Shame

After drummer Greg Fox added a visceral attack to Uniforms third album, 2018s The Long Walk, Michael Berdan and Ben Greenberg worked with Mike Sharp, a Texas musician and sound designer who has played in hardcore bands such as the Impalers and Trap Them, as well as psych rock collective Sungod. Additionally, Uniform handed mixing duties to renowned engineer and musician Randall Dunn, rather than have Greenberg mix Shame. The result is just as massive and forceful as the groups previous records, but it sounds significantly clearer and more pronounced. Its still heavy, bracing, and panic-stricken, however, whether or not one attempts to pay attention to Berdans lyrics, which relate to the point of view of an antihero. He filters his anxiety and fear of being misunderstood through a literary and cinematic lens, and addresses being bullied as a youth and constantly being plagued with self-doubt throughout his life. The music is just as cathartic as the lyrics, snapping between various shades of heavy, electronically charged rock. The Shadow of Gods Hand starts out slow and churning, riddled with crackling feedback, before everything gets revved up and thrashy, with a sharp electronic tone piercing the listeners eardrums at one point. Life in Remission starts out with a rapid, suffocating rhythm similar to black metal before being washed out by waves of droning static and explosive thuds. This Wont End Well begins with a brief bit of intense pummeling before breaking down into sludgy pounding, while the vocals are laced with psychedelic effects. The devastating eight-minute closer I Am the Cancer begins as a torrent of black metal and thrash riffs before switching to a remorseful procession, ending up with Berdan howling God will not love you forever. Like other Uniform records, Shame is bleak and chaotic, but feels unmistakably honest and true to life. ~ Paul Simpson

80年代のUK ハードコアみたい。何者!?と思ったら、日本のBORISと対バン歴もあるNYのノイズ・ロック・バンドだった。前作からメンバーにドラマーを迎えた彼らがこの4枚目のアルバムで打ち出すのは、さらなる肉体の躍動感。かつて言われていたインダストリアルの要素はここにはない。呻くようなヴォーカルととことんテンポダウンした演奏にはスラッジ・メタルの趣も。混沌がクセになる。
bounce (C)山口智男