In 1991, Melvins, the Pacific Northwestern fuzz-rock overlords, released their third album Bullhead. The opened it with a song called “Boris,” a droning slow-trudge eight-minute epic that slowed its riffs down to a crawl and left an imprint on a few generations of sludge and doom metal musicians. The year after Bullhead came out, the band Boris formed in Tokyo, and they took their name from the Melvins song.

Improbably enough, Boris and the Melvins are both still around. The Melvins are going through some weirdness; Buzz Osborne is out here doing Gavin McInnes interviews and shit. But Boris, at least, are going strong. Earlier this year, they released the mighty metal-punk onslaught NO, their best album in years. And next week, they’ll team up with the Japanese noise pioneer Merzbow, a frequent collaborator, to release the new album 2R0I2P0. They’ve already shared one song, a new version of their 2019 track “Away From You.” Today, they’ve dropped another song, and it’s a cover of the Melvins track that gave Boris their name.

Melvis’ original “Boris” track wasn’t exactly easy listening. But with the help of Merzbow, Boris have made a truly ugly mess of it. They’ve kept the song’s crawling, guttural riff intact, but they’ve heaped stomach-churn squiggle-creaks all over it, making it sound really uncomfortable. Below, check out the Boris/Merzbow version of “Boris,” as well as the Melvins original.

2R0I2P0 is out 12/11 on Relapse.