Defying traditional genre conventions and carving out their own niche over the past two decades, the unveiling of a new Ulcerate album has become somewhat of a “big thing”. This time round, they’ve taken a step back from the abyssal precipice of murky impenetrability, their unbridled rage maturing into a seething, more evenly tempered anger.
Though the Kiwi trio have marginally changed gears on us, their music remains as unsettling as ever. Opener “The Lifeless Advance” is a pensive, bleak yet dynamic track that plumbs the depths of despair, whereas the title track carries a groove of immense density, dynamic and dissonant melody rearing its head amongst the structured chaos.
“There Is No Horizon” showcases eerily architectured atmospherics, whilst the guitars on “Inversion” ramp up the dissonance. Ulcerates new appreciation for melody shines through further on the desolate sounding “Visceral Ends”, before “Drawn Into the Next Void” unleashes an absolute brooding monster of a riff that Cthulu-botherers Sulphur Aeon would be proud of.
Closing track “Dissolved Orders” has a doomy vibe to it, the MDB-meets-Paradise-Lost-isms punctuated by faster passages. All of this is underpinned by an expansive and dynamic production, and an astonishing performance on drums from Jamie Saint Merat who shows off an abundance of both groove and technical capability.
“Stare Into Death And Be Still” presents a departure from the sometimes suffocating sounds explored on “Vermis” and “Shrines Of Paralysis”, wrapping up elements of doom-laden death metal and atmospheric black metal in a technical, post-metal package. Indeed, this album shares more of its DNA with Neurosis than it does Gorguts, seeking to constrict the listener in dread-filled atmosphere rather than simply crush with bludgeoning oppression.
After a week of listening I’ve yet to fully get my head around it, yet I’m in no doubt that this album will come to pass as a notable milestone in the evolution of extreme metal. Truly magnificent.
(9/10 Doogz)
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