EVERYTHING IS FIRE

Monotonous growling does nothing to make Ulcerate stand above countless other acts doing pretty much the same thing. The trio releases salvo after salvo of discordant riffs, an inaudible bass guitar, and an almost constant double bass drum underneath it all. Bands of this nature honestly make me believe that they are simply incapable of writing an actual vocal melody that will accommodate their music, but that may be one man's slight prejudice speaking. What can be written about eight tracks that sound exactly the same? Considering the complete lack of melody, the constantly disgusting and tiresome vocals, and the identicalness from track to track, I cannot imagine anyone deriving pleasure from this, but presumably people do, and that's all right with me.

"Drown Within" After feedback and noise, the grungy, sludgy riffs of down-tuned guitars and the mauling of a rapid bass drum descend upon the listener like a ravenous vulture uncaring that its prey is still alive. Instead of biting though, the bird opens its mouth, and out comes a series of hideous growls over an incoherent battery of sound.

"We Are Nil" An assault of noise floods the speakers and does not relent until almost four minutes in; after the short respite, the guitarist has further discordant riffs to sludge through.

"Withered and Obsolete" Yet another tiring onslaught of constant noise, this third track offers nothing new in the way of tone, composition, substance, or technical skill.

"Caecus" While mostly more of the same, this band fortunately has the good sense to avail themselves of the aural brush that is generally known as "quiet," at least at one point. The guitarist has a passage in the middle of the piece that is more enjoyable than anything else here.

"Tyranny" Fortunately the guitarist toned down the gain so the bassist could be heard a bit during this relatively restrained and somewhat enjoyable introduction, but once the vocalist enters, it's back to the drudgery of sludge.

"The Earth at Its Knees" Horrible barrages of guitar and drums dominate the mix, and the vocalist is still pretending it's Halloween but can't clear his throat enough to say "Trick or treat, kids- would you like some cheese and crackers?"

"Soullessness Embraced" This is actually one of the better tracks, because even though it retains its almost-constant nastiness, it has a good introduction with some enjoyably distorted bass.

"Everything Is Fire" While the dual guitar is interesting, the machine gun double bass drumming is altogether pointless- I fail to see how this adds anything to the composition besides making it "more metal." It is an exercise to sit through it, but as I mentioned in my opening paragraph, others may enjoy this noisy onslaught.