Ulcerate Interview

1/ Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

We're just about to release our fourth album Vermis via Relapse, and are

in rehearsal mode gearing up for international touring to support the

album this coming October.

2/ How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it

differs from previous releases?

This time around we've gone for a much more aggressive tone and

production style, as well as a slightly different melodic and rhythmic

approach. We're utilising a lot of different tunings across all the songs,

which is a first for us. Tonally this is a whole different ballgame amp-wise

and cymbal selection-wise, so to my ear at least this album feels like a

new chapter for us.

3/ What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the

newer music?

The overriding theme for the album is centred around the idea of tyranny

and oppression in all its forms, and exploring this concept from all angles

particularly via dogma, power, manipulation. We're using the Latin worm

version of Vermis metaphorically for the spinelessness / cowardice of

tyranny, the preying on the weak-minded and laying down of dogmatic

self-serving laws. There's deep anti-religious sentiments here but it's not

too overt, it's more pointed at any institution that behaves in that manner.

4/ What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

The moniker is now 13 years old now and doesn't really have a lot of

relevance to the themes we deal with these days, it came out of an

earlier more blasphemic lyrical approach.

5/ What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how

would you describe your stage performance?

Highlights for us have been Krakow, New York, Montreal, Melbourne,

Edinburgh, Berlin, Birmingham, Copenhagen to name a few. Our stage

performance I hope comes across as just totally crushing and absorbing.

We typically have little to no crowd interaction, we like very low lighting

and there's very rarely ever dead silence between songs on stage. We

try to get across a total sonic attack for the full hour or so so that people

can get fully immersed in the performance. Musically we rehearse our

asses off to be able to pull off this material as convincingly as possible,

and from the feedback we get it seems like we hit the mark more often

than not.

6/ Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

Yeah for sure - as mentioned earlier we're just preparing for Australasia

in Oct / Nov with North America and Europe on the horizon for this year

and next year as well, although no dates to announce just yet.

7/ On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the new album by fans

of technical and brutal death metal?

The response this time around has been pretty overwhelming, it feels like

we're definitely on the right track, and that there's a lot of people who

seem to share our vision. I think outside of the more raw primitive bands

people are really missing death metal that evokes a very oppressive,

apocalyptic atmosphere - most modern death metal these days is very

clean, polished and computerised without any real sense of foreboding,

so in that sense it's gratifying to know that a lot of people appreciate

what we're trying to achieve.

8/ What is going on with the other musical project these days?

Only Paul at this stage has a side project - The Temple.

9/ What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

No idea at this stage to be honest - after working on Vermis for so long,

now is a period of decompression for us.

10/ What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer

music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Not a lot really influences our sound these days, we always have a very

clear objective of how we want to sound and try to keep any outside

influence out of the writing process for purity's sake. In terms of listening

- there's been a lot of great releases lately - Ulver Messe…, Aosoth

Arrow in Heart, Gorguts Colored Sands, Svart Crown Profane, Wife

Stoic, Cult of Luna Vertikal, Martyrdod Paranoia, Pallbearer Sorrow and

Extinction, Clutch Earth Rocker…

11/ Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Visual design - web + print (I have a career in front-end web design),

audio engineering, film, reading, cycling.

12/ Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Cheers for the support, appreciate it!

// Jamie