Ulcerate – The Destroyers Of All

• Country: New Zealand
• Style: Technical death metal
• Label: Willowtip Records
• Release date: 25 January 2011

Seven long songs and barely a pause for air. Ulcerate made The Destroyers of All as a core trio of Michael Hoggard, Jamie Saint Merat and Paul Kelland, and the result is one of the densest death metal records of its year.

The mix is the whole argument. Hoggard’s guitars hang in the air as washes of echo rather than being chopped into riffs, which leaves the drums to drive everything, and Saint Merat keeps shifting underneath until even the slowest chords seem restless. On “Dead Oceans” the effect is hypnotic. Over a full sitting it gets tiring, because the wash of guitar flattens the dynamics and the songs start to blur. A drier guitar sound would have given the record more contrast.

Still, the closing title track justifies its length, and “Burning Skies” opens the album with real menace. This is not easy listening, and it is not trying to be.

Best tracks:

Burning Skies
Dead Oceans
The Destroyers of All

Author’s rating: 8.3/10