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Ulcerate: Everything is fire
25/08/09 || The Duff
Ulcerate are a New Zealand tech death/post-rock band (but all delivered in a brutal, evil fashion). I reviewed their sophomore, “Of Fracture and Failure”, some years back, and I’m sad to say I don’t give it many spins these present times. When I do give it a listen, I’m kicking myself in the ass because it remains a shining example of original, quality music to this day, combining a seriously erratic nature along with spits of groove and all-around ace musicianship – some albums I always feel the need to revise my opinion on some months on down the line, and although to some the music on “Of Fracture…” appears very jumbled, to me it is a close to flawless disc that is still remarkably fresh, and the flattering score awarded solidified to this day.
Now we have their not-so-long-awaited sophomore album (two years preparation can often lead to disappointment when it comes to tech death of this calibre), with a departure from degrading label Neurotic Records and a new vocalist in tow (the bass player replacing more versatile Ben Read from “Of Fracture and Failure”), and let me tell you this album has stirred a commotion in the pants of many death metal fans. With cries of “The band Immolation should be now” and “Death metal’s answer to Deathspell Omega”, it would appear Ulcerate have leaped forward into the list of forerunners of death metal’s evolution where their sophomore went largely (and criminally) underappreciated.
So where I loved the fuck out of an effort that went under many a listener’s radar, it should only stand to reason that I don’t dig the band’s latest causing everyone to turn and take notice, right? First things, Immolation wished they could be this band from the get-go of their career, as even during their heyday, in no way did they twist and coalesce guitar parts to form music of such a bold, rich and evil nature – the music on “Everything is Fire” is very calm for the most part (save for the brooding nature), exhibiting hardly any death metal at all when you think about it (illusive blasting qualities make the listener believe he/she is still experiencing brutal music), drawing the listener in with weaving lines of disturbing, perplexing masses of atmosphere. The Deathspell Omega of death metal does indeed sound most fitting, provided you’re willing to accept most of this to be comprising post-rock drenched in trauma – this has in fact been more likened to black metal than the band’s original root sound.
So why am I not also slobbering over my death metal satisfacto-stick, otherwise known as “Penetorama Megalux 5000”? The direction the band has taken its new sound has been thought through in what appears to be too much of a pre-planned manner, meaning the music doesn’t jostle my bones nearly as much as their sophomore – the band has stated that they didn’t arrange separate ideas this time around into one coherent song, but instead worked around a handful of ideas to structure the tracks, and in so doing I think they’ve lost one of the most appealing aspects of their sound.
Everything else is much the same – the riffs still twist and turn but appear slightly more infectious, the production is still dry accentuating the cut-through guitars (the bass has been praised, and I can’t understand why; it is largely diminished amidst the maelstrom), Jamie is still a monster drummer who seems to be playing with eight limbs, although his style has calmed down considerably; might get a little tired of his “two kicks followed by blast-madness terrain”, but I otherwise prefer his more tactful style as you can still identify him as one of death metal’s rising drummers of the new generation.
All said, this will be one of my albums of the year; my personal gripes are purely because I’m not as floored as I was with “Of Fracture and Failure”, even though this disc has some of the darkest music I’ve ever heard (the first riff is some of the best shit I’ve come across, anyone not moved by such an opening is dead to me). What’s more, you could label this one of the few beautiful tech death albums, but then I can’t take this to be a death metal record – depressing Cult of Luna, Deathspell Omega, Neurosis and just a touch here and there of death metal, there are some sinister, all-enveloping sections that lift this album high into domains as yet untouched by the sub-genre, and so it could be that “Everything is Fire” is taking things forward if Ulcerate weren’t refusing to adhere to even death metal’s most elastic constraints – very fluid music, eight tracks that purely stand on their own, comprising a vast number of layers and an array of interesting directions make Ulcerate one of the most important bands of present times.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Willowtip
- Website: www.ulcerate.orconhosting.net.nz
- Band
- Michael Hoggard: guitars
- Paul Kelland: bass, vocals
- Oliver Goater: guitars
- Jamie Saint Merat: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Drown Within
- 02. We Are Nil
- 03. Withered and Obsolete
- 04. Caecus
- 05. Tyranny
- 06. Earth at Its Knees
- 07. Soullessness Embraced
- 08. Everything Is Fire
