After multiple listens, I’m still attempting to find the right adjective to describe Uniform’s second full-length, Wake in Fright (Sacred Bones). I could use intense, but that probably wouldn’t fit the bill for the more subdued tracks like ‘Habit’ or ‘The Lost.’

The overwhelming feeling on Wake in Fright is less about the instrumentation and more of the production and atmosphere. Ah fuck it, what I’m trying to say is that for most of its running time, this can be an ugly record. It’s as if Ben Greenberg and Michael Berdan huddled in a leaky trailer with a 6-track, a jug of MD 20/20, and one of Justin Broadrick’s old drum machines.

And that’s not a bad thing.

At least most of the time.

Opener ‘Tabloid’ unfortunately is one of the scant casualties during this war against aural faculty. After about 30 seconds, the riff leaves the building and the brain just buckles under the weight of screams and aural squalor.

If Wake in Fright hasn’t left your tape deck yet, then you’ve hit pay dirt on ‘Habit’ which rides long moments of buildup leading to controlled explosions of guitar demolition. ‘The Lost’ decides to explore an even stranger musical habitat as it comes across as a totally rad hybrid of Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Mr. Self Destruct’ and New Order’s ‘Ceremony.’

But the guitar and electronics assault reach their serrated promise on ‘The Light at the End (Cause)’ and ‘Bootlicker.’ Greenberg’s riffs sear and slash alongside Berdan’s howls, while the programmed beats keep the conveyor belt marching along at a militant pace. ‘Killing of America’ also follows this pattern (with guitar solo to boot) to a cadence that recalls Nailbomb’s pile-driving Point Blank.

Uniform only slips again at the finishing line with ‘The Light at the End (Effect).’ It’s another exercise in “creepy” samples and nihilistic argle-bargle that’s been saddled with extreme music since its onset. While believing in nothing, Lebowski, is cool and all, can we agree that it’s been ground to dust and done to death?

So, still thinking about that adjective… I don’t know. We’ll just go with whatever the antonym for friendly is these days.

7.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