Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God (ALBUM REVIEW)
Release date: June 14th, 2024 (Premiered digitally on June 6th, 2024)
Avant-garde/dissonant extreme metal has been where my obsession lies during this phase of my life, something my younger self would not dare think to be possible: alas, I had always been a melodic person; that was, until I discovered the (main-turned-)side project of M. and Darkside - Kriegsmaschine. Since then, my descent into the atonal aesthetics has been nothing short of one into a rabbit hole.
Anyone who know me or at least my writing knows by now that I am a huge sucker for bands like Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord, and Mannveira, plus another handful of bands. Yet, for whatever reason, I never stumbled upon Ulcerate until very recently, when my friends said that the New Zealanders are going to release an album next week.
The first time I heard the name Ulcerate popping up was when I found out about an Australian solo project that goes by the name Convulsing (whose album I briefly talked about a few months ago, which can be read here). Having listened to both bands now, I can most definitely see the connection in regards to artistry and style - although I would say Convulsing is markedly harsher than the band in question today.
I put on “Cutting the Throat of God” with an initial assumption that they would sound more or less in the same dissonant vein of those mentioned above - mostly chaotic and disorienting, hair-raising and spine-tingling and all.
Turns out I was wrong.
A few seconds in and my ears were met with what I would describe as artfully ethereal. The melodic progression of the opener “To Flow Through Ashen Hearts” is hauntingly beautiful and psychedelic, playing contrast to the despairingly strangled growls. The drums - laid down by the genius Jamie Saint Merat - act as a balance between the delicate and the cacophonic: graceful and battering in equal.
It is here I shall go on a quick yet separate tangent about Mr. Saint Merat: the man is hands down one of the best drummers within the metal world today who can play with undisputed and unmatched versality. I can swear that I have never seen someone create a sonic PAINTING with their drumkit until I saw the video of him performing “Dissolved Orders”, and I was floored by how masterful the performance was.
Okay, back to the album.
Dissonance - within any composition - is a highly potent world-shaping element which can evoke strong emotions within listeners; alas, whatever is powerful can also be misused: a lot have found themselves in this pitfall of abusing jarring dissonant arrangements, cultivating in musical works that can only be described as monotonously knee-jerking.
Ulcerate, with their latest offering - as well as those prior to it - reminds us that dissonance does not have to always to make one grit their teeth: it too can be melodically beautiful and atmospheric.
A great album is one that can consistently convey and even instill a sense of deep, immersive atmosphere into its listeners, and “Cutting the Throat of God” is one which does exactly that: the whole soundscape - thanks to intricate layering of each and every instrument - is claustrophobic, at times suffocating, ultimately impressively sensual and - for the lack of better words - arousing, even in the most “conventional” avant-garde (yes, it is indeed an oxymoron) extreme metal tracks such as “To See Death Just Once” and the closing title track.
This is also the reason why the album is captivating from the beginning to the end, in spite of the runtime that is only a couple minutes shy of a full hour.
As one combs through this article, one will notice that I have hitherto described Ulcerate and “Cutting the Throat of God” as “avant-garde extreme metal”: verily, this is an opus that can be classified as metal, in an unequivocally extreme style; but it is without a doubt that the New Zealand trio has always been defying categorization and norms of genres. This album is yet another astounding masterpiece within their journey: it is a magnificent work of art, and to put it in a singular category will simply be abashing.