Uniform : American Standard

Uniform is not for the weak of heart. Their music is a mixture of power drill guitars, industrial drums, and pained, shrieking vocals. Imagine bands like Godflesh, Ministry, and early NIN injected with Bane’s “Venom” and they roided out into an ominous extreme metal rage. That might be the tip of the iceberg for the sound of Uniform.

But they’re not just loud for loud’s sake. There’s very deep, personal lyrics in the screeching, belted vocals. Vocalist Michael Berdan lays out the naked, bruised truths in his lyrics that most of us wouldn’t even commit to a highly guarded personal journal. His intense open-hearted songwriting is only matched by the band’s industrial intensity.

On the band’s latest record, the nearly art rock metal masterpiece American Standard, Uniform truly goes for it. Bringing in authors BR Yeager(Negative Space) and Maggie Siebert(Bonding) to help with the lyrical content, Uniform has made their best album, and one of the best metal albums of the year. This goes beyond genre. It’s an absolute work of art.

We open on the album side, psyche-shredding “American Standard”. This is a 21-minute masterstroke built on shrieking vocals, epic guitars, and explosive drums. It’s an absolute cacophony of sound. It’s like an orchestra melting in a river of hot magma. Absolute relentless noise. But underneath the vitriol there is melody hiding, and with five minutes to go there’s an almost triumphant feel as the drums kick into hyper speed and the guitars bring an air of almost optimism. I’m reminded of the first time I heard Deafheaven’s “Dream House”. It’s absolutely stunning.

What’s left after that crushing opening is three tracks that bring us back to the industrial heft of early Uniform albums. “This Is Not A Prayer” has the propulsion of Ministry and the crushing guitars of early Helmet. “Clemency” opens with ominous synth waves before exploding into absolute guitar annihilation. It somehow combines the dark, wooded sounds of 80s Seattle with pulverizing Gothic extreme metal. “Permanent Embrace” wields a sonic battle ax that lands right into your frontal lobe. Just an absolute skull crusher of a closer. It ends in epic synthesizers and absolute ripping drums and guitars.

American Standard should be the new standard for a metal album. It’s an absolutely crushing listening experience and rewrites what it means to be “heavy”. But Uniform aren’t just heavy for heavy’s sake. There’s meaning and experience behind that wall of noise.