The band has evolved from the pure tech death of the debut into a murky, dissonant, almost black death band (they are on Debemor Morti – a mostly black metal label) with more and more of a Sulphur Aeon meets Deathspell Omega aura that was highlighted on 2020’s Stare Into Death and Be Still.

And that sound continues with album number 7, with maybe even more of a writhing Deathspell Omega discordant tone. The 57-minute album, as with the last few albums, sees the band effortlessly deliver rangy, nauseating riffs upon riffs, littered with murky, twisty blasts and miasmal, droning ambiance here and there (though maybe lessened a little since Stare Into Death?).

Although lacking the immediacy of the last album’s opener “The Lifeless Advance”, the album does have a flow that seems to ebb and peak as the album gets further into the abyss with the third song “Further Opening the Wounds”, where the album starts to really get under your skin.

After that standout track, the album really sinks in, with “Transfiguration In and Out of Worlds” shifting wickedly from atonal blast beats, heaving lurches, and disorientating ambiance with slimy, serpentine ease. “To See Death Just Once” continues the excellence with shrill malevolence and more filthy, spiraling lopes that belie a sense of malevolent melody buried in the mire.

The almost 10-minute “Undying as an Apparation” somehow makes acoustic ambient injections creepy as fuck before the utterly monstrous title track ends the album with a truly terrifying crescendo of crumbling riffs including a nifty little ‘groove’ for lack of a better word, about a 3rd of the way in.

Another elite album from Ulcerate that again sees them truly locked into their sound and show no signs of slowing down seven albums in. I believe the kids use the word “unfuckwithable”?

Until now.

New Zealand’s Ulcerate are no stranger to my or other year end lists through out the course of their 6 album career. From 2007s pure, clinical tech debut  Of Fracture and Failure , to the band’s more atonal, dissonant shift in arguable peaks Everything is Fire, and Destroyers of All, to Vermis and the band’s last effort, 2016s Shrines of Paralysis,  the band has constantly been at the very apex of death metal and that’s likely to stay the same with this absolutely suffocating 7th effort.

The twisty, murky discordance that’s still part Immolation and part Deathspell Omega, has been sharpened and honed into a lethal combination of churning nausea and controlled, indescribable supine, clinical otherworldly harmonies that somehow seem melodic within the devastation. Look no further than opener “The Lifeless Advance”, a truly breathtaking album opener that left me muttering under my breath.

The following 7 tracks have a high standard to follow , but “Exhale the Ash” certainly tries with a more fervent pace and delivery and the title track then slows things down a bit for an eight minute descend into calamitous murkiness, that’s so fucking in control of its own chaos its frightening.

As with past releases, there’s is a bit of a lumbering post metal (namely Neurosis) ambiance and temper to the album’s slower moments (i.e “There is No Horizon”, “Visceral Ends”, “Dissolved Orders”) , but it’s rendered with such an majestic heaving heft, it blends in perfectly with the crumbling devastation.

Ulcerate are so fucking locked in on this album it’s unfair. Take mid album standout, “Inversion” , with a mountainous opening riff so sickeningly perfect,  Ross Dolan, Robert Vigna, AND Steve Von Til would nod in respect. Or the fucking sexy, menacing little sway in “Drawn into the Void”. All of it with a perfect mix /master that’s heaving but precise, rendering the riffs with ample heft and clarity.

I was needing a death metal album to get me excited about the genre again in 2020, and Stare Into Death And be Still is that album. It’s such a monstrous slab of undulating perfection, it makes me whisper to myself how good it is when its playing. No doubt you will do the same.

Now with this being my first shot at a critical review of one of their albums, I kept asking myself “what is it about their sound that (to sound like a Hallmark card for second) just reaches down deep into my soul in a way that no other metal band has ever done?”  And after pondering that question for a while and going through the album multiple times, I settled on the fact that it’s their guitar tone.  Guitarist Michael Hoggard has managed to hit on a sound that I have found to be totally unique; no small feat in the metal (or any other) world.  It’s got a hauntingly dissonant tone to it that sets them apart from anyone I personally have ever heard.  I’ve always felt that the sign of a truly great band is the fact that if you put someone’s entire music collection on shuffle and asked them to pick when X band’s song comes on, you would be able to pinpoint it.  I could do that with Ulcerate in a millisecond.

