ULCERATE — The Destroyers of All (review)

ULCERATE — The Destroyers of All album cover Album · 2011 · Technical Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Phonebook Eater
6/10

“The Destroyers Of All” shakes skies, oceans, and the earth with it’s abrasive sound.

Ulcerate is a Technical Death Metal band from New Zealand, and they’ve been increasing in popularity since their debut, and even more with the sophomore “Everything Is Fire”, which was very much acclaimed among fans of the genre. The follow up, third studio album “The Destroyers Of All” tries of course to outdo the previous album, and for some, it has.

This third album has a mature sound, great production, stronger experimentation and more ambience. “The Destroyers Of All” is a mix of the hammering rhythms and brutal impact of Brutal Death Metal, the complexity and shape-shifting Technical Death, and a curious and very effective influence of Atmospheric Sludge Metal and some Doom as well. The songs are generally more stretched out than “Everything Is Fire”, allowing the ASM side to have a pretty consistent role in the songs’ flow; the heavier moments are alternated with the slower, tenser ones. But it could never sound like Neurosis or anything like that, since there’s no repetition and there’s tons, tons of chaos. The tech side is definitely the stand-out one, thus the music is some of the most chaotic and complex things you’ll hear this year. Hammering drums, abrasive guitars and extremely guttural growls are the main ingredients of this dark recipe.

The atmosphere and tons are dark and apocalyptic, and the slower parts have a lot of bleakness to them. But the sound that comes out during the more violent parts shakes the most inner guts of the earth, of the oceans, and the whole skies, even within few minutes in the album. But my main issue is that it is a little too chaotic, so much is going on that at the end of the track nothing remains in your head, as you can’t remember anything of what just happened. This reminds me a lot of Deathspell Omega, the Blackened version of this kind of disarray, and I’m personally not a fan of what I’ve heard from that band so far. This kind of music needs so much concentration, maybe it is a little too much for me.

Memorable moments are included in “Burning Skies” or the eight minute “Omens”, where there’s a pretty interesting build-up. The title track has some interesting moments and a good structure overall, but like I said, after multiple listens I still feel like I haven’t listened to much.

Overall, a decent album, maybe not exactly my type of music, but I completely understand why many like it. It is most definitely of the best quality, and I completely respect that.
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