Upping The Ugly

"The goal with this next album is to pull away from the more ambient/atmospheric side of things we were working with on [The Destroyers Of All] and push further into the ugly/violent territory. There will of course be the atmosphere, but this time around we're working incredibly hard on getting across a different voice altogether. I think we're all really excited with the material we have so far, a lot of it just sounds totally horrific and fucked, in the best way possible.”

Saint Merat is on the line from his native New Zealand, discussing Ulcerate's forthcoming slice of punishment. With a new label behind them and an increased global profile, it's a record that is shaping up to be a defining body of work for the band.

Forming in 2000, the Auckland group was originally known as Bloodwreath, however, it wasn't until 2003 that they first started doing the rounds under their current moniker. Behind a trio of dense and confronting albums, Ulcerate built a loyal fanbase, delivering the sort of mind-bending death metal that in the past has predominantly been associated with the Scandinavians.

“Yeah we get a little bit of that,” he says, “particularly because there's only really a handful of death/black/grind acts from NZ that are known internationally.” But although the strength of their earlier work is undeniable, it was last year's The Destroyers... that really put the band on the global metal map. With a return to the guttural growls of their first EPs, the amalgamation of mood and might The Destroyers... brought won Ulcerate new fans from all parts of the world and earned the band praise from tastemakers such as Decibel Magazine and Pitchfork. Saint Merat admits that he was surprised by the critical plaudits dished out towards The Destroyers....

“You always have zero objectivity upon completing an album,” he says, “so for it to be received as well as it was is completely humbling.” Considering the accolades the Kiwis received, it's surprising to hear that neither Saint Merat nor the band are feeling any pressure with this, their Relapse Records debut. “We know how we want things to sound, and for the most part we even agree with some of the minor criticism of The Destroyers... in terms of the more ambient side of things,” he concedes. “It sounds clichéd of course, but I think the three of us just want to make the best Ulcerate record we can at any given time, and that is really all that we need to be satisfied. If people respond positively then that's a huge bonus, but first and foremost we have to create a group of songs that we stand behind 100%.”

Australian fans along the East Coast are being spoilt with the band's last run of shows before they immerse themselves in the studio to record the as-yet-untitled
fourth album. Saint Merat says the songs are still taking shape, but the trio are getting more excited every time
they plug in.

“We're about halfway through at the moment,” he informs, “four songs down, close to 35 minutes of music. Just starting to pre-produce the shells of songs we've got, working out all the finer details at a counterpoint level between the instruments, [and] doing a ton of rearranging and reworking as we go, as we've always done. But the more we're playing things the better they're feeling for sure. I'm really fucking proud of what we've been able to do with our music, but there's still a lot of room to move so to speak and, if anything, we're a lot hungrier these days than we've ever been.”