Fully formed like a dense wall mural, Cutting the Throat of God comes at the listener with a purpose, strong and determined, but not forceful; the album is laid out such that the listener can enjoy any or all of the individual pieces as they choose. Each of these parts works together to form an engaging whole, and this is evident from the first note. And much like a full mural, enjoyment can be taken by following any number of paths and each separate journey helps one to understand and fully revel in the complete picture. Ulcerate works together extremely well to keep their instrumentation tight and together, while still letting each player drift off into their own expressive form. This is a hard task to pull off, but the trio does this with aplomb. Sonically, it's thick and fierce, but as stated above, not completely in one's face. This gives the album a bit of distance from the listener and allows a relationship to develop; the listener chooses what is important (which will change with each spin) instead of the band pummeling one vision into their ears. Part of this journey is the tonality, adding intriguing emotions and memories all by sounding a bit outside the expected norm. However, this is well done, mid-paced death, not avant-weirdness, so this will appeal to nearly all walks of the metalhead spectrum. The drumming is tight and thoughtful, not anywhere close to a meaty hammer fest. This helps to allow focus on the other instruments and vocals while still propelling the album forward. Vocally, there is some nice scratch and guttural quality but playing more like an evil omen instead of a possessed muppet. It's a classy album through and through.

 

Ulcerate's latest, Cutting the Throat of God,  is a wonderful display of technicality, detail, and production. Cleanliness is next to godliness, they say, so everyone involved in this recording had a good view of the throat cutting. For those that love that full bodied sound and vision, this trio has you covered and you are urged to go check it out