Boris - Vein

So, here is a little underrated release. Spectacular, chameleonic, Japanese power trio, Boris, back in 2006, did this super limited release that confused a lot of fans, for: a) being pressed in only 1500 copies; b) 400 of those were with completly different music. Yep, two records (EPs, I guess, if you consider the rest of their catalog...) with the same name, same art, and released simultaneously. That wasn't the last time they would do something like that, just so you know... that's Boris for you.
[In case you're wondering, in 2011 they released four records. Two of those had pretty much the same songs, but with completly different arrangements and production, and one of these two was straight up Shoegaze; one other record has the same name of a record released in 2002, the same cover art but in another color, but with a completly different set of songs (and mood, so to speak). oof...]
So, what's is in this twin records, you ask? First, the one with more pressings, nicknamed "rock/hardcore version", is pretty much straight up Punk (or Crust, D-Beat, Japanese Hardcore, or whatever you wanna call it). The intro (divided across two tracks) and outro is tipical Boris brand of Doom/Stoner/Sludge/whatever, sans some samples thrown here and there, and sandwiched between them is some blown out, by-the-numbers, Japanese style Punk, played with such energy that's hard to ignore. Probably it's just them paying some homage to bands of this style that they love. They're known for always referecing influences, afterall. It's a fun record, they were sure having fun.
Second one, on the other hand, is more in line with their instrumental works, "The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked" series, for example. Just two side-long pieces, droning, and droning on. The guitar eventually comes in for the trademark high-pitched elongated soloing (goddamnint, Wata has such a distinct tone and play style; it's so her, you know... really underrated...), and the drums locks in into some tupa-tupas during the second half, just really testing limits, I guess (you could call it droning on d-beats). And while the first one was really noisy on its own right, the production on the second gets into a whole new level of saturation! It IS HARSH! More so than their numerous collaborations with Merzbow. Don't believe me? Check it out.