Ulcerate
Encyclopedia
Ulcerate is a death metal
band from Auckland
, New Zealand. The band formed in 2000 under the name Bloodwreath with Michael Hoggard on guitar
, Jamie Saint Merat on drums and Mark Seeney on vocals. They have played alongside international acts such as Cannibal Corpse
, The Amenta
, Psycroptic
, Decapitated
, Disgorge, Suffocation
, Behemoth
, The Black Dahlia Murder and Nile
.
Early 2002 brought a line-up change with the enlisting of guitarist Jared Commerer and James Wallace on vocals (Mark having left to become a drummer). The band began writing material that would become Demo 2003. With the release of their first demo it was decided to change their name from "Bloodwreath" to "Ulcerate".
.
, whose roster at the time included such notable acts as Spawn of Possession
, Psycroptic
, Visceral Bleeding
and Panzerchrist
among others.
Vocalist James Wallace left the band in 2006 just as the band were gearing up to record their first full-length album, entitled Of Fracture and Failure
. Ben Read was recruited to fill the vacant vocal position. Ben brought a new take on vocals for the band, as opposed to James Wallace who used low-pitched growls, he had a much broader range with use of almost black metal
shrieks and mid-pitched roars, somewhat reminisent of hardcore vocals. Jared Commerer also left the band and was replaced by Michael Rothwell. Of Fracture and Failure was recorded and mixed by Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard. It was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Studios, New York, USA. The album artwork was created by Jamie Saint Merat.
Of Fracture and Failure garnered some critical response for the band and the attention of the extreme metal community. In support of the album, Ulcerate was the support act for several higher profile bands like Suffocation
, Behemoth
, Decapitated
, Nile
, The Black Dahlia Murder
, Psycroptic
, The Amenta
and Cephalic Carnage
.
s from the bands earlier recordings. Ulcerate then started writing and recording their second full-length album, Everything is Fire
.
Everything is Fire is a progression from the band's last recording effort, with much more emphasis on dissonance and atmosphere, and less overall speed and constant progression of riff
s. It was released in March, 2009 to positive reviews and appeared on Metalreview.com's 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade. In late 2009, Ulcerate travelled to Europe to join Nile on their European Tour.
They released their third full-length album The Destroyers of All on January 25, 2011 through Willowtip Records. Oliver Goater parted ways with Ulcerate in late 2010, and has been replaced by William Cleverdon.
Compilation albums
Studio albums
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....
band from Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand. The band formed in 2000 under the name Bloodwreath with Michael Hoggard on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, Jamie Saint Merat on drums and Mark Seeney on vocals. They have played alongside international acts such as Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse
Cannibal Corpse is an American death metal band from Buffalo, New York. Formed in 1988, the band has released eleven studio albums, one box set, and one live album...
, The Amenta
The Amenta
-History:The band originally formed in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales in 1997 as Crucible of Agony. They initially played black metal and released two demos in 1999 under the name...
, Psycroptic
Psycroptic
-External links:**...
, Decapitated
Decapitated (band)
Decapitated is a death metal band that formed in Krosno, Poland in 1996. The group comprises guitarist, founder and composer Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka, vocalist Rafał Piotrowski and Austrian drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner. Decapitated have gained recognition as one of the genre's most widely respected...
, Disgorge, Suffocation
Suffocation (band)
Suffocation is an American death metal band that was formed in 1989 in Long Island, New York. The band comprises vocalist Frank Mullen, guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, drummer Mike Smith and bassist Derek Boyer. Suffocation rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for...
, Behemoth
Behemoth (band)
Behemoth is a Polish blackened death metal band from Gdańsk, formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, alongside bands such as Vader, Decapitated, Vesania and Hate....
, The Black Dahlia Murder and Nile
Nile (band)
Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
.
Early days (2000–2003)
Formed in 2000 by Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard and Mark Seeney, the foundation of Ulcerate was formed. Then under the name 'Bloodwreath', this line-up remained intact for all of 2001 whilst the band struggled to find a 'sound' both stylistically and compositionally.Early 2002 brought a line-up change with the enlisting of guitarist Jared Commerer and James Wallace on vocals (Mark having left to become a drummer). The band began writing material that would become Demo 2003. With the release of their first demo it was decided to change their name from "Bloodwreath" to "Ulcerate".
