On Saturday night I saw Boris, a Japanese metal band that has been around for 25 years or so, at Neumos in Seattle. Two bands played first: Endon (also from Japan) and Sumac. As always I tended to focus on the drummers. I hadn't really listened to any of these bands' albums prior to this, but a good friend is into Boris so I tagged along. I liked what Endon was doing in their songs: constantly interrupting themselves and going off in new rhythmic directions, led by the drummer starting and stopping. Or that's how I remember it. The other instruments were loud and the singing troll-like. The second band Sumac started out interesting, with some wild jazz-like drumming, but after the first song they quickly lost my interest. They also had troll-singing (it's just not original any more, folks!). As for Boris, the main event, I found them constantly frustrating, but realized afterward that perhaps that was the point: teasing us with extended introductions, with songs that were all introduction with just the smallest taste of progress. A more metal-experienced companion called it "cinematic rock", which is funny to me now because the Wikipedia page on them lists all the different labels people have tried to use for them and that one is not among them. But Boris was certainly dramatic. And it was the loudest thing I have ever heard. Good thing I had my Dubs earplugs stuffed in tight. But Boris knew what they were doing, or were doing what they intended in any case, and their equipment was perfectly calibrated. One extended section was so loud but so pure that I thought I would hallucinate and go into kidney failure at the same time.