| Audio Noir | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Bossk |
| Cover: | Bossk - Audio Noir (2016).jpg |
| Released: | 1 April 2016 |
| Recorded: | In Lieu of a Studio in Battle, East Sussex, England, UK |
| Genre: | Post-metal, sludge metal, stoner rock[1] |
| Length: | 45:11 |
| Label: | Deathwish Inc. |
| Producer: | Martin Ruffin |
| Prev Title: | .2 |
| Prev Year: | 2007 |
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, and released via Deathwish Inc. on 1 April 2016.
Audio Noir was recorded, engineered, mixed and produced at In Lieu Of A Studio in Battle, East Sussex by Martin Ruffin in the summer of 2015 and completed in September 2015.[2] [3] [4] [5] 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.[6] Four days later the video for "Kobe" premiered via Nerdist along with the album art work.[7] On the day of release, the full album was streamed via BandCamp. In a press release with Terrorizer, remarking on the writing process, the band stated:
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 "[refusal] to 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."[8] Simon of The Monolith gave the album a positive review stating that the album's "songs lurch from delicate, spacious and dreamy post-rock to portentous, doom-drenched, heavy riffing – often in a heartbeat.", commenting that Bossk "mean business. Serious, gorgeous business."[9]