New Zealand death metallers Ulcerate couldn’t have thought up a better title for their third full-length studio album, The Destroyers of All. Put quite simply, The Destroyers of All impales aardvark babies.

Never before have blast beats been played so viciously behind a band that’s playing so slow — in death metal no less, where speed is usually the name of the game — but Ulcerate skinsman Jamie Saint Merat does just that to set the backbone for the woeful yet delicate crushing which the rest of the band bestows upon the world. Atmospherics and dissonance are the strongest tools in the arsenal of guitarist Michael Hoggard instead of speed and agility. The result is a unique brand of death metal that’s creepy, doomy and jarring instead of groovy and energetic. Not that there’s anything wrong with the latter, but the former are what make Ulcerate worthy of your attention; no one else sounds like them, and they’re heavy in a truly new way.

The Destroyers of All comes out on January 25th via Willowtip Records. Pre-order the album here for a measly 10 bones. Find out more on Ulcerate’s Official Website.

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