Uniform

THE LONG WALK

SACRED BONES SOUL-STRAINING ODES FROM THE NEW YORK/ PURGATORY BORDERLANDS New York duo Uniform have herein crafted something so bleakly dissonant it’s as if they are trying to punish you, the recruitment of Liturgy drummer Greg Fox furthering their cause. The Walk is a barefoot frogmarch over broken glass, the uncomfortably noise-drenched guitars and enraged perma-stomp pulsating alongside vocalist Michael Berdan’s militant, monotone bark. The band smash heavy music’s history into smithereens and regurgitate it, mangled. Found is an old-school hardcore track drowned in sludge, Headless Eyes takes a stoner groove and asphyxiates it with static, before Peaceable Kingdom’s droning intro descends into mania. The stark image of a child behind a fence on The Long Walk’s cover gives a strong impression of where the source of Uniform’s antipathy lies, and while their impassioned rage is laudable, it takes resilient ears to get through it all.

FOR FANS OF: GODFLESH, THOU,

THE BODY

TOM O’BOYLE