Band:	Boris / Merzbow
Album:	Sun Baked Snow Cave [Collaboration]
Style:	Drone doom metal, Psychedelic stoner metal
Release date:	December 05, 2005
A review by:	Herzebeth

01. Sun Baked Snow Cave

I know many of you either know "Boris" or "Merzbow", and I am also sure that you love at least one of the mentioned bands; for the people who are unfamiliar with those names here's a brief synopsis: both bands are from Japan, the first one (Boris) plays a chaotic kind of metal filled with dark environments and chilling music; Merzbow plays shivering songs with bitter and sore atmospheres. Now, what do you think it could happen when someone blends both bands and then records a 62 minutes track? The answer is "Sun Baked Snow Cave".

"Sun Baked Snow Cave" is a grim experience indeed, this album will overwhelm many or even every listener; you'll find yourself involved in the oddest kind of music anyone can offer, the one and only tune in this album is more than enough to make you feel terrified and calmed at the same time, there are several times when you'll feel violence filling your body, but just half-way through another atmosphere cracks in and the violence becomes a mellow ambiance filling your brain with profound thoughts.

The layers in this release are fantastic; the shocking ambience is structured with many facets and a lot of complex scales. As the CD spins, those structures become really strong and solid, and even in the messy segments everything flows perfectly well adding unquestionable balance to the track.

The production is clear as water, the mix, the mastering, and the audio in general is impressive; I guess it's maybe obvious due to the main substance of the CD. To actually create a decent atmosphere with many layers and complex backgrounds, you'll need sparkling clean production, otherwise all those elements could get lost in the dirtiness of the sound.

No doubt this is a very interesting release, suitable ONLY for the strong minds willing to receive powerful musical hits. This is actually experimental music to the core, and I can assure you it will be very difficult and maybe impossible to find another release like this one in the future; don't miss this opportunity.