ULCERATE:

• Of Fracture And Failure (2007) Sort of a cross between Origin and Dillenger Escape Plan. The Origin part comes from the drumming, which is super complex and involves a lot of continuous lighting fast doublebass. The rest of the song structures are very Dillenger Escape Plan like, somewhat random, disjointed brutal riffs (with screaming over top). This band has a few things working against it, first, the riffs are, in my opinion, a little too disjointed. I'm far more enamored with say The Red Chord or Despised Icon, who add just enough standard song structure to turn things into cohesive songs. Also, the sound on this CD is a little thin. The guitars need more bass, and the bass, well, needs more bass, it's almost 100% missing from the mix. But the band also has some good stuff going for it. First, they play damn fast. Second, a lot of atonal chords that make for some interesting riffs. Third, the brutality and energy is definitely there, you just wish they had the production to match it. And on a totally non-music related note, the cover artwork is fantastic. If you like Dillenger or The End, this is worth looking into. But I'd definitely suggest a different direction for their sound when it comes time to record their 2nd album.

UNCUT:

• A Therapy For Weakness (1998, Demo) This 4 song demo is the first major release by the french band. Hardcore is the name of the game, metal with a powerful production, a tiny bit muffled, but pretty professional for a demo. The vocals consist of high pitched screams that sit ontop of strong, low riffing and some simpler but powerful drumming. The riffs are pretty standard, with a few more experimental time signatures, really good songwriting skills and nice song structures here. Although I've never seen them live, this is definitely the kind of music that's perfect for moshing. They have all the elements they need to be a great band, I think it's just a matter of maturity, and if the band needs to work on anything, it's probably on getting a few more original riffs and hooks to compliment their already sound concept of what a well rounded song should sound like.

• The Strings of Conscience (2001)
• Endless (2002, EP)
• The Oncoming Storm (2004) A video of 'The Great Dividers' persuaded me to grab this album (the song has a really cool start stop guitar riff in the middle), basically this album falls in with this new wave of Shadows Fall style melodic / thrash metal (Machine Head would be another good comparison in the heavier parts, and Arch Enemy a bit for the more melodic parts, with just a touch of Pantera). The vocalist does plenty of hardcore type screaming, although I'm not as big a fan of the spoken word stuff and sung vocals. Overall, many of the songs are good (as well as the opening track kicking ass, I actually sort of enjoy the ballad 'Aries'), a bunch of them are kinda filler and unmemorable. If you want the best in the genre I'd have to still go with Shadows Fall, but Unearth is another band in the same vein that has something good to say and play.
• Our Days Of Eulogy (2005)
• III: In The Eyes Of Fire (2006) Very similar to their previous album in music style and production. A few nice songs like 'Giles', and the intro to 'Impostors Kingdom' is just awesome. But surprisingly there's a few riffs that are almost direct rips-offs of other bands, specifically the middle part of 'March Of The Mutes' is pulled from a Death song (I forget which one), and the first riff in 'This Time Was Mine' is exactly like the Arch Enemy song 'Nemesis', both the guitar riff, and the drumming. But thankfully there's enough cool material here to wash away the plagaristic parts, the album ends strong with a nice fast song 'Bled Dry', followed by a vaguely positive but still heavy sounding instrumental. In general, I like the beginning, I like the end, but a few songs in the middle are reworkings of other people's material, so in my opinion if you just delete the middle of the album you have an excellent release.
• The March (2008) Another strong album for the band, pretty much the same style as their last two. Great production, powerful songs, and some nice melodies. Some of the songs sound, again, a little derivative. But it's not quite as blatant as on their last album. I also feel this album has a really nice balance between the melodic guitar stuff and the heavier stuff, a balance that wasn't quite as perfected on their previous albums. I really like the opening guitar part on 'My Will Be Done'. The only song I really don't dig is 'The Chosen', which is far to rockin for my tastes. "The March" won't get them any new fans, but it'll certainly keep the fans they already have happy.
  

• Torrential Reign (2004) If you ever wondered what Morbid Angel's "Blessed Are The Sick" or "Altars Of Madness" would sound like with modern day production, you'll have some understanding what Unholy Ghost is all about. In fact, some of the riffs sound like they could be from unused songs from these albums. Of course it doesn't help the vocalist sounds a lot like David Vincent from that era. Made up from most of the former members of Diabolic, this band manages to pull off a pretty decent album, even if kind of a rehash. Productionwise, while clear, it's missing a little bass and sounding slightly nasally, imagine again a clearer and triggered version of "Altars Of Madness". The songs are catchy and certainly very brutal. Overall, the band does a good job, it's just not terribly new. Fans of Old Morbid Angel will probably enjoy this a lot.

• Unmercifully Beaten (2006) So, we have a new Origin. But I can't very well be annoyed, what with 3 of the members of the band being Origin alumni. So I guess it's better to say that Origin has split into 2 groups, one group kept the name, and one became Unmerciful, so we now have twice the Origin goodness. These guys retain the same super speed, same crazy drumming, same sweep picking. James King is just a drummer of the highest caliber. No John Longstreth style gravity-blasting on this album, but he's just as fast in every other way, and totally impressive. Guitarwise, very similar sound to Origin's latest "Echoes Of Decimation", although overall I'd say the songs are more memorable, with some nice stand out riffs, and a very slight simplification to the song structures. The tone is really nice, all the palm muted bits are highly percussive and the picked notes are really tight. 8 new tracks, and then 3 live tracks, one of which is a cover of Suffocation's 'Catatonia', which isn't different enough from the original to be too noteworthy (although I do love the extra fast double bass he throws in the verse riff). This album kicks some serious ass, super speed, super vicious guitar sound, just brutality in its purest form, so I definitely recommend picking it up.