Description What truly inspired an hour-plus collaboration between two of the most respected names in extreme experimentation? The album itself contains a statement that says it all: “A story like this deserves to be born.” Japanese doom radicals Boris have spent more than two decades releasing wildly diverse music that’s mesmerized audiences clamoring for sludge, rock or unbridled pop. Their impressive and extensive release history, though, pales in comparison to Merzbow aka Masami Akita. The noise paragon has almost 400 releases to his name, and over the course of 35 ear-tattered years he’s influenced multiple generations of artists and musicians. After these two forces first came together in 2002 for the landmark Megatone album, they spent years perfecting a worthy follow-up. And in 2005, Sun Baked Snow Cave was the overwhelming culmination. Considering that these two forces are capable of eradicating most any listener, the album at first seems like a striking illustration of restraint and reflection. But the lonesome, mournful void of a strummed acoustic guitar is soon enough smothered by drones and swarms of feedback that intertwine with pulsating, yowling electronics – two worlds that both harmonize and struggle against each other. The sound of visionaries trying to draw blood.