Stare Into Death and Be Still picks up right where Vermis and Shrines of Paralysis left off:  long songs (the shortest one is 7 minutes), the aforementioned guitar tone, the haunting death-growl of Paul Kelland that is neither under or over-used (which would be easy in songs of such length), and the absolutely other-worldly drumming of Jamie Saint Merat.  I am a (very average) drummer myself, but trying to dissect what that guy is doing or what time signature he’s in is like trying to decide who Taylor Swift is going to dump and sing about in her next Billboard #1 song.  This has been the same lineup for the past 4 albums (they were a 5 piece for their first one, Of Fracture and Failure), and it’s apparent that that familiarity has bred some astounding albums.

If I had to make one small criticism, it’s the fact that the songs can sometimes seem to run together, partially due to the fact that they do have only one guitarist.  But that’s being nitpicky, and in the case of this particular band it’s also what adds a sense of cohesiveness for an album that clocks in at just under an hour.  The production is organic yet true to the sound and vibe that’s truly put them in the top tier of metal bands in the entire world.  I only hope they don’t take some strange ass Opeth-ian turn into prog weirdness, and produce about 15 more albums like this one.  I’d buy every single one. 

Then there’s Ulcerate. Since their debut album, Of Fracture and Failure, Ulcerate has been augmenting their technical death metal with the oppressive atmosphere usually reserved for third-wave black metal (Aosoth, Blut Aus Nord, and especially Deathspell Omega) and menacingly dissonant music. Where their previous album, The Destroyers of All, imparted a sense of imminent doom through the brandishing of all kinds of technical arsenal amidst its suffocating atmosphere, Vermis sees Ulcerate going in for the kill, intent to destroy anyone and anything in their path.

At the album’s opening, the Deathspell Omega comparison is as apt as ever. The bent anti-harmonies sound like something straight off of Paracletus, setting the stage above sinister palm-muted chords. The title track erupts aggressively, with all of the technical virtuosity one has come to expect from the band. It’s business as usual for Ulcerate, although the production is a little dirtier this time around. The instruments are still clear and distinguishable as before, but they are closer now, demanding more from your speakers than they can give. The first two tracks feature sudden, quiet breaks from the terrifying maelstrom, rife with tension and providing the perfect counterpoint to the music’s up-to-11 highs.

Vermis sees the band capitalizing on some elements subtly present on The Destroyers of All. One of these is an increased sense of melody, appearing in fragments; the second is more attention given to slower tempos. Witness “The Weight of Emptiness,” a nearly 8-minute behemoth which utilizes speed only at strategic points throughout the song, the rest focusing often on single repeated notes and single drum strokes. The song ends with a hint of melody in a repeated phrase that fades into darkness. These touches add weight and coherence to the music.

The speed returns with unprecedented ferocity in “Confronting Entropy,” perhaps the finest piece of controlled chaos that Ulcerate has concocted yet. Its similarity to “Dead Oceans” from The Destroyers of All is immediately apparent, but it is only skin-deep; the band grafts its technical assault onto a more coherent song structure. The midsection blitzkrieg is absolutely crushing, deftly changing to a 6/8 lopsided gait before a churning, pulverizing finish.

The album’s midpoint, the instrumental interlude “Fall to Opprobrium,” provides the follow-through on the hints of melody heard earlier. It is a brief respite from the onslaught–a dangerous, guarded creeping-in of a sense of tragedy. Then the spell is shattered by the violent dissonance of “The Imperious Weak,” which slows down into another focused attack midway, laying the groundwork for the devastation of the final tracks.

The melodicism hinted at previously returns in full force on the last song–but in utter malevolence. It’s a compelling twist, and it makes complete sense. There is no pity, and there is no hope. There is not even despair. There is nothing left. At the album’s midpoint lay brokenness; at the end, mere obliteration.

With their last pair of albums, Ulcerate created a brand of music that, while technical, went far beyond the usual confines of its genre. Vermis is as bleak as its predecessors, but even less forgiving. The well-planned use of tempo variation, the utterly despondent, fleeting melodies, and the sheer brutality coalesce into their darkest, most devastating work yet.

The bar was high; Vermis clears it. A critical release from an already very important band.