The Coming of Genocide (2004)
In 2004 the band recorded their second demo, The Coming of Genocide. The demo received reasonable reviews from various metal magazines and paved the way to the top of the New Zealand Metal scene. The recording of the demo itself was entirely funded by members of the band. The Coming of Genocide has been re-released by The Flood Records and Deepsend Records with the addition of Demo 2003 as a compilationCompilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
.
Of Fracture and Failure (2006–2007)
In Early 2006 Ulcerate signed with Neurotic RecordsNeurotic Records
Neurotic Records is an independent extreme metal record label specialising predominantly in death metal, operating out of Tilburg in the Netherlands....
, whose roster at the time included such notable acts as Spawn of Possession
Spawn of Possession
Spawn of Possession is a death metal band from Kalmar, Sweden, founded in 1997.-Biography:Spawn of Possession formed in February 1997, consisting of Jonas Bryssling , Jonas Karlsson , and Dennis Röndum ....
, Psycroptic
Psycroptic
-External links:**...
, Visceral Bleeding
Visceral Bleeding
Visceral Bleeding is a technical death metal band from Sweden.-Biography:Visceral Bleeding was formed sometime in the late nineties by Peter Persson and Niklas Dewerud. Influenced by bands such as Suffocation and Monstrosity, they performed what they thought the death metal scene was lacking...
and Panzerchrist
Panzerchrist
Panzerchrist is a Danish death metal band formed in '93-'94 by Michael Enevoldsen and celebrated Danish artist Lasse Hoile.- History :Panzerchrist recorded a few demos and was signed by Serious entertainment...
among others.
Vocalist James Wallace left the band in 2006 just as the band were gearing up to record their first full-length album, entitled Of Fracture and Failure
Of Fracture and Failure
Of Fracture and Failure is the debut full-length album by New Zealand Death Metal band Ulcerate.-Track listing:# "Praise and Negation" – 4:14# "Ad Nauseam" – 3:40# "The Mask of the Satyr" – 6:33# "Becoming the Lycanthrope" – 4:14...
. Ben Read was recruited to fill the vacant vocal position. Ben brought a new take on vocals for the band, as opposed to James Wallace who used low-pitched growls, he had a much broader range with use of almost black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
shrieks and mid-pitched roars, somewhat reminisent of hardcore vocals. Jared Commerer also left the band and was replaced by Michael Rothwell. Of Fracture and Failure was recorded and mixed by Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard. It was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Studios, New York, USA. The album artwork was created by Jamie Saint Merat.
Of Fracture and Failure garnered some critical response for the band and the attention of the extreme metal community. In support of the album, Ulcerate was the support act for several higher profile bands like Suffocation
Suffocation (band)
Suffocation is an American death metal band that was formed in 1989 in Long Island, New York. The band comprises vocalist Frank Mullen, guitarists Terrance Hobbs and Guy Marchais, drummer Mike Smith and bassist Derek Boyer. Suffocation rose to prominence of death metal and created a blueprint for...
, Behemoth
Behemoth (band)
Behemoth is a Polish blackened death metal band from Gdańsk, formed in 1991. They are considered to have played an important role in establishing the Polish extreme metal underground, alongside bands such as Vader, Decapitated, Vesania and Hate....
, Decapitated
Decapitated (band)
Decapitated is a death metal band that formed in Krosno, Poland in 1996. The group comprises guitarist, founder and composer Wacław "Vogg" Kiełtyka, vocalist Rafał Piotrowski and Austrian drummer Kerim "Krimh" Lechner. Decapitated have gained recognition as one of the genre's most widely respected...
, Nile
Nile (band)
Nile is an American death metal band from Greenville, South Carolina, formed in 1993. Their music and lyrics are inspired by Ancient Egyptian/Near Eastern mysticism, history, religion, and art, as well as stories by H. P. Lovecraft.- History :...
, The Black Dahlia Murder
The Black Dahlia Murder
The Black Dahlia Murder is an American heavy metal band from Waterford, Michigan, formed in 2001. Their name is derived from the 1947 unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, often referred to as Black Dahlia. The band comprises vocalist Trevor Strnad, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Ryan Knight, bassist...
