''Audio Noir'' is the debut studio album by the English
heavy metal band
Bossk. It was recorded by Martin Ruffin at In Lieu of a Studio in
Battle, East Sussex
Battle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south-east and Bexhill-on-Sea to the south. Batt ...
, and released via
Deathwish Inc.
Deathwish, Inc. is an American independent record label conceived by Jacob Bannon of Converge and Tre McCarthy in 2000. Their first release was '' Deeper the Wound'', a split album between Converge and Japanese band Hellchild on April 23, 2001. D ...
on 1 April 2016.
Background
''Audio Noir'' was recorded, engineered, mixed and produced at In Lieu Of A Studio in
Battle, East Sussex
Battle is a small town and civil parish in the local government district of Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south-east and Bexhill-on-Sea to the south. Batt ...
by Martin Ruffin in the summer of 2015 and completed in September 2015. Premier single “Kobe” debuted on
BBC’s ''Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter'' and was made available for streaming on 8 February 2016. The same day the track listing and title, ''Audio Noir'' was announced and set to be released on 1 April 2016 via
Deathwish Records
Deathwish, Inc. is an American independent record label conceived by Jacob Bannon of Converge and Tre McCarthy in 2000. Their first release was '' Deeper the Wound'', a split album between Converge and Japanese band Hellchild on April 23, 2001. ...
. Four days later the video for “Kobe” premiered via
''Nerdist'' along with the album art work.
On the day of release, the full album was streamed via
BandCamp
Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...
. In a press release with
''Terrorizer'', remarking on the writing process, the band stated:
Reception
Upon release, ''Audio Noir'' was mostly well received and garnered largely positive reviews by fans and critics alike. Wil Cifer of ''No Clean Singing'' described that album as a “
efusalto compose in a formulaic manner” with an “urgent sense of motion”. Cifer describes the vocals as “buried in the wall of guitars they slam you into” clarifying “the anger here becomes very tangible” at times. In summation he states, “If the run-of-the-mill
post-metal bands leave you wanting more than their minimalism allows, and
sludge feels like cavemen screaming at you, then these guys have found you the perfect middle ground.”
Simon of ''The Monolith'' gave the album a positive review stating that the album’s “songs lurch from delicate, spacious and dreamy
post-rock
Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...
to portentous, doom-drenched, heavy riffing – often in a heartbeat.”, commenting that
Bossk “mean business. Serious, gorgeous business.”
Track listing
Personnel
;Bossk
* Sam Marsh – vocals
* Rob Vaughan – guitar
* Alex Hamilton – guitars
* Tom Begley – bass guitar
* Nick Corney – drums, samples
;Production
*
Seldon Hunt
Seldon Hunt (born 1969, in Melbourne and migrated to New York in 2006, (now residing in Brooklyn) is an artist best known for his photography and his graphic artwork (on album covers and promotional poster) for rock musicians.
Hunt's photograph ...
– artwork
* Martin Ruffin – producer, mixer, engineer
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
Bossk (band) albums
Albums produced by Martin Ruffin
Deathwish Inc. albums