Vermis

Underground extreme metal heroes, Auckland, New Zealand’s ULCERATE make their Relapse debut with ‘Vermis’ a pummeling, brain twisting example of just how creative and challenging the death metal genre can still be, without becoming obtuse or arty. Combining truly original dark atmospheric guitar work with powerful, blastbeat driven drums, ‘Vermis’ achieve a wholly unlikely harmonization of Neurosis and Morbid Angel. ‘Vermis’ is a genuine affirmation of how thrillingly brilliant extreme metal can be—an instant classic of forward thinking death metal.

Ulcerate are technical, but the New Zealand metal band should not be branded with the soulless “tech-death” stigma. As complicated as this music may be, their fourth album is a collection of songs, not exercises.

A review of Vermis by Ulcerate, available in Europe September 16th and the 17th in North America from Relapse Records.

Sometimes it takes a seemingly unrelated source to explain why an album is so damn good, and that's certainly the case with Ulcerate's latest album,...