Stylistic shifts present issues for bands and can be great when they work. Unfortunately, some bands miss the mark entirely. Ulcerate is one such band who had a drastic style change. From the blistering, dissonant technical death metal of such great releases as Everything is Fire, The Destroyers of All, and Shrines of Paralysis, Ulcerate grew into the moodier, atmospheric and, post metal drenched Stare Into Death and Be Still, which has caused a divided in their fanbase. Now, four years later since that contentious album, Cutting the Throat of God arrives. And as a natural continuation of Stare…, fans of the more “post” influenced death metal will be happy, because this is a very good record.
One factor that has always set Ulcerate above the rest of their peers is their insanely tight style of playing. Aside from it being captured brilliantly in a live setting, this also takes the forefront on their records. Indeed, this style is not lost on Cutting the Throat of God, as the trio delivers a well-executed performance that ebbs and flows between rather fierce death metal, swelling dreamy post metal passages, and hints of their more tech-oriented past. “The Dawn is Hollow” is a great showcase of all three of these styles that Ulcerate pulls off, and is a strong early album jam. Other highlights include “To See Death Just Once” and the title track, but really the strongest performance across the album is Jamie Saint Merat’s (Verberis) colossal drum work. This man is more machine than man, it seems, as he is able to effortlessly blend insanely technical blasts with more languid hits, and Cutting the Throat of God is just another feather in his already impressive cap. However, this also brings me to the crux of the issue.
I love Ulcerate. The problem is that all of their albums are quite long. Songs on here, much like previous albums, could use a bit of trimming due to slight bloat. Furthermore, while I will continue to return to this album across the rest of the year, it’s not quite great for me, yet. This is an album that grows on you, and requires a certain mood to listen to, otherwise it’s possible you’ll miss the way these songs are intended to sink their claws into you. Much like Stare Into Death and Be Still, Cutting the Throat of God will take its time, but time is really all it takes for something like this to be considered truly great.