, Psycroptic
Psycroptic
-External links:**...
, The Amenta
The Amenta
-History:The band originally formed in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales in 1997 as Crucible of Agony. They initially played black metal and released two demos in 1999 under the name...
and Cephalic Carnage
Cephalic Carnage
Cephalic Carnage is an American grindcore band formed in 1992 in Denver, Colorado. The band comprises vocalist Lenzig Leal, guitarists Steve Goldberg and Brian Hopp, drummer John Merryman and bassist Nick Schendzielos...
.
"Ulcerate's debut full-length 'Of Fracture and Failure' is available now on Neurotic Records. The album comprises 9 tracks of crushing dark death metal, with more than a few surprises in store. The culmination of 2 years of writing, 'Of Fracture...' brings new meaning to the phrase 'linear song-writing', mixing pure rhythmic and dissonant extremity with an unnerving sense of melody and atmosphere..."
Everything is Fire (2008–2009)
2008 saw the departure of Ben Read and Michael Rothwell. Oliver Goater of the band Load Master was recruited as Michael's replacement and bassist Paul Kelland took over vocals from Read. With the change of vocalist saw the return of the low-pitched death growlDeath growl
A death growl, also known as death metal vocals, guttural vocals, death grunts, and harsh vocals among other names, is a vocalisation style usually employed by vocalists of the death metal and black metal music genre, but also used in a variety of heavy metal and hardcore punk subgenres.Death...
s from the bands earlier recordings. Ulcerate then started writing and recording their second full-length album, Everything is Fire
Everything Is Fire
Everything is Fire is the second full-length album by New Zealand Death Metal band Ulcerate. It was released in March, 2009 to excellent reviews and even appearing on Metalreview.com's 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade.-Track listing:...
.
Everything is Fire is a progression from the band's last recording effort, with much more emphasis on dissonance and atmosphere, and less overall speed and constant progression of riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
s. It was released in March, 2009 to positive reviews and appeared on Metalreview.com's 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade. In late 2009, Ulcerate travelled to Europe to join Nile on their European Tour.
The Destroyers of All (2011)
In April 2010, Ulcerate announced that they were writing songs for a new album.
"The new material is an expansion on the Everything is Fire sound with a far greater dynamic range. There's really no surprises or annoying experimentations, just the next step forward in evolving what we've established so far. There will however be a lot more of the bleak and blackened atmosphere and mood, perhaps a little less pace overall - with an emphasis on a very very large sound. We're certainly not a band that wants to repeat itself, but at the same time, we're extremely driven to create the sonic assault that we've had in our heads for a number of years."
They released their third full-length album The Destroyers of All on January 25, 2011 through Willowtip Records. Oliver Goater parted ways with Ulcerate in late 2010, and has been replaced by William Cleverdon.
Band members
Current members- Paul Kelland − Vocals, Bass guitar
- Michael Hoggard − Guitars
- Jamie Saint Merat − Drums
- William Cleverdon – Guitars
Discography
Extended plays- Ulcerate (2003)
- The Coming of Genocide (2004)
Compilation albums
- The Coming of Genocide (2006)
Studio albums
- Of Fracture and FailureOf Fracture and FailureOf Fracture and Failure is the debut full-length album by New Zealand Death Metal band Ulcerate.-Track listing:# "Praise and Negation" – 4:14# "Ad Nauseam" – 3:40# "The Mask of the Satyr" – 6:33# "Becoming the Lycanthrope" – 4:14...
(2007) - Everything Is FireEverything Is FireEverything is Fire is the second full-length album by New Zealand Death Metal band Ulcerate. It was released in March, 2009 to excellent reviews and even appearing on Metalreview.com's 100 Most Essential Albums of the Decade.-Track listing:...
(2009) - The Destroyers of AllThe Destroyers of AllThe Destroyers of All is the third full-length album by New Zealand death metal band Ulcerate. It was released on January 25, 2011. The song "Dead Oceans" was released via Ulcerate's website in October and is available for download.-Track listing:...
(2011)