Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

I...think it's pretty death metal. unless tech-death is no longer a kind of death metal.

Tech death is a kind of death metal, but it doesn't sound like this. This is technical, and it's metal, but in terms of guitar riffs it has no roots in death metal anymore.

I'm not saying that is a bad thing. This is still a solid 4/5 for me. But...it's just not death metal. It's not in the riffs. You can't hear it because it's not there. Ulcerate are a part of this still very-new movement that's evolved from death metal into...well, this. I wouldn't call it "post-death metal", but that's very much kind of what it is, not in the sense that's death metal + post-metal hurdur but because it's just, beyond death metal and now its own type of thing. These riffs just aren't death metal in any way, shape or form.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

I'm curious about what constitutes the essential characteristic of a death metal riff

your explanations intrigue me

What constitutes a "legit death metal riff" and how do songs like Abrogation, Yield to Naught and Extinguishing Light not have them? I mean how is the tremolo-picked riff 4 minutes into the latter not a textbook DM riff?

Shit I accidentally cross-posted on my alt #exposed

I am absolutely terrible at understanding technical terms so I can't really explain it other than I just know what a death metal riffs sounds like? I mean if you too away all the effects from this and just tried to play it in a more "regular" death metal context, nobody would be calling it death metal. The tones are all completely different, which are becoming a lot more warm and melodic, as well the general just thin and higher-pitched quality to them is not indicative of death metal's typically downtuned approach.

Abrogation, Yield to Naught and Extinguishing Light not have them? I mean how is the tremolo-picked riff 4 minutes into the latter not a textbook DM riff?

Man you're pretty well-versed in death metal, you should probably be able to know they're not textbook death metal riffs in the slightest?

The one you pointed out in Extinguishing Light is one of the least-death metal moments on the album, especially with how it evolves into that really cool, reverberating style that bounces around in your headphones (great moment on the album).

When you put on a death metal album there's always a texture and style to the way the riffs are structured that;s inherently like "yep, that's death metal".

This album doesn't have that. As I said, not a bad thing, but I don't think this is a death metal band anymore, they're blazing their own trail more and more with each album

What do you mean by a "regular" death metal context though? Like, as in reproducing it all live? Doing away with auxiliary guitar lines? Because Hoggard can and has been doing that since Vermis. Having a thinner guitar tone and having a more melodic approach to counterpoint doesn't really disqualify them from being a death metal band.

Like, as in reproducing it all live? Doing away with auxiliary guitar lines? Because Hoggard can and has been doing that since Vermis.

No idea what this means but if he's been doing that since Vermis then yeah that probably explains exactly why they stopped being death metal since Vermis.

Having a thinner guitar tone and having a more melodic approach to counterpoint doesn't really disqualify them from being a death metal band.

Of course not, but that on top of the fact that the riffs have no footing in any style of death metal past or present does.

As I said I'm terrible with technical explanations, I don't know any of it. Not all death metal follows any one rule of how to be played. There can be super fine lines between something being a death metal and a black metal riff, or even a death metal riff and a heavy metal riff, or a black metal riff and a surf rock riff. It's all about so many small and necessary features that change every little aspect of the music. But that said I still know how things sound generally because I'm more of a "gut feeling" type guy when it comes to musical approach. I've never been a fan of the technical explanation or analysis, it bores me to tears and kills my passion for the music (complete opposite for many other people, because hey we all work differently).

And Ulcerate just doesn't have any riffs that could be called death metal anymore. It's too different, that's why so many other bands are latching onto it, because it's such a new approach that hasn't been exploited much in the years before like...2012.

You haven't really substantiated why they have no footing in any style of DM beyond "they just don't ~feel~ like them/I don't listen to them and think "death metal" but I know your mind is an enigma wrapped in a puzzle so I'm just gonna say we've reached an impasse and say good day < 3

That said I agree with you that dissonant tech death may as well be its own genre at this point but once again I know that we have very different perspectives on whether or not that's a good thing :D

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Ulcerate have evolved into a new form that we have no words for

Not yet, but I have no doubt it will probably just be widely known as "post-death metal" in like 5 years because we couldn't think of anything else and everyone else was like "No BUT hTHe GenRes Are AlREADY JUst LiSTEn OT THe MIUSIC GuYs WHY So MaNY CaTEOricIOGOCaLYIES"

I think inherently people are still too afraid of the idea that new styles and genres can still be extrapolated even this far into the world's musical timeline, like everything we have still needs to fit into the little boxes we've made for them. Most things still do, and I'm not saying Ulcerate is the most unique band ever, but just that they've outgrown the "death metal" box they started out in and it's time to maybe start thinking "hey they're not really that anymore are they".

I wouldn't call them post-metal, and the "sludge" tag seems pretty silly to me, but they're certainly something.

i can get behind groups like ulcerate being categorized altogether differently than other dm and tech death.

" afraid of the idea that new styles and genres can still be extrapolated "
Not afraid, I think it's awesome. I for one didn't see blackgaze coming.

Lately there has been a lot of very atmospheric and technical dm. I hope and think it's steps towards something amazing deserving its own label.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

is atmospheric death metal finally a thing

Album Rating: 4.0

I just look at them as tech dm

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

to Ov's point, this is one of a handful of death metal (ish) bands that I consistently enjoy, the others being Kalmah, Revocation, NeOb, and Gojira. which each only have one foot in death metal to begin with.

Album Rating: 4.0

Gojira has a sick rhythm section