Uniform

Hailing from New York, the noise-rock outfit Uniform fuses strands of industrial music, thrash metal, and power electronics into an overwhelming sonic barrage meant to induce catharsis. The project first surfaced via a self-released EP in 2014 before issuing increasingly abrasive and furious full-lengths on Alter and Sacred Bones. After the politically charged 2017 album Wake in Fright, the group joined Portland duo the Body on tour, which led to their first joint effort, Mental Wounds Not Healing, in 2018. Following Shame in 2020, Uniform teamed with Japanese band Boris for the 2023 release Bright New Disease, then returned with the pulverizing American Standard in 2024.

Ben Greenberg, previously of the Men and Pygmy Shrews, and Michael Berdan, formerly of Drunkdriver and York Factory Complaint, launched Uniform in 2013 after discovering they resided on the same block; that chance realization produced their self-titled debut 12". Intent on staying a duo for live shows, they adopted drum machines, bass synthesizers, and banks of amplifiers so Greenberg could handle guitar while Berdan concentrated on vocals. Their first LP, Perfect World, emerged in 2015 on Alter Records and intensified their use of minimal gear to its breaking point. The next year they signed with Sacred Bones, commemorating the move with the 12" "Ghosthouse."

Wake in Fright, issued in early 2017, was positioned as a portrait of a society turned against itself; to underscore that vision the pair mined sample packs, action films, and field recordings for violent textures, programming gunshots as snare strikes and explosions as kick drums. After touring with the Body, Berdan guested on the Portland duo’s 2018 album I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer., and the two acts soon delivered their collaborative LP Mental Wounds Not Healing. That same year Uniform enlisted drummer Greg Fox for The Long Walk. A second joint project with the Body, Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back, arrived in 2019, followed by Live at the End of the World the subsequent year.

Shame, the first Uniform album to feature drummer Mike Sharp, appeared in 2020. A split remix single with Zombi surfaced in 2021, and Sisters in Christ issued the 2022 7" pairing “Awakening” with a Public Image Ltd. cover. Uniform next joined Boris to blend thrash, hardcore, and industrial on Bright New Disease in 2023. American Standard, an album centered on self-destruction and Berdan’s ongoing battle with bulimia nervosa, was released in 2024.