Bringing death metal from New Zealand, Ulcerate’s Shrines of Paralysis begins by almost paralysing the listener. The opening is disorienting and brutalising, before pulling you back in for an easier to follow experience. Throughout the album the guitarwork is captivating, leading you on a journey that is dramatic, and surprising. It’s almost a masterpiece. Almost.

The album is often tainted by jarringly out of place drumming. While the second track ‘Yield to Naught’ introduces doom elements that blend well with death metal, the drummer doesn’t seem to have left the opening track. What would otherwise be a captivating moderately paced song, is tarred by a percussion track that tries to cram in as many snare and bass hits as conceivably possible.

The drums also represent the weak point in production. While the guitars come across as suitably atmospheric, the drums give off the impression of a rushed soundcheck, leaving you at times struggling to make out the rest of the song. When the drums slow down is where things really shine. The bass guitar comes through well, and the guitar puts you in a somewhat trance like state. The vocals are fine, they just won’t stand out in your memory.

When things get more aggressive in the third act it all gels together well, ‘Extinguished Light’ is probably where it all balances out. In ‘End the Hope’, the album ends as it began, with captivating disorientation. But again the drums have not progressed past hit-everything-really-fast. I want to love this album, and in terms of the music on paper it is brilliant.

Aiming for an out of body experience, it’s just a shame not all the instruments came along for the ride.

Edmund Goldrick

(Image: Head Banger Reviews)