For just over a decade now NYC based Uniform has been putting out abrasive and heavy hitting music that blurred the lines between industrial, noise rock, and punk. The core duo of Michael Berdan and Ben Greenberg has explored different things with each album, but it often felt like their earlier recordings were missing some of that sheer energy and rawness of their live performances. In recent years the gap between the two has started to get smaller, as 2020’s Shame came the closest to date, and continued collaborations with groups like Boris have found Uniform continuing to branch out stylistically. But on their fifth album American Standard the group has taken their biggest leap forward yet, opting to explore very personal and dark lyrical content inspired by Berdan’s battles with eating disorders while also delivering some of their most ambitious songwriting. As with much of their discography Uniform’s latest isn’t necessarily an easy listen, but American Standard is an album that will stick with you for some time to come.
Past Uniform albums have begun with harsher electronic pulses and noisier guitar riffs, but American Standard opts for a different and even more harrowing way to introduce itself. With no instrumentals at all, the emphasis is entirely on Berdan’s harsh screams as he talks back and forth to himself and portrays the type of psychological torture related to long-time battles with bulimia. It isn’t until a minute and a half in that the first electronic pulse comes lumbering in, and from there the material explodes into a flurry of dense riffing and percussion. Not only is this a tense and abrasive way to open, even for a band known for doing so, but the way that the title track then transforms and rebuilds itself over the course of twenty-one minutes showcases how ambitious Uniform has been this time around. You have to wonder if working and touring with Boris for that extended period rubbed off a bit here, as the more sprawling and multi-faceted nature of the song reflects a similar sense of scale as that band and later-period Swans. The way the instrumentals ebb and flow continually suck you in, with the first half giving off this stream of consciousness cadence as the rhythms repeat and the layers of electronics and guitars seem to get darker and heavier the further in you get. It’s somewhere between industrial, sludge/doom, and even krautrock with the repetition, and it pushes Uniform towards some different territory. While the title track may be the focal point and take up the bulk of the run-time, the other three tracks have just as much to offer. “This Is Not a Prayer” is slightly more straightforward with angular noise rock leads and lurching bass lines that hit hard, while “Clemency” moves into downright heavy and ugly sludge/doom that wouldn’t sound out of place on an Eyehategod record. With two drummers (Michael Sharp and Michael Blume) as well as new bassist Brad Truax rounding out the lineup, this is definitely the most metal sounding Uniform has been, but they still pull in plenty of noise rock, punk, and industrial to put their own spin on things. The biggest surprise comes on closer “Permanent Embrace”, where initial punk sounding drumming and noisier guitar breaks into blast beats and leads that wouldn’t sound out of place on a black metal album, serving as an appropriately bleak and destructive way to end the album.
As mentioned earlier, Berdan’s abrasive and tortured screams serve as one of the main focuses on American Standard and are the first element that listeners are introduced to. His approach has been a defining element of Uniform’s music since the very beginning, and the way that his voice is used throughout this record to drive the narrative is effective. Where some of the group’s material had shorter bursts of raw screaming that sometimes felt a tad repetitive, the way that the intensity ebbs and flows here keeps things a bit more interesting. That’s not to say that you should expect any singing or spoken word or anything outside the norm here, but the way that Berdan takes what is already an extremely raw and intense pitch and then takes it up or down a few notches makes the performance more impactful. I’m not one to get into an extended analysis of lyrics or themes given how different they can be for each listener, but with Uniform working with B.R. Yeager and Maggie Siebert to take Berdan’s struggles and portray them in a manner that’s even more harrowing, it really does elevate the material further.
Uniform has often been one of those “close but not quite bands” for me, as I enjoyed their mix of styles on record but found they lagged slightly behind the live performance. But that’s not the case here, and in many ways American Standard feels like the type of album I’ve been waiting for them to make. It’s ambitious in both the way the songs sprawl outwards, ebbing and flowing in ways that naturally complement the darker twists of the narrative, and the dips into a more metal focused sound suit the already aggressive noise rock and industrial. There are also a lot of smaller details that jump out at you the more time you give this one, giving Uniform’s latest plenty of substance that should keep listeners coming back for some time to come. American Standard is available from Sacred Bones Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg