Boris are releasing an archival series to Bandcamp called the thing which solomon overlooked. The series is made up of releases that were originally all limited-run vinyl copies only, remastered and re-released on CD in 2013. They’ll be made available digitally on Bandcamp tomorrow, September 4, which is the site’s next Bandcamp Friday day when artists get 100% of the profit from sales.

The press release mentions that the name the thing which solomon overlooked is in lowercase because Boris are known to indicate the intensity of their music through either uppercase release titles as BORIS or lowercase release titles as boris. The concept behind the works in this series was to focus on “one brush stroke.” According to the press release, “Rather than aiming at a vision of the completed work beforehand, this series started as releasing material just as it was created out of an organic process; from the instant resonance broke out from sound, a neutral stereo image was contained as it was.”

Boris put out another archival series on August 7, the last Bandcamp Friday, called Archive. It included six releases, Early Demo, Live 96-98, Drumless Shows, 2 Long Songs, Evil Stack Live and Pink Days. The Archive material was all previously re-released in 2014 on CDs.

Since COVID-19 has prevented Boris from touring, they said they’re thankful for Bandcamp sales being a huge help. They would’ve been on the road in support of their newest album, NO, which came out on July 3, 2020 via the Fangs Anal Satan label. It’s one of BORIS’ heavy albums, blending hardcore punk, sludge metal and crossover thrash. Two tracks from NO also had music videos released in July, “Anti-Gone” and “鏡 -Zerkalo-.”

Included below are the tracklists and original release details for each disc of the thing which solomon overlooked:

boris – the thing which solomon overlooked 1

Originally released in 2004 by Finnish label “Kult of Nihilow” as a transparent orange vinyl limited to 550 copies. Remastered on CD March 20, 2013

1. scene 2
2. a bao a qu
3. 見せ続ける死角 -the dead angle which it continues showing-

*This version of “a bao a qu” is different from the version released later on the 2005 album “mabuta no ura” as well as the 7-inch version released by SuperFi Records.

boris – the thing which solomon overlooked 2

Originally released in 2006 by the Belgian label “Conspiracy Records” as a transparent orange vinyl limited to 700 copies and a transparent green vinyl limited to 300 copies (sold at live venues only). Remastered on CD March 20, 2013.

1. カレハテタサキ -no ones grieve part 2-
2. dual effusion
3. 無残の涙 -Merciless-
4. もう一枚の残像 -an another after image-

*カレハテタサキ (karehatetasaki) -no ones grieve part 2- is an instrumental (no vocals), different from the 2008 “SMILE” version. 

boris – the thing which solomon overlooked 3

Originally released in 2006 by the Belgian label “Conspiracy Records” as a transparent orange vinyl limited to 700 copies and a transparent blue vinyl limited to 300 copies (sold at live venues only). Remastered on CD March 20, 2013.

1. leviathan
2. 思い出せないこと -dimly tale-
3. カレハテタサキ -no ones grieve part 1-
4. sola stone

*カレハテタサキ (karehatetasaki) -no ones grieve part 2- is a different version from “the thing which solomon overlooked 2” as well as the 2008 “SMILE” version.

boris – the thing which solomon overlooked extra

This bonus disc was included along with the release of the remastered CDs for “the thing which solomon overlooked” 1, 2 and 3 on March 20, 2013, as part of a 4-disc set called “the thing which solomon overlooked chronicle.” It was available in two vinyl colors, clear yellow and wine red, limited to 1000 copies which came with a “chronicle” box from Minneapolis, USA based TAIGA Records.

1. 一秒の長さ -length of eternity-
2. ケモノピーク -kemono peak-
3. howl part 1
4. 宴 -unritual-
5. quadruplex
6. ディスチャージ -grave new world-
7. howl part 2

*ディスチャージ (Discharge) -grave new world- is different from the version found on the bonus disc of the Japanese release of NOISE (2014).

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat