ITP REVIEW: ULCERATE: EVERYTHING IS FIRE

BAND- ULCERATE (NEW ZEALAND-AUCKLAND) GENRE-DEATH METAL LABEL-WILLOWTIP RECORDS RELEASE DATE : 4/7/09
PREVIOUS RELEASES (CATALOG): ULCERATE (DEMO-2003), THE COMING OF GENOCIDE (DEMO-2004), OF FRACTURE AND FAILURE (2007-NEUROTIC RECORDS),EVERYTHING IS FIRE (2009-WILLOWTIP RECORDS/DEEPSEND RECORDS/CANDLELIGHT RECORDS)


BEST RELEASE: EVERYTHING IS FIRE (2009)

		TRACKLISTING: ULCERATE-EVERYTHING IS FIRE: 1. Drown Within 2. We Are Nil 3. Withered and Obselete 4. Caecus 5. Tyranny 6. Earth at Its Knees, The 7. Soullessness Embraced 8. Everything is Fire
		ITP RATING: **** 1/2 PRODUCTION: *** 1/2 SONGWRITING: *** 1/2 PERFORMANCE: **** 1/2 New Zealands, ULCERATE may just have released one of the most original, interesting and insightful death metal releases of 2009. ULCERATE amalgamate death metal and post avante garde/ progressive textures with uncanny technical musicianship and unconventional riff and song structures.. As if GORGUTS and IMMOLATION married PORTAL and DEMILICH and spawned a step child named ULCERATE. With a generation of SUFFOCATION, MORBID ANGEL and pig squealing clones littering the death metal scene, it is a pleasure to hear something so original and groundbreaking as the bleak soundscapes of ULCERATE's second label release "Everything Is Fire". ULCERATES' "Everything is Fire" opens with the track entitled "Drown Within", with a ominous feed back, "Drown Within" sets the world on fire, all hell breaks loose, with a dark, sludgy, doomy atmosphere as if PORTAL met NEUROSIS in a steel cage wrestling match, but wait..Here come the blastbeats and as if IMMOLATION and GORGUTS jumped in on the wrestling match, an extreme metal riot. There are so many riffs and unconventional time changes, it takes more than one listen to fully digest where ULCERATE is going musically, but it's so tight and very cohesive. "We are Nil" is technical, but in a subtle sense, with an almost GORGUTS feel, as at the vocals integrate into some melodic guitar riffing..These riffs and time changes segue in the blink of an eye. Just amazing. At 3:47 the floor drops on "We are Nil" into post rock, avante guard , atmospheric jamming as THIS indeed is scarier, and darker than NEUROSIS. "Withered and Obsolete" enters with very technical atonal riffing as ULCERATE take a riff and expand it, then segue into many others riffs, it's subtle, but to the point. ULCERATE's drummer, JAMIE SAINT MERAT is totally awesome behind the kit, propelling the awesome riffage, sprinkling in tight fills, and blastbeats. At 2:36 of "Withered and Obsolete", ULCERATE just grinds and brutalizes everything. By now, the listener should be dizzy from all of ULCERATE's riffs, so tasty and brutal in the darkest tunnel of bleak soundscapes. "Caecus" blasts in with tech brutality, I just wish the vocals were higher in the mix. At 1:54 "Caecus" invokes a melodic riff as ULCERATE ride that riff into a bleakest other worldy atmospheric textures, so dark, and beautiful as if you stepped outside after a nuclear Holocaust. From there, "Caecus" invokes a brutal reality, with meaty, technical riffs into oblivion. "Tyranny" invokes a dark, bleak atmosphere, a sort of funeral doom, untill 1:16 when ULCERATE ride the riff in majestically with new vocalist Paul Kelland, whom brings a dark, almost doomy atmosphere to ULCERATE's arsenal. "Tyranny" is a awesome example of how to integrate technical death metal with dark, doomier soundscapes, as fans of doom, avante gaurd and technical death metal have waiting for this there whole lives. "The Earth at It's Knees" experiments with some post core riffs, almost NEUROSIS like in it's approach, melodic and beautiful in parts, untill 1:47 when ULCERATE pick up the pace, and brutalize everything: darkness, beauty and headbanging brutality. "The Soulnessness Embraced", again, with a mighty post sludge doom intro, that would make NEUROSIS proud, and at 1:22 "The Soulnessness Embraced" blasts off into tech/death brutality and if riffs were a meal, you would be feasting on this song for months. I love the atonal riffing, it sets a bleak, depressive, apocalyptic atmosphere on ULCERATES "Everything Is Fire". At 5:37 of "The Soulnessness Embraced", even the slower parts are so captivating with awesome soft/loud dynamics, and now you know this brutal world is coming to an end. When ULCERATE vocalist Paul Kelland screams "Darkness!!!!" with such conviction, you know that he is sincere. ULCERATE's latest release ends with the title track, "Everything Is Fire", crawling in at an apocalyptic mid pace until 2:25, when the band rides some tight technical death metal. At 3:13, "Everything Is Fire" segues into majestic sludge/stoner doom riffing, if only Paul Kelland vocals were mixed higher, as the song takes off into blastbeats..YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH \m/, and YES ladies and gentlemen ULCERATE have invoked the apocalypse..\m/ \m/ I have to say that ULCERATE's "Everything Is Fire" is one of, if not the best death metal release of the year, taking death/extreme metal to sonic levels unheard, and only dreampt of. I was very excited to hear that NEUROTIC RECORDS merged with WILLOWTIP for North American distribution as those two labels and UNIQUE LEADER are at the fore front of groundbreaking extreme/death metal. ULCERATE are band of integrity, originality and great musical vision. ULCERATE integrate technical death metal, with unconventional riffing, and bleak soundscapes. It's one thing to integrate technical death metal with brutality, it's another thing to do what death metal has been missing for years, integrate a dark, bleak, psychedelic atmosphere and creepy dissonance with brutal, technical riffing. ULCERATE's "Everything is Fire" is a demanding, innovative listen, a seething monument into the darkest recesses of the human mind and an articulate, insightful, technical death metal juggernaut that can NOT be ignored. Words can not be expressed, I'm floored, in a metal orgasm. ITP RATING: **** 1/2 PRODUCTION: *** 1/2 SONGWRITING: *** 1/2 PERFORMANCE: **** 1/2 Thanks-Stay Metal, Stay Brutal-\m/ -l-