The album title says it all.

Even though the formula is the same as on Everything is Fire–that’s to say Immolation styled death metal channeled through Deathspell Omega’s swirling discordance and bursts of haunting atmospherics–the resultant sound is still as devastating and draining and again, should see many 2011 year end lists.

As with the previous album as well as the likes of the Portal, Impetuous Ritual ,Vaesaleth and recent Mitochondrion (who may actually have stolen some of Ulcerate’s thunder), Ulcerate’s sound isn’t about simple structure or memorable riffs, but rather a sonic descent into madness and a calamitous, murky noise that initially comes across as structureless chaos.

However, after multiple listens (shit, this came out in January and I’m still trying to fathom it out), the album’s seething, twisting, pit of snakes sound starts to gradually make sense. But it’s not easy and neither is it rewarding (in the traditional sense), because like laying eyes on the contents of the Ark, once the albums depths are revealed to you, your face might melt off.

With their own production, mix and master, Ulcerate have sculpted a sound of their own that will appear foreign to casual death metal fans wanting triggers and a clinical pro tools sounds, and there’s a place for that sound in death metal. Just not here. The Destroyers of All lurches, undulates and froths with a malevolent intellect and age old saurian insidiousness. The seven lengthy songs intermingle dense, indescribable, otherworldly anti-melodies and a cacophony of caustic, muddy riffs and percussion.

At times it sounds completely unfathomable — for example the last two minutes of “Cold Becoming” is as claustrophobic and dense two minutes of music you’re liable to hear in 2011; its simply massive, like the song is suddenly amplified and grows like a living, pulsing thing. The same can be said for the middle section of the crippling 10+ minute title track, which also has a mesmerizing, foreboding closing that hints at ominous warnings of future destruction. There’s a menacing depth here you can actually feel crawling under your skin, not just hear. Throw in sudden and at times, darkly hypnotic injections, segues and intros that are moments of unnerving atmospherics (“Beneath”, “The Hollow Idols”, “Omens”) — the Deathspell Omega comparison becomes more than just a passing fancy.

There are certain bands and albums that simply are impossible to convey on paper or in words. Ulcerate and The Destroyers of All is the kind of album you need to make words up to describe. Words like imbludgeonation, decripplifying, ulciferous and albumoftheyearconderiticated.

It’s a pretty simple chain of events really; more or less exactly as you described. Neurotic at some point licensed all their releases to Willowtip, so Of Fracture and Failure came out in the U.S. on Willowtip.  When were preparing to record Everything is Fire, we just couldn’t get a word out of Neurotic as to where we stood with the record.  Basically, it was a lack of communication for a solid few months.  A ton of bands were bailing from the label, so something was clearly up.  I just got in touch with Jason at Willowtip and said we were interested in jumping ship, as they would be releasing the album anyway.  Upon catching wind of this, all of a sudden Neurotic pipes up and tries to illegally demand cash from us for a “breach” of a one-album contract.  We sought legal aid and told Neurotic owner Ruud Lemmen, that we weren’t interested in fucking anyone over and we’d like the courtesy extended our way as well. That was the last we heard from him.  Perhaps he should spend less time trying to rape bands and more time focusing on not failing at being a label.

Though this is the first Ulcerate album to which I’ve spent a considerable amount of time listening, your style of death doesn’t necessarily lend itself to immediate gratification. It has a growing quality and it takes a couple of spins for the songs to truly resonate, while the arrangement dynamics surface more with repeat listens. I’m guessing you’ve heard this before.

Yeah of course, we understand that for sure.  All of our favorite music is exactly the same; often my favorite albums I really don’t even like at first, then something just clicks.  So that’s obviously subconsciously filtered through into how we approach our own music, although it’s not intentional to write obtuse music; it’s just what naturally comes out of us.
I don’t know if this album is any more or less tougher to break into [compared to the previous two], as I really have zero objectivity here. Obviously to me everything seems really logical and “easy” for lack of a better word.

On The Destroyers of All, the album title seems to work on multiple levels, including something as simple as equating it to the sheer death metal heaviness of this band.  But the lyrics tell a much bleaker tale as indicated in one of the more penetrating lines, “our extinction, seeded in blind avarice.”

