Bright New Disease is the Boris & Uniform collaborative album. Written and recorded in the darkest days of the pandemic, it is the sound of frustration, but one founded on resilience.
The album opens with the collaborationâs first single, âYouâre the Beginning,â a ferocious thrash-inflected banger concocted by the Boris camp. From there the album continues its relentless assault with âWeaponized Grief,â a fevered mashup of Japanese D-beat and Boredomsâ deliberately mismatched sonic textures. There isnât a moment to sift through the wreckage before the bands launch into âNo,â a deliberate nod to the Japanese hardcore homage of Borisâs 2020 album NO. Respite finally comes with the glacial amplifier worship of âThe Look is a Flame,â 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 albumâs timbral palette continues to broaden on the latter half of Bright New Disease, such as on the standout track âNarcotic Shadow.â Constructed around Berdanâs modular synth arpeggios, aided by Borisâs dark wave / new romantic-inspired vocals, and abetted by Greenbergâs warped studio manipulations, the song offers up a sleazy and woozy counterpoint to the unbridled rage of the albumâs first half. Similarly, âA Man From the Earthâ feels less centered on catharsis and more fixated on a gritty, buried-in-the-red spin on David Bowieâs glam years. But these deviations only serve to make the album closer and second single, âNot Surprised,â all the more bleak, anguished, and harrowing.