Press - Interviews

Violent Solutions

www.vs-webzine.com

At first, there's something I didn't understand about your release. The first time I heard about ULCERATE, it was because you signed a deal with italian label The Spew records. Then you've released "The Coming of Genocide" with another italian label, The Flood records, then your first real album was just released by Neurotic records. Explain me all this

We were signed with the Spew for a while in anticipation of a full-length, but there was seemingly very little support for us and the other bands, to this day their site hasn't been updated in a year or so, so I wonder if they're still in operations. Either way, we felt we could land a better deal, so we looked for one. We approached Neurotic, a label we identified with in terms of quality and bands with samples from the 'Of Fracture.' tracking and we were signed on the spot. The Flood exclusively looks after our 'The Coming of Genocide' release, and I must say you will not find a harder working small label, very happy with the work Dario and crew put in! Support The Flood and support Nefas!

Since the BLOODWREATH days it took you almost seven years before a first album. I guess the line-up problems didn't help but how do you explain it required so many years before "Of Facture and failure" ?

Well, when we started we were 17/18, and never had intentions of recording an album as such, we just wanted to play. But as we progressed and people started showing an interest, we started to demo material. So when the idea of a full-length came about, we wanted to put out something that was of a high standard, so we needed to up our abilities and song writing. We're not about putting out thoughtless shit for the sake of releases. So we waited until we felt that we needed to release an album, rather than just wanting to release something.

There was an important evolution in your music between "The Coming of Genocide" and "Of Fracture and Failure". I don't know if that's just a matter of line-up but ULCERATE was one of these bands deeply influenced by US brutal death metal then the music turn into something more personal, more tormented, more dissonant and even more atmospheric.

Line-up changes haven't altered our progression, as the 2 core members, myself and guitarist Michael Hoggard write everything. Simply, our vision of our sound has evolved, we've always been fans of unorthodox, violent music, and I think its only been lately that we've been able to craft material that really captures what Ulcerate is all about. Our earlier stuff was always predominantly orthodox dark death metal with hints of atmosphere, but the more that we played these songs, the more that the atmosphere and emotion started to feel a lot more natural. And of course our listening tastes have been changing over the years, breaking out of a strict extreme metal diet, and I think it shows a lot in the writing of 'Of Fracture.'. Of course the album at its core is death metal, but I think its moving in a unique direction. I don't think that we're an entirely unique entity yet, but we're getting there for sure :)

I have the feeling you put a lot of yourself in this recording. Most musicians use to say a recording is a real human adventure. At this point you really learn who you're playing with. I wonder if you learned things about yourself and your band mates during this experience ?

Oh for sure, you learn more of your limitations and your expectations of both yourself and who you're playing with. This album especially has grounded us on the basis that we need to work a lot harder performance wise to realise our vision! Especially listening back at it (it was recorded nearly 1 year ago), is pretty humbling.. Arrogance will never improve your performance.

I've noticed some important time difference between tracks. Few are long, dark and abysmal songs and in another hand some others are straight to the point and completely spontaneous. Just like the two faces of a same personnality. Is there a particular idea behind this, or is it just something to give questions ideas to bad journalists like me ?

Music is all about contrast and dynamics. Now of course with true death metal you want to maintain a suffocating atmosphere at all times, so you've got to look outside of the 'quite verse, heavy chorus' approach utilised by most bands. So we mix up tempo and feel A LOT - we want Ulcerate to be a dense, uncomfortable listen, yet at the same time, catchy. So to do this we leave all assumptions about what should be considered extreme metal phrasing etc at home. Hopefully to the listener these songs present a narrative of sorts, we barely repeat riffs and phrasings, and we make sure that everything has an order and importance in the structures. Hearing bands that produce albums that sit at one tempo and feel is horribly boring and uninspiring, yet seems to be what the majority of audiences want to hear.

You seem to have a very meticulous approach in composition's work. There's no place for approximate parts in your music. I can imagine you as some kind of eternal unsatisfied maniac. What's the fronteer between perfectionism and meticulousness .In another terms, do you see someone to heal this (I hope you don't) ? Yeah well, we're not in the business of half-assing anything man! You either give 100% or quit. I don't see the point when creating your own art to be anything less than meticulous. The only limit we have when creating tunes is our ability to play them! A lot of the stuff we come up with gets stripped back because none of us can play the stuff properly - but you know, experience brings a lot.

I know there's a full concept behind your lyrics. Everything is about human race extinction. I guess you'd like to make people think about this inevitable end but, as you probably know, metal-heads don't pay that much attention about lyrics. Isn't it a waste of time to write intelligent lyrics while people don't show enough interest ? That must be frustrating when you're trying to spear a message.

