Boris and Uniform’s Bright New Disease is a brilliant meeting of the minds. It may have seemed like a strange pairing when they teamed up for a US tour back in 2019. Sure, both bands harness the power of big, blown-out riffs, but Boris’s rock heroics, lysergic sprawl, and monolithic sludge summon a different energy than Uniform’s mechanised bombardments and frenzied assaults. However, when Boris invited Uniform to team up on a reimagined version of their classic “Akuma no Uta” as a part of their encore, there was an obvious chemistry between the artists. The idea of a collaborative album came up, and the bands spent the next year swapping song ideas and recordings from their home-base studios until Boris and Uniform had an album that captured the fearless exploration and unbridled power of their live performances. Today it finally sees its release in stores and across digital platforms via Sacred Bones Records.
The album opens with the collaboration’s first single, “You are the Beginning,” a ferocious thrash-inflected banger concocted by the Boris camp. It was the first piece the band composed during the initial day of their studio session in July 2020. As the title insinuates, the song was written with the idea that it would open the album and, hopefully, open a show one day too. “At that time, we didn’t know when we would be able to resume concerts,” says Boris’ Atsuo, “and our wish became the song directly.” The uncertainty and anxiety of the early months of the pandemic fuelled Bright New Disease, and “You are the Beginning” sets the stage by stampeding out of the gate with vicious palm-muted riffs, snarling vocals, and dual drum bombardments courtesy of Atsuo and Uniform drummer Mike Sharp.
From “You Are The Beginning” onwards, the album continues its relentless assault with “Weaponized Grief,” a fevered mashup of Japanese D-beat and Boredoms’ deliberately mismatched sonic textures. There isn’t a moment to sift through the wreckage before the bands launch into “No,” a deliberate nod to the Japanese hardcore homage of Boris’s 2020 album NO. Respite finally comes with the glacial amplifier worship of “The Look is a Flame,” a Boris-penned song meant to evoke light and salvation over gloom and cruelty. Further heightened by the cosmic synth work of Randall Dunn and the groaning bass of Steve Moore, it retains the ominous timbre of the album while also hinting at the possibility of redemption.
The album’s timbral palette continues to broaden on the latter half of Bright New Disease, such as on the standout track “Narcotic Shadow.” Constructed around Michael Berdan’s modular synth arpeggios, aided by Boris’s dark wave / new romantic-inspired vocals, and abetted by Ben Greenberg’s warped studio manipulations, the song offers up a sleazy and woozy counterpoint to the unbridled rage of the album’s first half. Similarly, “A Man From the Earth” feels less centered on catharsis and more fixated on a gritty, buried-in-the-red spin on David Bowie’s glam years. But these deviations only serve to make the album closer and second single, “Not Surprised,” all the more bleak, anguished, and harrowing. The amps are on ten; the sparring drums collide and collapse; everything vibrates to the same gut-liquifying frequency. Much like the album opener, “Not Surprised” was written with its position on a setlist in mind. “I thought it would be appropriate for the last song on the album,” says Atsuo, “and I imagined that it would be just as cathartic if we played it at the end of the show as well.” (original bio written by Brian Cook)
Boris and Uniform have confirmed tours separately. Uniform kick off a brief EU run this month and play NYC two nights with Thou at Brooklyn Meadows on July 21 – 22 – Tickets Here. Come August, Boris hit the road on an extensive run with Melvins across the U.S. Tickets Here + see below for a full list of dates. Check out the collaborative merchandise exclusive per territory from Holy Mountain (North America) and Evil Greed (EUR).
Boris Live Dates:
w/ Melvins
Aug 24: Los Angeles, CA – Belasco Theater
Aug 25: Pomona, CA – Glass House
Aug 26: Fresno, CA – Strummer’s
Aug 27: San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Aug 28: San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall
Aug 29: Petaluma, CA – Mystic Theatre
Aug 31: Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
Sep 01: Seattle, WA – The Showbox
Sep 02: Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
Sep 03: Bozeman, MT – The ELM
Sep 05: Fargo, ND – The Hall at Fargo Brewing Company
Sep 06: Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
Sep 07: Milwaukee, WI – The Rave II
Sep 08: Chicago, IL – The Metro
Sep 09: St. Louis, MO – Red Flag
Sep 11: Indianapolis, IN – The Vogue
Sep 12: Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme
Sep 13: Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall
Sep 14: Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom & Tavern
Sep 15: Pittsburgh, PA – Roxian
Sep 16: Maspeth, NY – DesertFest NYC
Sep 18: Albany, NY – Empire Live
Sep 19: Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
Sep 20: Bethlehem, PA – MusicFest Cafe
Sep 21: Philadelphia, PA – Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia
Sep 22: Washington, DC – The Howard Theatre
Sep 23: Virginia Beach, VA – Elevation 27
Sep 24: Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
Sep 26: Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl Nashville
Sep 27: Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
Sep 28: Savannah, GA – District Live
Sep 29: Birmingham, AL – Saturn
Sep 30: New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s
Oct 02: Houston, TX – Warehouse Live – Studio
Oct 03: Austin, TX – Mohawk
Oct 04: Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
Oct 05: Oklahoma City, OK – Beer City Music Hall
Oct 06: Tulsa, OK – Cain’s Ballroom
Oct 07: Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
Oct 09: Denver, CO – Summit
Oct 11: Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
Oct 13: Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
Oct 14: San Diego, CA – House of Blues
Uniform Live Dates:
Jun 28: Hamburg, DE – Hafenklang
Jun 29: Roskilde, DK – Roskilde Festival
Jun 30: Stockholm, SE – HUS7
Jul 01: Göteborg, SE – Hemligheten
Jul 02: Malmo, SE – Plan B
Jul 04: Lodz, PL – Przestrzen
Jul 05: Warsaw, PL – Voodoo
Jul 06: Berlin, DE – Urban Spree
Jul 07: Tilburg, NL – Little Devil
Jul 08: Ypres, BE – Ieperfest
Jul 10: Nijmegen, NL – Merleyn
Jul 11: Paris, FR – La Boule Noire
Jul 12: Antwerp, BE – AMC
Jul 13: Leipzig, DE – Soltmann
Jul 14: Kutna Hora, CZ – Creepy Teepee Festival
Jul 21: Brooklyn, NY – The Brooklyn Monarch *
Jul 22: Brooklyn, NY – The Brooklyn Monarch *
Aug 12: Chicago, IL – Metro Chicago #
*w/ Thou and Yellow Eyes
#w/ Pelican
