Bright New Disease

New York industrial noise-rock band Uniform toured with category-evading Japanese trio Boris in 2019, performing the title track to 2003s Akuma no Uta together as an encore. The two groups then began recording music together, entering the studio in July of 2020, the same month Boris released NO, a ferocious and inspired collision of crust punk, metallic hardcore, sludge, and noise. Bright New Disease, the first Boris/Uniform collaborative album, channels the same pandemic-induced rage through a similarly unruly amalgamation of multiple hard-edged styles. "You Are the Beginning" opens with meaty riffage and Uniforms Michael Berdan howling about breaking out in a sweat, quickly rocketing to thrash tempo as the members of Boris lead the charge. "Weaponized Grief" is a short but shocking burst of unhinged hardcore laced with scorching, trebly feedback. "No" is a double-barreled thrash attack with the groups members alternating between acerbic sneering and tortured screaming. The album takes a much doomier turn after the opening salvo of its first three songs. "The Look Is a Flame" starts out with droning riffs and ethereal vocals, then ends up with Berdan fighting his way through an all-consuming wave of sludge. "Narcotic Shadow" is an unexpected sequencer-driven goth club anthem, and whats even more surprising than its existence is how much it actually works. The sliding guitar riffs and handclaps of "A Man from the Earth" sound much more out of place, but its the shortest track on the album. "Endless Death Agony" is a return to industrial thrash, and the two acts vocalists seem to mesh better than on the rest of the songs. Bright New Disease has some jarring sonic clashes, but both bands seem to be on the same wavelength in terms of their modes of cathartic expression and their disregard for stylistic boundaries. ~ Paul Simpson

パンデミックの下、密かに進められていた日米アングラ・シーンを代表するヘヴィー・ロック・バンドによるコラボが日の目を見る。80s調ハードコアからスラッシュ・メタルに展開する序盤から中盤の阿鼻叫喚のドゥーム・ロックを経て、終盤ではダークウェイヴやポップなサイケデリック・ブギも飛び出す全9曲。コラボの域を超えた一体感に両者の抜群の相性の良さを感じる。
bounce (C)山口智男