Boris & Uniform – Bright New Disease
Release Date: 16th June 2023
Label: Sacred Bones
Bandcamp
Genre: Drone, Psych, Sludge, Doom.
FFO: Melvins, Author & Punisher, Jesu.
Review By: Hillary Wisniewski
Some collaborations may seem a bit of an odd pairing; such was the case when Boris and Uniform went on tour together in 2019. Spending that amount of time working closely together paid off in dividends, though, as the opportunity to team up during live performances led to the blossoming of something wonderful. According to the press release, Bright New Disease “…was written and recorded in the darkest days of the pandemic, it frames the agitated and tumultuous spirit of the album in a new light. Yes, this is the sound of frustration, but it was founded on resilience.” I know we all have some degree of pandemic fatigue, but one cannot discount the impact it made on artists and their work. Understanding that this was the backdrop in which this album was written lends a certain level of appreciation for the overall sound.
Boris and Uniform bring their talents to the table and effortlessly weave together a colourful and complex tapestry of noise and emotion. The album starts with a face ripping track and keeps up a frenzied heaviness for most of the work; think good old 80s Bay Area Thrash vibes. Blown-out guitars (why would we expect any less from Boris?), sludge, synthesiser, and industrial noise are also factored into the mix. Is this heavy as hell? Yes. But there are times in which the artists are able to slow down and experiment with sound. Variety abounds, yet it is not disjointed and everything makes sense given the context in which this work was written. One track, A Man from the Earth, even has some nice pop sensibility which breaks up the overall dynamic of Bright New Disease. The track Endless Death Agony channels a sound reminiscent of Kylesa which was not expected. The vocals on this album often are haunted and tortured. Uniform’s vocalist Michael Berdan expresses a range of emotions well through his delivery, and members of Boris offer mesmerising and soft vocals which round everything out nicely.
Truly, there isn’t much to criticise about this work; it is musically solid and dynamic. But if your cup of tea is having something that sounds highly sanitised and polished, then this may be a bit out of your comfort zone. As always, I encourage my readers to give something new a whirl-you just never know where it may take you. This could be an album you have on heavy rotation for quite some time.
(4.5 / 5)