Yeah, we were a little worried at first that people might take the literal meaning of the title at face value, certainly not what we were aiming for. It’s just the perfect overall summation of the album themes, delivered in a really forceful, fuck-off tone.  The Destroyers of All as a general theme is how human beings as a species have a propensity to destroy. The album progresses to elaborate our destructive habits and the lack of respect we hold for the planet, its inhabitants, and each other.

In fact, there is a line in the title track that made me think it could summarize the Ulcerate attack: “Cold blooded and callous, it does not grieve.”

Well yeah, I guess that could fit [laughs]. We certainly try to convey a sense of hopelessness with the music for sure.

[Bassist/vocalist] Paul [Kelland] takes a rather sparing approach to lyric writing, which equates to saying more with less, rather than any kind of simplicity in meaning. Is this approach a typical one for the band? Can you offer some insight into his lyrics?

Yeah for sure. This has been something that we’ve all talked about; kinda distilling the essence of what you’re trying to get across in the least verbiage possible.  Before Paul, our two previous vocalists were at the other end of the spectrum – very, very metaphoric, and certainly a little too verbose for our current tastes.  Suited at the time, but once we decided with Everything is Fire that the vocal was going to go a lot more forthright and commanding, that meant a trimming of the fat so to speak.  But for my tastes, in terms of imagery and the underlying themes, Paul’s lyrics are fucking perfect for what we’re going for, in my opinion.

On “The Hollow Idols” there is a line that seems to speak directly to notions of mass control (e.g. religion) and humanity’s need to worship something larger than itself, often not realizing the control given over to the oppressors who are disguised as saviors/leaders. That line is: “The marred hands of our leper idols wring us of all hope.” Am I even in the ballpark of the message being conveyed here?

Yeah that’s pretty much bang-on. Here’s a liner note from a previous interview, where Paul outlines the theme of that particular track: “The Hollow Idols are our imagined personification of intention in the universe. They embody all our desires, strip us of reality, and empower a decrepit morality. They instill blind and hollow hope and fracture our posterity.”

In consideration of your three full-lengths how would describe the sound of The Destroyers of All in comparison to Of Fracture and Failure and Everything is Fire? Would you say you’ve progressed as a band?

Of course, I think the progression is fairly evident in terms of how convincing the material is, and how the songwriting has become a lot more fluid.  Not too mention our ability to perform the material.  The Destroyers of All for me is a lot more all-encompassing and a lot more visceral. I think there’s a far wider dynamic range and it really feels like stylistically we’ve definitely solidified our place in the scheme of things.  Everything is Fire is I guess a mix of the dryer, more sporadic tone of Of Fracture and Failure, but obviously with a lot more atmosphere and a more realized sense of foreboding.

Because of the sheer creativity involved in [guitarist] Michael Hoggard’s playing you get a lot out of one guitar in the trio format. Do you tour as a trio too?

No, definitely not. We’ve never been a one-guitar band; we always have a second live guitarist, and the albums all utilize two very distinct rhythm channels, regardless of the fact that only one guitarist records them.  It’s just really not an option at all.

It seems that interpersonal chemistry is everything when it comes to a band like Ulcerate.

For us, there’s always been the solid foundation of writing members, and then we tend to have commitment and ability issues with the live guitarist spot.  For the first time ever we’re now actually working with someone (William Cleverdon) who is easily on our level in both those regards.

The band is credited with engineering, mixing, and mastering the album. Even the art and layout are credited to you! Is there anything for which the three of you aren’t responsible in this band!?

Tour booking and organization is the only facet of the band where we have to relinquish control over everything. But asides from that, no!

Incidentally, that album cover makes my eyes cross when I stare at it too deeply and for too long. It seems fairly basic, though dark, upon passing first glances until you really begin examining it and then things get a little bewildering, if not frightening.

Yeah the older I get the more minimal things excite me, particularly in design. They’re also the hardest to pull off convincingly.  The album art is just an exploration and an illustration of the overall them of the album, as mentioned earlier.  The main figurative piece of the elk being attacked is from a photo I took while visiting the Sistine Chapel in Rome; at the time I took it I knew I had to use it for something!  Throughout the entire layout everything is referring to animals; be it the sculptures or the skull tissue, which I photographed from a deer skull that a friend had lying around.  Thematically the art deals with conflict at all levels of nature, that we as a species no matter how much we try and dissociate ourselves from the lower animal are still very carnal, survival-based in our actions, even though this gets filtered through political and ideological lenses.  I guess there are hints at the “might is right” school of thought, even though nothing is ever as black and white as that, and the reference is aimed more at nature in general.

