two: Drumless Shows is the second of three limited-edition archival releases available during Boris' 2005 U.S. tour, and captures the trio at its most challenging and demanding, which is saying something -- consisting of only three songs, each no shorter than ten minutes in length, the disc documents rare "drumless" performances from 1997. With drummer Atsuo making the move to second guitar alongside Waka, the droning, feedback-rich squall of your average Boris set doubles in volume and in mass, achieving a brute force beyond sound itself -- this is music as a physical entity, emanating not as waves but as geometric shapes that build and stretch into infinity.