Live music review: Boris brought metal shapeshifting to Mohawk
Heavy metal in 2025 is in a healthy, hell-charged state. Bands are experimenting with the genre like Deafheaven, Full of Hell, Sunn O))), and even Austin acts like Portrayal of Guilt. For Tokyo, Japan’s Boris, a wave of extreme metal shapeshifting has paved the way for an everlasting gauntlet that’s redefining heavy music for 2025. With releases that dabble in drone metal, doom metal, and noise/experimental rock, Boris arrived for a Tuesday night gig in downtown Austin that came as a stop on their US tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark tenth studio album Pink. For their third local appearance in two years, the Japanese berserkers stormed the stage at Mohawk in the Red River Cultural District yet again to astronomical results.
The single opening slot took shape as Los Angeles black metal outfit Agriculture. Formed in 2021, the West Coast metal band has followed in the footsteps of modern heavy acts like Deafheaven and their headlining contemporaries. Fusing the likes of post rock, shoegaze, and every musical extremity in between, the influences blend to sculpt a sound that’s been making noise in the blogosphere since their entry into the touring circuit. Since getting the Flenser Records treatment with their self-titled debut, Agriculture has been known to share the bill with acts like Chat Pile, Knoll, and Ragana.
The opening set featured a batch of new tracks from their 2025 sophomore LP, The Spiritual Sound, a release that fuses their modern black metal roots with cuts that borrow from the likes of Slint and Codeine. Singer and bassist Leah B. Levinson showed utmost graciousness for their tour mates during the performance, showing the band’s enthusiasm for hitting the road with the underground metal legends.
A Tuesday night in Austin can mean a few things, but to music fans it means free parking after 6 p.m. and an expected 10:30 p.m. noise ordinance. Boris took the reins with a predictable onslaught, one that spawned themed merchandise and fans who revere Pink as a formative record. For every roadshow, the trio comes packed with Orange Amplifiers stacked like that of ancient monuments and personalized pedal boards sought after by other gearheads looking to replicate their signature sonic prowess. With a laundry list of collaborators in the vein of Sunn O))), Merzbow, and Uniform, the spectrum of heaviness that populates the Boris code knows no bounds.
Boris is rounded out by singer, bassist, and guitarist Takeshi, lead guitarist Wata, and drummer Atsuo. Frontman Takeshi doesn’t rely on instrument switches between bass and guitar, instead delivering on a guaranteed wielding of a Jimmy Page-esque double-necked instrument with a bass and guitar conjoined for maximum shredability. The other members of Boris lock in with the bandleader with Pangaea-fit precision, joining him to engage the crowd with wall-to-wall excitement.
The Tuesday evening set featured a majority of the Pink release, along with some surprises from their massive discography incorporated into the setlist. The music of the famed Pink ranges between deafening dronehenge guitar chugs and stormbringing sludge metal madness. An interlocked ensemble, the dynamic range between the metalers shows chaotic tenacity at every turn, eliciting explosive audience reaction throughout every composition.
The Tokyo group dipped into other releases like Akuma no Uta, dronevil, and Soundtrack From Film Mabuta No Ura, further asserting their expansive discography, which hasn’t stopped since their 1992 inception. The unparalleled energy didn’t hold up as Boris departed the stage to prime for the encore, manifesting as fan-favorite epic Flood. A multi-movement record split across four parts, the last three movements acted as the early-weekday finale as the clock reached the dreaded curfew. A satisfying ending, the audience rejoiced in a now seemingly annual appearance from the titans that lay their hands way across the pond. Whether it’s Japanese Metal, Psych Rock, or noise rock, Austin gets reminded on the regular that music is a universal language.
Boris continues down the road in the United States through the end of November before heading to Latin America later this Fall. Tickets can be found via the Boris website.
All photos by Drew Doggett except where noted
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