Continuing the project laid out in the previous few albums, New Zealand’s Ulcerate endeavor to concoct a blend of post-metal in the style of Isis with the dissonant death metal that rose in the trails of bands like Gorguts. Unlike the original death metal bands which drew their power from the narrative of their riff mazes, Ulcerate seem to focus above all on the textural impact of their creations. Hyperactive drums, layers of dizzying guitars and deep guttural vocals unite with the priority of establishing a corrosive atmosphere.
The cacophony that Ulcerate create is often successfully overwhelming, submerging the listener in a black ocean of dissonance in moments of undeniable and commendable intensity. There are compelling moments throughout the album, such as the dynamic established between clean guitar sections and the surrounding mayhem. Unlike in many similar bands, there is also a preoccupation with giving each song a melodic trunk around which the dissonant chromatic shapes swirl around. Nevertheless, given the band’s focus on atmosphere, the progression of the songs feels more like a slideshow of moods and sensations rather than the rigid, riff-based narrative of the genre’s original mavericks. The impression I get from these compositions is similar to the effects one observes by throwing black ink at water, causing beautiful and intriguing patterns that nonetheless disappear shortly afterwards and do not leave a lasting impression.
There is a clear effort, in any case, of imbuing these songs with a purposeful sense of structure, giving them different motions to go through and aiming for a cumulative effective of all these moments before a grand climax (track 5, “To See Death Just Once”, being a good example of this). Occasionally, a sudden rhythmic change steers the songs in a novel and intriguing direction, and the balance between slower parts (specially those that recur to the clean guitar) and the blast-beat onslaught can create an interesting dynamic. Moments of sheer intensity can be efficient from the purely sensory perspective, in a sense similar to that of noise music or any other genre mainly aiming at a shock of the senses. As in the case of many bands that take inspiration from Gorguts or Immolation, the rhythmic aggression (which at times seems to dominate the music, more than any other element) is a key factor in building these intense and unstable edifices of dissonance and sinister melody.
Fans of the band’s previous efforts might either be satisfied with the new offering or perhaps disappointed with the lack of significant innovation since the band sticks to the same formula that produced albums like “Stare Into Death and Be Still”. In any case, the music unfolds in a way that attests to the confidence of a seasoned band that has become comfortable in the niche it has carved for itself. As for fans of more conventional death metal or extreme metal in general, or those unfamiliar with the band, the ocean of chaos that Ulcerate construct is always worth a dip, specially if one is appreciative of the likes of Ad Nauseam.
Although it is not devoid of merit and interest, I’m glad to see that someone else spots this band mainly as an exercise in style and texture rather than genuine musical creation. I’ve seen this album get praise almost everywhere, but when I listen to it I sense a mature and skilled aesthetic that is unable to create songs that go somewhere and thus remains meandering on a superficial level. I wouldn’t say it’s dull or bad, but it seems like a sharp and functional tool which is successfully tried on different occasions but never put to do actual work.