Review: Of Fracture and Failure
Vampire Magazine
http://www.vampire-magazine.com/article.php?aid=43422
Reviewed by Dave Waite
Doing more twists, turns and somersaults than a gut full of rotting vindaloo, New Zealand's premier brutal death metal outfit Ulcerate blast through new album "Of Fracture And Failure" with a degree of musicianship that has to be heard to be believed. Sounding like a cross between Hate Eternal, Immolation and Cryptopsy all in one go, Ulcerate are a mixture of technical finesse, dark atmosphere and sheer, bloodied intensity that manage to just stay this side of chaos.
After being totally blown away with their "Coming Of Genocide" EP (see review in the archives) thanks to their technically advanced, 'song' orientated approach to death metal, it is fantastic to hear that their debut full length has not lost any of it's vehement potency. Just how these guys even begin to figure out where these songs are going remains something of a mystery, switching time signatures/riffs every two seconds yet maintaining a solid, powerful groove that without would sound like a disjointed (albeit well played) mess. Opener "Praise And Negation" and second track "Ad Nauseam" set things off to a most brutal start with the guitars spewing forth discordant, sinister riffing and drums blasting at speeds that would even give Origin a run for their money. Superbly executed in every sense, the low to high grunts of vocalist Ben Read help give these intense musical workouts the sense of structure needed to prevent the stop/start rhythms from getting lost in translation.
If your ears have been good enough to let you get to the end of the album without bleeding or packing in all together, then you will find some sort of solace (though not much) by way of final track and album highlight "Defaeco". Incorporating slower tempos with a more darkly atmospheric edge the huge sprawling chords and clever song structuring bring out everything that is so special about this band in just eight minutes of pure death metal mastery. Although in its entirety not there quite yet, "Of Fracture And Failure" is, for Ulcerate, their next monstrous step towards refining a sound that will separate them from the many tech death metal bands out there, and judging by this, boy do they warrant it.