Based on the reviews you’ve read of Ulcerate albums what bands do you see mentioned most frequently when trying to make points of comparison to your style? Have you read any that just had you scratching your head in puzzlement?

The usual suspects: Immolation, Gorguts, Deathspell Omega.  Which certainly all makes sense to me.  I’ve seen a Tool reference and a Meshuggah reference, which seems really foreign to me, particularly the Meshuggah one.

One could assume that it is much easier for a band in New Zealand to get international press coverage in 2011 than, say, 1991, because of the Internet. Would this assumption be correct and do the positives of mass Internet exposure for metal bands outweigh the negatives in your opinion?

Of course, there are really no obstacles these days, which is great for us. Every bit of correspondence we do is via the Internet.  As for positives outweighing the negatives, I’m not really sure on that one.  Because of the ease of everything there’s a huge glut of worthless music that never existed before.  And trends have now become micro-trends that twist and morph all over the place, rather than building over a number of years. And you see that everywhere in music with the amount of gimmicks bands need to employ to differentiate themselves from everything else.  Everything is a lot more fickle and worthless and no doubt it’s only going to get worse.  Not saying amazing work isn’t being created; you’ve just got to dig a little deeper to find it amongst the mountains of shit [laughs].

What are the members of Ulcerate doing when they are not writing, recording, or playing with the band?

We all work full-time jobs outside of the band. I’m lead designer at a web studio, Paul works for a bank, William runs his father’s gun shop, and Mike is currently studying.  All of our interests outside the band still pertain to music at some level, whether it’s other projects, recording, etc.

Any worldwide touring plans in Ulcerate’s future?

We’re in the planning stages of international touring for the album.

Closing comments? Thanks for taking the time.

Cheers for the interview!

www.myspace.com/ulcerate

www.willowtip.com

To document the recording, ULCERATE has created a special website (www.ulcerate-official.com/The-Destroyers-Of-All) that includes a making-of blog, photographs, and video clips. The site will continuously be updated until the release of the album . 

The Destroyers of All tracklist includes: 

I. Burning Skies

II. Dead Oceans

III. Cold Becoming

IV. Beneath

V. The Hollow Idols

VI. Omens

VII. The Destroyers of All 

ULCERATER17;s The Destroyers of All will be available in early 2011.

Whereas Of Fracture and Failure was a more surgical dervish that hinted at some twisted Deathspell Omega throes, Everything is Fire fully embraces the atonal slicing of Deathspell Omega and adds the murkier, backwards discordance of Immolation making a death metal album that’s an oppressively claustrophobic listen and seethes with blistering dissonance and tangible malevolence at every turn.

From the opening lurch of “Drown Within” it’s obvious that Everything is Fire is not a nice, clean tidy tech death metal album. And when the song does eventually explode it’s a vortex of undulating, squealing riffs and unpredictable percussive patterns that’s hard to wrap your head around in one listen or even many casual listens. The lengthy tracks that comprise Everything is Fire need to be absorbed completely as the sonic voracity of every note literally seeps into every vein and pore of your being, deeper with each listen. Tracks like the monstrous “Withered and Obsolete”, “Caecus” with its mind fucking ambient refrains (cementing the Deathspell Omega influence), and utterly chaotic climax, scrawling shitstorm of “Tyranny” and the compeltely schizophrenic, psychotic structures of the title track all deliver those rare, indescribable moments that make you challenge your expectations of what death metal is and should be in the future.

The rougher, muddier production suits the style shift perfectly as do Keland’s more suitable, gruffer vocals, which are smartly mixed to be in the background somewhat. And thusly Everything is Fire is that rare Altars of Madness, Effigy of the Forgotten, type of death metal album that raises the bar and sets the standard for the genre for the next few years, though not everyone will immediately feel that way.

