Ulcerate

Phobocosm – Foreordained Review

By Steel Druhm on December 6, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, 44 comments

“Montreal’s mega-heavy death metal merchants Phobocosm have a distinguished track record here at AMG, scoring high marks both times they were featured. It’s been a long time since their last appearance for 2016s Bringer of Drought, which Lord Kronos himself blessed with a righteous 3.5. He appreciated their nods to Incantation and Ulcerate and the no-nonsense way they steamroll and crush the listener with grim atmospheres and a massively heavy sound. Not the most productive of acts, nearly 7 years have creaked by since then, but we’re finally poised to receive third album, Foreordained.” Fear of caverns.

Nahasheol – Serpens Abyssi Review

By Dear Hollow on November 15, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, 11 comments

“Black metal is a petty mistress, a femme fatale. Promising the void with cupped hands only to say “made you look” when thousands of one-man bedroom projects jump on your face like deranged sugar gliders, black metal will lull you in and punish you for your optimism. That said, I know better, so I approached the Dutch duo Nahasheol cautiously.” Fear of the dark (and snakes).

Baring Teeth – The Path Narrows Review

By Dolphin Whisperer on October 23, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, 32 comments

“No stranger to this trendy, oddball scene of death metal dependent on heavy use of dissonant harmonies, Baring Teeth smiles crooked once again. Gracing these halls not once but twice with commendable offerings, our own Kronos revealed that “Baring Teeth’s greatest strength is their peerlessness” and the Texas trio “shuns accessibility”—these veterans scream the nature of this high-brow form of technical death metal. Alien yet organic, obtuse yet hypnotic, the contradictions and shades of humanity that this boundary-agnostic act continues to find allow enough of a footing in an amorphous sound to drive a crowd from navel-gazing to circle-pitting at will.” TEEF!

Till the Dirt – Outside the Spiral Review

By Dear Hollow on August 29, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Nu Metal, 218 comments

“Till the Dirt is comprised of Atheist members Shaefer, guitarist Jerry Witunsky, and bassist Yoav Ruiz-Feingold, as well as Soreption guitarist Ian Waye and Fermentor drummer Dylan Marks. With an Atheist-heavy lineup, what can we expect from Till the Dirt? Well, death metal with nu-metal was not on my Bingo card.” Things that should stay buried.

Serpent of Old – Ensemble Under the Dark Sun Review

By Thus Spoke on June 28, 2023 in Reviews, 53 comments

“There’s something about atmospheric death metal that just gets me. Something about the deep urgency of the guitar tones, the echoing, sinister riffing, the cavernous vocals, the restless dance of the drums, and the metallic chime of the cymbals. It elevates an already hostile and confrontational musical style to a kind of arresting profundity, when done well. Seeing Ulcerate, Gorguts, and Devenial Verdict—among others—name-dropped in the promo material for Ensemble Under the Dark Sun had me yanking it out of the bin faster than you can say “disso-death.” This was no clickbait. Turkey’s Serpent of Old play the kind of dark, ferocious haunting blackened death emblematic of these bands, and their shared conceptual genre, at their most intense.” Snakes in the pain.

Burial Hordes – Ruins Review

By Ferox on June 12, 2023 in Reviews, 26 comments

“Burial Hordes seems to be familiar with me, and also with you… and for some reason, they hate us both. The band has been releasing blackened death metal at odd intervals since 2001, living in the shadow of the members’ estimable other gigs. With Ruins, Burial Hordes makes their claim on the spotlight. Are you willing to expose yourself to what Burial Hordes has been up to for the past two decades… and how the fuck have we all stayed safe from this unit since the turn of the century?” Sinister plots available in your area!

Blindfolded and Led to the Woods – Rejecting Obliteration Review

By Dear Hollow on May 27, 2023 in Reviews, Technical Death Metal, 31 comments

“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

By Dear Hollow on May 3, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Industrial Metal, 58 comments

“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

By Dear Hollow on April 13, 2023 in Reviews, Black Metal, Death Metal, 8 comments

“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

By Dolphin Whisperer on January 27, 2023 in Reviews, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Technical Death Metal, 83 comments

“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.