Ulcerate

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration Review

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration Review

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods is a quartet from Christchurch, New Zealand, having gone through a rebirth with 2021’s excellent Nightmare Withdrawals. Previously a humor-based deathcore band, the act saw new beginnings with their third full-length, embracing a caustic blend of dissonant, technical, and progressive death metal with a much more surreal and punishing palette promising avant-garde realms and scenic vistas alike.” Out to the woodshed.

Nightmarer – Deformity Adrift Review

Nightmarer – Deformity Adrift Review

“I didn’t know what to expect with Deformity Adrift. Although I knew it’s rooted in the inherently unfriendly style of dissonant death metal, I wasn’t sure which breed: perhaps the scathing apathy of Mithridatum, the sun-bleached Altars, the occult mumblings of Mitochondrion, or the twisted technicality of Asystole, to name a few. I shrugged and thought, “I’ve seen it all” and pushed play on Nightmarer. What tormented me about the Berlin/Portland quartet is that, despite my best efforts to describe it with bands of similar ilk, I cannot put words to its latest foray. It rides the line neatly between the haunting devastation of its influences and a tantalizingly listenable quality that defies the need for abstraction. Nightmarer has created a unique dilemma.” DilemmaER!

Atemporal – Thorn Genesis Review

Atemporal – Thorn Genesis Review

“A project of Sebastian Montesi of Auroch, Egregore, and Mitochrondrion, Atemporal offers death/black insanity with Thorn Genesis. Featuring homage to the blasphemous Scandinavian greats, twisted Lovecraftian apathy, and blazing death heft in equal and lethal doses, expect dissonance and intensity at every blind turn.” Atemporal parking only.

Anachronism – Meanders Review

Anachronism – Meanders Review

“The word ‘meanders’ itself describes more than just the state of lesser dissonance heavy or atmospheric acts who clash songs out of existence with contrapuntal Tetris. Rather, Anachronism with their latest leans on the artistic concept of the meanders as they might appear in a mosaic, ornamental patterns of winding or interlocking lines.” Musical blocks in sonic temples.

Verberis – Adumbration of the Veiled Logos [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]

Verberis – Adumbration of the Veiled Logos [Things You Might Have Missed 2022]

“I’ve probably banged on before about how much I love Ulcerate. Luckily for me, mastermind Jamie Saint-Merat has his fingers in quite a few other death metal pies. Verberis is one of them. The wordily titled Adumbration of the Veiled Logos takes the twisting disso-death that was the band’s staple, and ramps the atmosphere up to 11.” That’s a lot of ulcers.

Devenial Verdict – Ash Blind Review

Devenial Verdict – Ash Blind Review

“Atmospheric and dissonant death metal was my gateway into death more broadly. I missed entirely the blood-and-guts-strewn pathway of Cannibal Corpse, and instead fell head-over-heels for Ulcerate. If I’d come across Finland’s Devenial Verdict in my younger years, I might have passed over them, for their former output has been primarily in the brutal death metal vein. Although they’ve been lurking around since 2009, Ash Blind is their first full-length, representing thirteen years of evolution. A transformation from bludgeoning brutality into darkly melodic, eerily atmospheric dissonance that hasn’t forgotten how to be horrically heavy.” Death in development.

Vacuous – Dreams of Dysphoria Review

Vacuous – Dreams of Dysphoria Review

Dreams of Dysphoria certainly has its atmospheric moments—and those are the best bits by the way—but it feels closest to a more sprawling disso-death, if we had to pigeonhole. Melody is almost entirely absent, along with comprehensible vocals, traditional song structures, and reason.” Death dreams, waking nightmares.