Smile (Boris Album)

Smile (Boris Album)

Smile is the fourteenth full-length album by Japanese experimental band Boris. It was released through Diwphalanx Records in early 2008 (late 2008 for the live version accordingly), featuring guest musicians Michio Kurihara of Ghost and Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))), both of whom have collaborated with Boris in the past. Shortly after this initial release, the album was released by American label Southern Lord with a slightly different track listing, different artwork (by Stephen O'Malley), and an almost entirely different sound. The first 3000 copies of this edition include a DVD containing videos for "Statement", "Pink" and "My Neighbor Satan".

Notably, this release is the second Boris album to feature vocals on every track (the first, excluding any one-track albums, was Amplifier Worship). Also, it delves more into experimental tendencies with a more manipulated sound, use of drum machines, and even experiments with sampled tracks (notably, "Dead Destination" is essentially "No Ones Grieve part 2" from The Thing Which Solomon Overlooked 2 with added vocals; part of the seventh song from Vein is used in the untitled final track).

The album can also be seen as humorous since Boris have referenced this album in an interview with Terrorizer Magazine as "un-cool" and "The sell-out album" with comical lyricism, an 80s look for the band themselves, and the tones of voice in some of the songs.

The album charted on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart at number 20.