Tomsk-7/Boris split 7"
Posted on Thursday, June 9th, 2005 @ 5:58am » permalink
I'll keep this one relatively short. Another 7" that I grabbed years ago in a used bin for about a quarter, the Tomsk-7/Boris split was released in 1997 on Bovine Records. Somewhat of an odd union, it actually makes for a damn nice split , and even though it's out of print, you seem to still be able to find it used or in random distros for a few bucks here and there, so… it's doesn't seem to be too terribly rare.
I still know nothing about Tomsk-7 other than the fact that they hailed from Phoenix, AZ and had one of the best female vocalists ever – cutting loose with five short tracks ranging from blistering grind, to sludgy distorted bass dirges, as well as feedback soaked noise. Aside from this five or so minutes of material all I can note is that they were on a couple of comps and also did a split EP with some band called Idi Amin, but I've never heard it. I think this group should've been far more talked about though, and these tracks should nail that point home.
This record also marked my first exposure to Japan's Boris, and I went apeshit over this one. Their lone track is longer than the entire Tomsk-7 side of the record, full of poundingly heavy rhythms and drones alongside forceful drumming and a ridiculous bass presence. And how about those vocals!? The whole thing is just a pulsing, sinister mass of twisted dissonance – all of which possesses more feeling and power than a lot of the band's more recent work in my opinion. Their side ends with a locked groove, so I faded it out after 10 seconds or so. And what about that cover art, too? If nothing else, I think Boris has fallen way off the mark with their visual presence these days, as their early logo and aesthetic played a huge role in my decision to buy this record.
See what you think:
1. Tomsk-7 "Dumpsite"
2. Tomsk-7 "Rape-Active-Hate"
3. Tomsk-7 "Bloodlink"
4. Tomsk-7 "Me"
5. Tomsk-7 "Coccyx"
6. Boris "Mass Mercury"
And yo, again, comments, people! Please! Imperium? Anyone? No dice? All those people emailed me wanting more thrash, but no one was into 'em, or what? I feel like I'm pissing my time away if I don't get any feedback to know how people are reacting to all these tunes, so… it makes a difference. Thanks!
I don't think I've ever heard a more effective grind/metal female vocalist than this woman in Tomsk-7.
The Boris track steals the show, though. I've never heard of them before, but I'll definitely be on the lookout for more by them.
god damn! those vocals! thaks for posting this.
I'm definitely a fan of Tomsk-7 after hearing this stuff. As for Boris… shit, that's right up my alley. It's too bad they're almost a Black Sabbath cover band now considering this is where they came from.
The Tomsk-7 tracks are genius. Never would have heard them otherwise. Danke.
Tomsk 7 has a good vocalist but thats about it. The music is way too damn sloppy for it to be intense like all good grind should be.
I love the vocals on the Boris side but musically I think they have done better… Boris has a shit load of releases and they fall into 2 categorys:Hardrockstoner and Doomdronesludge… Fans of boris stuff on this 7inch should get absolutego and amplifier worship(both on southern lord with ugly layouts(the original japanese versions are better.) Or the Dronevil 2xLP(limited to 1000) on misanthropicagenda(very cool release, one lp is labeled drone and the other evil and you're supposed to play them both at the same time. Makes for an "epic" listening experience.)
…If you want some good japanese stonerrock check out Boris "Heavy Rocks"
don't post anymore thrash(unless its thrash "core")…just my opinion.
Zach, thanks for being brutally honest and for the detailed Boris info, much appreciated. I'm surprised you find Tomsk-7 so sloppy, as I don't catch that at all. It's dirty, but… I think it all fits well.
Thrash is my favorite genre so I'll still be posting more in the future, but what do you consider to be "thrashcore", just for my reference?
I dig the Tomsk alot! thanks for posting it…
and keep the thrash coming too!!!
my old band, orlock, played with tomsk7 in austin & san antonio in 1997. nice folks.
here are 2 photos i took at the austin show:
the singer & guitarist and
bassist & drummer
the lock groove on the boris side is a nice touch.
Wow, that split *ruled*. Thanks for posting that – a great service to the community. The blog and aversionline directly influence about 75% of my recordbuying; I learn so much more here than on regular review sites.
To be honest I really don't know what i would consider thrashcore maybe Municipal Waste and I shot cyrus(you know short fast stuff with thrash metal riffs). There are alot of bands that use that term, most japanese bands that fall under the "fast" catergory (powerviolencefastcorestuffs) use the thrashcore tag(razors edge definitely comes to mind).
great stuff… i love the dirty production on Tomsk-7. keep posting stuff like this!
Boris are awesome. I'd not heard this track before as my Boris records are limited to just one vinyl version of 'Akuma No Uta' but this is just as cool as I expected. This is going straight on the iPod.
thanks for the boris-track, I'm a huge fan and never came across this single – well, I live in hamburg/germany…
concerning tomsk 7 – I like the female vocalist but agree with the critics, the music isn't above average… ever heard of Derketa – an All Girl Black Metal-Outfit from, duh, I think Cleveland? That's beside Wendy one of the tuffest girl-voices I ever had the joy to experience…
tomsk-7 fucking tears shit to pieces. that's just one girl doing all the vocals, fucking hell? she would kick my ass all over the place. the high-pitched screaming is ridiculous.
i never got into boris in the first place, so this time around i'm still not catching it. i guess i prefer the sludge with a rawer "edge" to it (eyehategod, burning witch etc.)
Got to say, I like Boris when they're being heavy, doomey, and sludgey…
But I recently picked up Akuma No Uta and was really bored with the over abundance of garage-psych tracks. I dig The Stooges as much as the next guy, but it gets a little tired after a while.
As a Boris fan, you should do a dedicated post. I'd love to see what you think is the ultimate Boris material…
Love the Tomsk-7! It was actually a girl and a guy singer duo. The drummer is Gspider he's a big time drummer/composer did music for pumpkinhead and lives in hollywood now.
still love it though nice and nuts!
the boris stuff is always fantastic. Fucking legends!
nice and slow!