Scheduled for an early 2009 release, Ulcerate’s second full-length album further refines and expands their work on 2008’s Of Fracture and Failure. Punishing, churning dissonance mixed with their trademarked sense of melody and textured rhythm work, coupled with a greater foray into mood and atmosphere. An entirely bleaker effort than anything ever realised by the band, guitar lines swirl and evolve into one another, percussive patterns work in and around the melody lines while the band further develops the linear style of writing they’ve come to be known for. Frantic, desolate and emotive, Everything is Fire straddles the divide between pure chaotic density and raw, natural tones, marking a breath of fresh air in the climate of over-produced, stagnant and clinical metal. Everything is Fire represents a band with a wholly unified musical and aesthetic direction. 

The band has posted 2 new tracks on their MySpace page

Dummer Jamie Saint Merat comments on the signing: “Ulcerate is really looking forward to calling Willowtip home, a label we’ve respected for a long time, and whose reputation for quality bands and quality service is something we really identify with. It’s feels great to have their support and backing!”

ULCERATE is currently in pre-production for their forthcoming album, Everything Is Fire. A seething, more emotionally darker album than Of Fracture and Failure, Everything Is Fire is more extensively orchestrated and rhythmically complex, coupling suffocating density with moments of serene bleakness. Bassist Paul Kelland will handle vocal duties this time around, and the album will be mastered Peter In de Betou (Nasum, Meshuggah, Amon Amarth) in Sweden.

Everything Is Fire will be released in early 2009.

Consisting of 8 tracks, four from the band’s untitled 2003 demo and four from 2004’s titular demo, this release is a nifty little package of death metal that shows New Zealand’s Ulcerate in their formative, but still ferociously technical stages, and the promise that would explode on their debut. For a collection of demo tracks, The Coming of Genocide is still rather well produced and meticulously played arguably on par with much of today’s death metal and as with Of Fracture, is highlighted by drummer Jamie Merat’s performance.

The first four tracks, being The Coming of Genocide demo, are a little tighter and compact in their delivery with oodles of choppy, feverish time changes and blasting with a definite nod to the Canadian style of busy, technical death metal with hint of brutal USDM with “Scorn the Dethroned” and “Second Death” being standouts. As you’d expect, the 2003 demo material is a little rougher sounding, but no less complex and scathing as tracks like “Burnt Offering” and “Ulceration” show a band with fierce skills coming together with a talent level and song writing prowess surprising for a first time demo.

In one aspect though, the demo’s are better than Of Fracture and Failure, in that then vocalist James Wallace is far more convincing and powerful than Of Fractures more thrash and melodic death metal based Ben Read (who has since been replaced by Paul Kelland). Also, other than the track “The Coming Of Genocide”, this release is material not found on Of Fracture, so its not like your simply getting demo version of songs you’ve heard but 7 tracks you may not have heard.

This is a release that’s a surefire must have for fans of Ulcerate, but certainly a cheap little release that should interest fans of dirtier yet clinical and savage technical death metal also.

Though not quite as experimental as the Sickening Horror release, Of Fracture and Failure is an elite tech death metal offering and a must have for fans of Spawn of Possession, Anata, Psycroptic, Capharnaum and their ilk; technical yet brutal and intelligently crafted, Ulcerate seem to meld the crippling heaviness of Cryptopsy and the surgical cluster bomb intricacy of Origin all with the confidence and skill of their peers mentioned above.

Armed with the razor sharp production that’s neither too dirty or too pristine, and a drummer in Jamie Saint Merat that delivers an admirable Jamie King/John Longstreth like performance, Ulcerate ravage and slice their way through 9 tracks of technical death perfectly executed and balanced metal precision, with the only respite being the oddly paced almost atmospheric track “Failure”, that would have been better suited as a album ending breather. Tracks like “To Fell Goliath”, “The Mark of The Satyr”, “Becoming The Lycanthrope”, “The Coming of Genocide” and “Defeaca” (well, basically every track except “Failure”) deliver criminally complex yet savage moments of orchestrated chaos or twisted segments of scrawling, almost Deathspell Omega like unearthly discordance that requires your full attention, then some medication.

My only gripe would be with vocalist Ben Read, who also sings in melodic death/thrash band 8 Foot Sativa and it shows, as he isn’t nearly as menacing, forceful or commanding as the music, preferring a mid range rasp that never really matches the intensity of material.