Ulcerate "Of Fracture And Failure"

Tracklist: 01. Praise And Negation 02. Ad Nauseam 03. The Mask Of The Satyr 04. Becoming The Lycanthrope 05. To Fell Goliath 06. Martyr Of The Soil 07. Failure 08. The Coming Of Genocide 09. Defaeco Release: 2007 Genre: Technical Death Metal URL: www.ulcerate.orcon.net.nz Label: www.neurotic-records.com

Technical Death Metal coming from New Zealand? To be honest, the only extreme metal band I know which is from New Zealand is the satanic Death Metal band Dawn Of Azazel. Ok they have for metal circumstances an exotic origin. But if you want to know how they sound like, that's easy to divine, if you noticed that the band released this album on Neurotic Records and if you take a look at the last few releases of the label, you should know what you can expect. Extremely blasting, weird and technical Death Metal. But labeling the band as another soulless technical Death Metal band wouldn't be fair and a big mistake, because the band knows how to write real great varied songs without losing any brutal and technical elements of the music. The simplest way to describe the music would be if you imagine a mix between bands like Psycroptic and new Visceral Bleeding on Hate Eternal speed, with many experimental song structures. The tight musicanship is only breathtaking and the band is still able to write songs, which are sticking in your head. This is really rare for many new technical Death Metal bands today. But that doesn't mean, that "Of Fracture And Failure" offers easy silent music. The stuff here is really aggressive, fast, brutal, hectically and it would multiply the chance to become a heart attack for every average music consumer. In short, the most songs are composed of extreme blast beat attacks, in the veins of Hate Eternal. But the whole thing here isn't that straight to the face Death Metal like Hate Eternal are playing it, its way more experimental. Sometimes the many breaks and tempo changes can induce you to lose your nerves. But always if the music is too stressful, the band attached some really brilliant quiet chill out parts into the songs. Anyhow, the band reminds me in these moments on non-Death Metal bands like Converge, Burst or Neurosis. So this album isn't only for Death Metal freaks. Also Grind and Mathcore fans could have a nice time with this full length album. Especially the vocals are more in the Grind & Hardcore vein than in Death Metal. But singer Ben Read is bawling, screaming and growling in such a great aggressive way, that it seems like he screams for one's life. I don't see any reason, to rate the vocals in a negative way, because they really fitting perfectly to this kind of sick music. The current "none plus ultra" label for technical Death Metal Unique Leader Records should come up with some new good releases soon if they don't want to be overrun by Neurotic Records. Because talking about the point of quality, Neurotic would definitively win the battle at the moment. Unfortunately I don't have any information about the previous releases of the band, so "Of Fracture And Failure" is my first musical trip with the band. But I'm really happy, that I made this experience. So if you have been disappointed about technical Death Metal releases recently, just check out Ulcerate and I guarantee that you will enjoy this album, as far as you're into extreme hectically, aggressive and technical Death Metal and when you're open minded for anomalous sounds. Also the great artwork and the amazing designed booklet are other reasons to buy this album. Of course the CD comes with a limited slipcase, which is typically for Neurotic Records. For all the people, who are still irresolute, the playtime of this release is much higher than average albums in this genre. Over 45 minutes of pure technical Death Metal as it should be. This is extreme technical, freaky, fast and brutal as hell without sounding mediocre or boring. Ulcerate breathing new life into the scene and if friends of psycho technical bands like Odious Mortem, Atheretic, Psycroptic, Visceral Bleeding or Hate Eternal miss out this piece of work, they will bite the dust with the certainty, that they have ignored a great band. I hope that none will be so dumb and that I will get the chance to see this band live on stage soon. My conclusion is that this album is the perfect soundtrack to let off frustration after a fucked up working day.

Rating: 93 % | from Gore | Date: 24.08.07 | Time: 19:20	shut down