In 2018, Uniform & The Body teamed up to release the brief, but very promising, Mental Wounds Not Healing. Now, a little over a year later, the two duos have returned via Sacred Bones with Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back — a thrilling, brutal, and mostly gorgeous collaboration record that displays an overwhelmingly seamless connection between the two prolific heavy groups.
Distorted, fuzzed-out percussion drives most of Everything That Dies. “Gallows in Heaven” begins with a barely audible and heavily affected rhythmic loop. As the intro progresses, the loop emerges through the lows and is aided by panned drum hits. “Penance” makes use of an intense kick-snare pattern, pairing it with a mystical descending synth line. “Day of Atonement,” the best track on the record, is led by trap drums and a hip-hop vocal sample that sounds like they were dipped in acid and then put in a deep fryer.
Uniform vocalist Michael Berdan, who sounds like someone that’s trapped below the surface, and The Body vocalist Chip King, who sounds like someone that’s flying through the clouds at an extreme speed, alternate vocal duties mid-song with apparent ease. “Not Good Enough” begins with Berdan’s harsh growls and transitions into King’s immediately recognizable high-pitched shouts. On the closing track “Contempt,” the two singers holler over each other chaotically. It makes for one of the best moments on the album and is a truly fulfilling conclusion.
Everything That Dies is a fantastic experimental record from two groups operating fluently as one. Uniform & The Body continue to display their hunger – and in result, provide another worthy addition to the feast.
