Uniform & Pharmakon played Arts at the Armory – 12/5

NYC noisemakers Uniform and Pharmakon brought their co-headlining tour to Somerville last week.

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There’s not really an era of Uniform’s career where you could accurately call them “chill” or “welcoming,” but this year’s starkly intense American Standard brings the band to an even heavier place – sonically and emotionally – than usual. Grappling with vocalist Michael Berdan’s struggles with an eating disorder, it’s a brave and deeply personal piece of work that pairs the frontman’s own eviscerating performance with some of guitarist Ben Greenberg’s most chest-rattling tones and an industrial-noise-rock rhythmic churn that’s not for the faint of heart.

Naturally, they decided to play the whole thing as the entirety of their set on this fall’s supporting tour – only switching up the order of operations for maximum impact. This meant kicking off with the record’s last three tracks as a sort of warm-up for its 21-minute opening title cut. Building from Berdan’s solo call-and-response screams to a caustically beautiful climax, it was one of the more powerful performances of a single piece I saw this year.

Pharmakon – the solo industrial/noise/power electronics project of Margaret Chardiet – was also not lacking for intensity. Chardiet remains an aggressive, physical performer, beginning her set plugging away at a table of gear and wire before disembarking from the stage and stalking through the crowd, bringing the doomsaying straight to you. Even amid some visibly frustrating technical difficulties, it was a classically unnerving Pharmakon set.

Sadly, I misinterpreted the night’s start time and missed the opening set by local gothic greats The Infinity Ring, but I did arrive in time for Richmond’s True Body. Though rooted in a vintage post-punk gloom, they actually skewed more melodic and groove-oriented than the rest of the bill – a nice counter to the somewhat demanding heaviness to follow.

Check out photos from all three sets below.