VERMIS

The capability to ulcerate someone would be an eclectic and unusual power to wield, with your very existence causing terrible tummy troubles upon others. To witness your presence is akin to devouring approximately ten enormous and alarmingly greasy cheeseburgers. Breaking through the stomach walls of conformity, Vermis is one hell of an interesting racket, with a monstrous and cavernous atmosphere, a crevice into a void.

After a foreboding sluggish start, the chaos ensues, with warped riffs slithering over odd-ball tempo shifts and, at times, completely demented though precise drumming. The chord progressions of the guitars are often quite abstract, with ringing notes chiming atonally over the maelstrom, like a guitar being tuned while a riff is being played. Blistering passages morph into quieter menacing sections at any given time, while growls roar somewhere within the tidal waves of unbridled calamity.

Yet there's lots of structure here, along with remarkable musicianship. Unlike their more spacious last offering, Vermis has a more concrete foundation, even if the bricks shift around a lot, and it's essentially more memorable as far as individual songs are concerned. Dark as hell, with an album cover that perfectly captures the essence of the music, this barrage of tracks are propulsive, but nowhere near predictable, except for the signature Ulcerate "sound" that's sort of established itself at this point. There's no mistaking one of this band's tunes.

I'd actually rank this right up there as possibly their finest recording, as it still sounds like metal music undergoing a violent seizure, but this time around it's a little more coherent with a darker and more ominous tone than its predecessors. Even the measured vocals have a little more character to them concerning their past couple of releases. Ulcerate have created one vicious tentacled aberration here...so enjoy the music or tear up your neighbors belly, it's all good.