Death metal quintet Ulcer from Lublin formed in 2006 and soon put out their debut full-length album 'Serpent Trinity'. Forward into 2020s, and they released their fourth one, 'Dead Souls Cathedral', last may.

Here is an album where pounding death metal merges with otherworldliness. While its one foot is firmly rooted in Swedish, and mainly Stockholm-style, death metal, its other foot is made of several other things. This may not include anything novel, but the band's alloy is quite characteristic at times.

'Those Black Gods' starts the album with being more otherworldly while being heavy as hell; this piece of pestilent death metal fluctuates between slower and faster tempos, contains heavy-handed riffing, slightly echoing beastly vocals and symphonic undertones. It's more home at US sludgy bands like Incantation and such, and makes a huge impact crater with its closer to 8-minute duration; it is the longest composition here. Faster, and shorter song follows, and projects catchier riffing and gloomy leads without losing any of the vortexing monstrousness shown by the opener; it's still about warped mutations, from slithering to berserking.

However, those Swedish tinctures emerged with it. And on 'Cold Darkness' the simplicity of punk is portrayed (most notably with 'Eternal Night', lasting for just over a minute). Still, the song is filled with various parts and twists around like an angry serpent spewing its venom. While nothing has been very disharmonic thus far, another flash of beautiful melodiousness pops up during all the filth. The band is Polish, and it is heard in their mucky sound and performance. However, they still manifest two more nuances in their toxic concoction: grooviness and British doom/death. 'Off We Go' is a stomping and chunky attack of fast groove with slower horror part. On the last third there's some old Paradise Lost style leads and melodies, with wah-pedal utilized.

The vocals are low, beary growling, with some gurgling happening, too. They are echoing, which suits the album's odd atmospheres. The lyrics are about humans (or whatever creatures) who were born in space (as star dust), and them being trapped on Earth (on "dead souls cathedral").

The production is fantastic, since it is heavy and thick yet all the elements are audible, at least more or less, depending how fast and loud it all goes. Rounded with otherworldly cover artwork, 'Dead Souls Cathedral' is a fine journey through space and brutality of Earth. It is eccentric and cozy death metal at the same time.

Rating: 8+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
03/29/2022 21:14