Glad you picked up on that. I mean, its not like that concept is a foreign one within this genre, some might say its cliché, but I think the way that our vocalist Ben has written these lyrics really brings the perfect angle to our music, and presents the ideas in a fresh way. Its never a waste of time to do anything intelligently! Metal needs to drag itself out of the fucking gutter. Don't get me wrong, there's bands around that are writing about extremely fucked up ideas, but are doing so in a way that isn't Neanderthal and cringe-worthy, and that is what gets my thumbs-up. Not so much about content, but delivery. A perfect example is the older Lord Worm era Cryptopsy, killer thought-provoking lyrics, yet the content is much the same as any other 'perverse' death metal band.

In a recent interview you've done, you were talking about the way you composed ULCERATE's music and you said "Everything must have a purpose" but I've got the feeling most bands are exactly doing the opposite. I can imagine the work you put into your music but is there any time you ended rehearsals with pointless ideas.

Pointless ideas? I mean sure, we still jam around and have fun, probably a little too much haha But generally when we're writing we try to maintain focus and get the job done. In reference to that quote, yeah, I know for sure a lot of bands are stoked to just be playing 'fast and brutal' and that's about as far as they'll ever get in music, fast and brutal.

How do you see ULCERATE's futur ? Is there any particular horizons you'd like to explore to bring more personnality to your music or do you think you've already reached the step you wanted for the band ?

Our future? Dude we are aching to TOUR!! Especially Europe. But long-term? Well, we just want to keep expanding our sound into new directions, whilst maintaining our ethos we've built so far. We've got new material already and its sounding very very cool, another level again on the 'Of Fracture' stuff, and certainly more 'Ulcerate' sounding. I'd love to create some sort of legacy with this band, where people remember the name and sound. But who knows?

Most of time people are surprised to hear about New Zealand metal scene but it seems there are some great bands. I'm especialy thinking about DAWN OF AZAZEL, HELLBORN, CREEPING, or, one of your other bands, 8 FOOT SATIVA. How do you explain our ignorance ? Is that just a question of distance or does it mean New Zealand has a kind of "self supported" scene ? Is there any other band I should listen too ?

The ignorance towards the NZ scene for the most part is perpetuated by the bands over here. There have been some really killer bands, that if were actually heard outside of NZ, would be well received. But, there's little or no support for this style here, we're geographically isolated as fuck, and there's a mentality over here that if you're doing well you're a sell-out. So bands quit before their time, and don't put the extra effort in. But, in the last few years killer acts like Dawn, Creeping, Diocletion, Vassafor have been motivated enough to get the material overseas, and what happens? They get signed and get killer responses!!

Other bands you should check out: Creeping, Diocletian, Vassafor, Asphyxiate, Relentless Attrition, Wolfhaken, Akaname, OdiusEmbowel

I was checking some NZ bands over the web and I've noticed most of them are really raw, dark and extreme. Does it have something to do with this awesome national rugby team you have ? (yeah, you're right, this one is a bit stupid.ha ha)

Yeah that is the NZ style man, dark as hell! I don't know, the All Blacks funnily enough all wear black, so I'm sure that's why we're all into the darkest music possible. That and the haka is pure death metal.

I've heard about another band with ULCERATE and ASPHYXIATE members called ABYSTIC. Tell me more about this. Do you really need to play in threee different bands to express all your musical ideas ?

Abystic Ritual is the name. A small project with bassist Paul and our ex-vocalist James Wallace. Atmospheric blasting black death with a lot of dark melody. Just a one off for us to get the hankering for that style out of our systems. We recorded an EP 'Dark Carnal Witchery' and did a few supporting shows, then put it to rest. That beast may or may not rear its head once again.

Is there anything, I should ask about before finishing this interview ? You know what ? Let's say that's a free expression question. Tell us whatever you want (carefull, I'll may translate it).

Continue to support music that maintains integrity and originality, irrespective of genre. There is some extremely disturbing trends happening within extreme music at the moment that is forcing certain bands into the limelight when all they're offering is a 'scene' mentality and 'mosh' rhythms. Extreme music should be exactly that, EXTREME.

Your last comment for our readers

Thanks for the really well thought-out questions, we appreciate! Check out our album if you have a chance - 'Of Fracture and Failure' on Neurotic Records.

Cheers Jamie | Ulcerate

www.offractureandfailure.com
www.myspace.com/ulcerate
www.neurotic-records.com
www.the-floodrecords.com