For nearly 25 years, New Zealand’s ULCERATE have forged their own path within the death metal world. Their unconventional, unorthodox and dizzying approach to their music makes them a unique proposition and as such, they are often regarded as one of the genre’s brightest stars. 2020’s State Into Death And Be Still was heralded as one of the best extreme metal records of the year, and four years later, the band have emerged from the shadows once more, with the aptly anti-theistic Cutting The Throat Of God.
Building upon the foreboding sense of dread and sheer sonic dissonance that has been fundamental to their sound over their career, Cutting The Throat Of God pulls you into the howling abyss and refuses to let you surface for air over its near hour long runtime. Album opener To Flow Through Ashen Hearts is herculean in its delivery, as swirling ambience allows the mournful solitary riffs to build tension until it is at breaking point and from there, the band unleash chaos. A cacophony of quite frankly batshit instrumentation showcases the unorthodox approach to the ULCERATE soundscape as riffs crash and break around thundering percussion and Paul Kelland‘s deep rumbling growls. It’s a triumphant opening.
As Cutting The Throat Of God continues to unfold its numerous musical layers, ULCERATE showcase their expansive and unorthodox soundscape all whilst being utterly explosive in their delivery. The Dawn Is Hollow boasts dizzying technicality in the execution of the riffs that will leave your brain utterly scrambled, and the subtle passages of respite allows the band’s encroaching sense of dread to take centre stage, whereas Transfiguration In And Out Of Worlds pulls you into a trance as sinister guitar leads bends and twist like a contortionist as the blasts from Jamie Saint Merat‘s drums act as a counterweight to deliver a sustained aural bludgeoning.
Elsewhere, Further Opening The Wounds swings like a remorseless scythe as dissonant riffing pummels you into an inch of your life and the splashes of guitar licks and rolling drum fills throughout the track’s near eight-minute runtime prick the ears to showcase the band’s technical superiority. To See Death Just Once lives up to its namesake and strikes crippling fear into your heart as the atmospherics are ramped up to unfathomable levels and the bending riffing intertwine delicately with Kelland‘s thunderous growls and then there is the title track; Cutting The Throat Of God. Here, the band close their new effort with a thumping finish as one last complex barrage of aural extremity and the balance between obtuse heaviness and technical experimentation is so delicately poised, it’s nothing short of phenomenal to listen to.
With the benchmark set so incredibly high, you could forgive ULCERATE if they stumbled and delivered a record that didn’t quite meet the lofty expectations set by their predecessor. But ULCERATE are a special band and one that excels in pushing boundaries when it comes to extreme metal and with Cutting The Throat Of God, the band have delivered yet another exemplary slab of utterly crushing death metal. Forward-thinking, elaborate and expansive and obtusely heavy, Cutting The Throat Of God is yet another masterpiece from a band who seemingly can’t do anything wrong.
Rating: 10/10
Cutting The Throat Of God is out now via Debemur Morti Productions.
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