Search - Ulcerate :: Everything Is Fire

Early contender for metal album of the year.

Josef | USA | 05/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are two things that usually drag down modern death metal - repetitiveness and wankery. Jamming the same 2-3 riffs to the same beat for 3 or more minutes and calling it a song is just lazy. But throwing in 20 or so time signature changes in that same timeframe is not a song, it's an exercise. Ulcerate has become a rare death metal band that has not fallen into either of these two traps.



Ulcerate's previous album Of Fracture and Failure was more of a traditional death outing, but hinted at greater things with unconventional lyrics and off-sounding riffs. It was very good, but was only a prelude for what they had in store for us next. Ulcerate sounds like they've taken a great deal of inspiration from Gorguts for this album - and that is an excellent thing.



The first track "Drown Within" opens with off-key notes a-la-Gorguts' Obscura and subdued, but very nice jazz-inspired beats. 2 minutes in, we get to more traditional drums and traditional death metal vocals, but the twisting riffs continue, complimented by some good double-bass kicking. The rest of the album follows suit, much to my delight (if I were to go in depth with any more songs this review would take up at least 3 pages).



Melodies slow and speed up at logical periods, and create something that is almost unheard of in death metal - atmosphere. Even the hellish grinding sections have a sense of not being just aggression - there is real feeling and something underneath it all that really grips the listener. But it's the slower parts that are where the band shines - Guitarists Oliver Goater and Michael Hoggard play riffs that contort around each other and have a kind of otherworldly quality while bassist/vocalist Paul Kelland plays no-nonsense bass for drummer Jamie Merat to be completely dynamic on top of. The music never settles on a single rhythm or note for any longer than necessary.



Perhaps the most amazing thing about this is Ulcerate managed to create such varied and complex arrangements with traditional rock instruments - just two guitars, a bass and drums.



Much like Obscura, this is not an album you can pick up and get into right away. It's challenging listening - you have to actually consciously listen to it, put effort into it to get it. But the reward is too great to pass up."

GREAT!!!

Jose Maria Peralta Berges | 06/27/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Great and original death metal from New Zeland. If you like Immolation, Gorguts or Psycroptyc, then you're gonna love this!!! It's technical, devilish and dark. Great execution and production. Very good."

Unpredictable and fantastic!!!

Frank Rini | Maryland | 04/01/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After just getting into Ulcerate I decided to pick up their releases. They are a death metal band from New Zealand who are quite impressive, to say the least. The previous releases were more straightforward death metal, with the last album really hinting towards more tempo shifts and unpredicatable melodies. Well the band upped the ante on Everything is Fire. I think the reason why I find this band so interesting is that they require you to listen very closely and even after repeated listens you will find more interesting things to like about them. They almost remind me, on this release, of a death metal Meshuggah. Ulcerate creates atmosphere w/their guitar tones and the ambience is really freaking eerie. The band is plenty brutal and the tempo shifts will throw some for a loop, expecting something straightforward, which this is most definitely not, however this is still one of the most brutal death metal albums to have come out in the last year. This is tech-death metal done to the highest degree, but with some orginality. A promising second release for such a young band."