The journey of Ulcerate has been a fascinating one. The trio from New Zealand formed at the turn of the millennium, and can boast a consistent line-up since 2008s sophomore album “Everything Is Fire”. This stability has enabled the incremental development of their sound, from the murky impenetrable gloom that shrouded their early material in mystery, to the emotional melodic discordance of 2020s much celebrated “Stare Into Death And Be Still”. 

For the uninitiated, the Ulcerate sound is best described as an ambitious blend of Neurosis’ post metal atmospherics, Gorguts abyssal death metal, and the jarring progressive black metal of Deathspell Omega. Mix in an additional sprinkling of unpredictable tempo changes and complex dissonant guitar melodies, and seventh album “Cutting The Throat Of God” represents a further evolution of this unique brand of blackened atmospheric death metal. 

Though the vocals remain as devastating and cavernous as ever, it is immediate that the music is more openly melodic, though both discordance and percussive deception are also still worn openly on their sleeves. The rather stripped-down and muted opening “To Flow Through Ashen Hearts”, gives way to complex creative layers. The music remains dense without being suffocating, with the angular guitar sound on “The Dawn Is Hollow” in particular helping build almost optimistic atmospherics. 

The technical, unpredictable rhythms remain, however, there are also hooks which deceive the listener. “Further Opening The Wounds” is, dare I say, almost “catchy” in places, whilst “To See Death Just Once” sees Ulcerate arguably at their most accessible, with foundational riffs and melodies that nonetheless twist and turn to take the listener on a convoluted journey. 

Ulcerate continue to evolve in an exciting manner; there is not so much on-the-nose discordance here, more like contorted melodies which scream from the void. Frankly, it’s unbelievable that just three people can make such a complex technical racket, whilst continuing to maintain such a high threshold of quality. 

(8.5/10 Doogz)

https://www.facebook.com/Ulcerate

https://ulcerate.bandcamp.com/album/cutting-the-throat-of-god