''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 town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Districts of England, district of Rother District, Rother in East Sussex, England. It lies south-east of London, east of Brighton and east of Lewes. Hastings is to the south- ...

, 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

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. 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 music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. 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 Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal music, heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis (band), Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture (music), te ...

bands leave you wanting more than their minimalism allows, and

sludge Sludge (possibly , or some dialect related to slush) is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. It can be produced as a settled sus ...

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 subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

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 – artwork * Martin Ruffin – producer, mixer, engineer

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Bossk (band) albums Albums produced by Martin Ruffin Deathwish Inc. albums