Uniform
Wake in Fright
Reviewed by: Max Miller
Michael Berdan is very angry. Very angry, indeed. On this, we can all agree. The frontman for NYC post-hardcore duo Uniform spends the vast majority of sophomore LP, Wake In Fright, screaming his head off, presumably in opposition to the evils of the world. Ben Greenberg is also quite angry, and this is somewhat more surprising. Greenberg is best known for his work with the Men, a group who started their career as noisy and aggressive upstarts and now mostly make jammy, throwback-y indie rock. Greenberg is no longer with the Men, but he produced the majority of their LPs. And although Greenberg plays guitar in Uniform, coating Wake In Fright with many a thrash metal- and noise rock-inspired riff, it is his role as producer that really makes the duo stand out.
Greenberg’s confrontational, mechanical drum programming instantly recalls the music of Big Black. Adding to the oppressive soullessness of the drums is the fact that Greenberg sampled gunfire and explosions from action movies to sweeten the percussion and create noisy collages that fill in the gaps between his purposefully tinny guitars and Berdan’s nasally growl. Songs like opener “Tabloid” and “The Killing of America” seethe with a punkish energy. Conversely, tracks like “Habit” and “Night of Fear” go for a slower, sludgier approach, with walls of noise and feedback building up the dynamic range until it all boils over. The former finds a martial marching motif giving way to a groovy pentatonic riff that sounds like something straight off an early album by the Sword.
Wake In Fright has its occasional moments of dark, goth-inflected electronica. “The Lost” is practically danceable, if you discount Berdan’s pissed off ranting. Speaking of rants, “The Light at the End (Cause)” and “The Light at the End (Effect)” push the limits of the noise rock formula as Berdan vomits lyrics over monolithic guitar stabs and shrieks of feedback. These two tracks, which conclude both sides of the album, ask for the most patience from the listener, but may serve as the ultimate mission statements for Uniform, who seek, as Greenberg puts it, “to help others transcend their anger and frustration.”
“A lovely promise,” to quote C. Montgomery Burns, “but one beyond the powers of a mere shampoo.” If there were ever a time for alleviating rage, it would be now. But for all of Greenberg’s production wizardry and Berdan’s honest emoting, Uniform have still yet to transcend the limitations of your average industrial-tinged noise rock group. Wake In Fright is a barnstormer of an album, but it perhaps overreaches in ambition in ways the duo simply can’t back up. It feels a little wrong to paraphrase Billy Corgan here (seeing as how he’s become an Alex Jones-worshipping right-wing nutjob who seems to only want to perpetuate bitterness and anger these days), but despite all Uniform’s rage, they are still just a rat in a cage.
Rating: Listenable
