Review by Saxy S for Ulcerate - Cutting the Throat of God (2024)

Five years ago, I was quite impervious when it came to technical death metal. My tolerance for the genre was very thin and I never felt like I could get anywhere with discovering the genre as an outsider. So when Ulcerate came along with their album, State Into Death and Be Still and showed me a new perspective on the genre, I was surprised. Turns out that technical death metal does not consist of just Cyptopsy, Nile, and Dying Fetus. One of the downsides however, is now that my palette of tech-death is where it is now, it becomes even harder to like those pedestrian tech-death bands because the bar was set so high five years ago!

If there was ever a band that could accurately describe their music without playing it, it would be Ulcerate. The bands sophomore album, Everything Is Fire, is a concise descriptor of the music found within. It's the hauntingly gorgeous beauty of staring out over a burning forest; nothing will be left except for burnt ash and rubble, while the wildlife of the forest are all left homeless with no protection from the elements, but you cannot help but stare dumbfound into its destruction. Suffice to say that Cutting the Throat of God was one of my most anticipated records of 2024. Did Ulcerate make the cut?  

Cutting the Throat of God is objectively a great album. I really enjoy the texture of the guitars and the pulsating drive they have. Ulcerate do not employ the traditional chugging patterns of other technical death metal bands and instead use open power chords and atmospheric melodic motifs. Percussion is relentless as is expected and while it can feel like too much at times, I never feel like the percussion is overbearing, or overtly technical for its own sake. The vocals are adequate enough; I haven't really spent much time with the lyrics themselves yet, but if they're only half as destructive as Stare Into Death and Be Still, they will be more than adequate for their performance and execution here. And while the bass is not immediately prominent, the record does have a lot of promise with its low end, doubled by the open chordal guitars.

Perhaps my biggest issue with Cutting the Throat of God is in the compositions. The album generally has a great flow to it and Ulcerate are well aware to give their listener breaks to relax between the intensity with these lovely post-metal interludes. But I feel like the record has too many of them? It's almost like they took my biggest criticism from Knocked Loose's album You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To and overcorrected. They can feel, especially later on in the record (i.e. "To See Death Just Once" and "Undying as an Apparition"), like a formality rather than a connecting link to the next loud, death metal passage. And so it was a pleasant surprise when the closing track, "Cutting the Throat of God" did not have these interlude sections.

Cutting the Throat of God is by no means a bad album. Ulcerate are making some of the most interesting technical death metal of the last ten years. It is somehow both a cataclysm of sound and also very melodic and thoughtful. Despite the density, every note feels meaningful and the performances are articulate. The runtime can feel a little bloated, but I think that's just in the nature of Ulcerate at this point. But maybe that's just what I want out my technical death metal.

Best Songs: The Dawn is Hollow, Further Opening the Wounds, To See Death Just Once, Cutting the Throat of God