Those who face any kind of eating disorder, body dysmorphia and/or gender dysphoria know the agony of standing before a mirror and having it reflect back untold amounts of unwanted negativity and hatred. American Standard, the fifth album by these industrialised noise-rocking New York-based extremists, is comprised of songs tackling frontman Michael Berdan’s lifelong struggle with bulimia nervosa.
As such, the title track begins with Michael delivering an impassioned call-and-response: the call painfully laying bare his physical and mental state; the militaristic response spitting back the observations of his internal dialogue and perceived ravages that forced regurgitation has had on his frame. The delivery is excruciating and harrowing, but also clicks with the massive – in sound and scope – 21 minutes of stacked-chord guitars, grating noisescapes, atonal black metal machine-gunning and disturbing waves of doom-laden ambiance.
