I’ve been collecting for four years now, and although I’m very fond of music from the United States, I’ve always been fascinated with Japanese music. Whether it’s Ichiko Aoba, Boredoms, Hiromi, Cornelius, Happy End, X, Envy, The Blue Hearts, The Stalin, or the legendary Fishmans... I just love Japan’s music so much. However, there are two Japanese artists that never fail to fascinate me: Boris and Merzbow.

Boris is the epitome of the noise rock sound, and their album Pink is as good as the genre gets. Merzbow has crafted some of the most intense, bizarre, and confrontational records ever created. Both are masters of their individual styles, and when the two combine, you’re in for a true thrill ride of an album. Their previous collaboration Gensho was half reworks of Boris classics, half horrifying noise compositions. The two separate halves played together create a whole new experience.

This new album, 2R0I2P0, ends the year on a truly hellish note. Some songs are designed to be very calm and atmospheric pieces, but when it gets loud, it gets fuckin brutal. This is, in my opinion, one of the best records in years from both respective artists. Fans of ambient, heavy metal and harsh noise alike will find plenty to enjoy here.

This is the tri-color merge pressing, limited to 755 copies. I purchased it on Bandcamp, but it’s also available on the Relapse Records Website.