Ulcer - Dead Souls Cathedral

ULCER - Dead Souls Cathedral (MYTHRONE Promotions / DEFENSE Records - CD 2021)

I will not exaggerate if I say that Ulcer belongs to my favourite Polish death metal bands. They gained my eternal support mainly for "Heading Below". This is a killer album, in my opinion. Damn, "Grant Us Death" was also very, very cool. So, I was eager to listen to this new onslaught, believing that Ulcer will not disappoint. And they did not disappoint, obviously. Although, let me be honest - I think that "Heading Below" was a better album than "Dead Souls Cathedral". Both albums are quite different and personally, I just liked what was on "Heading..." more. Which doesn't mean that "Dead Souls..." is not good, no worries. 

Well, what is that difference then? "Heading Below" was nothing, but straight up Dismember worship death metal album. It had everything what characterizes Swedish death metal and Dismember especially, but interestingly, I think that Ulcer managed to come up with almost perfect summation of that style. Riffage, harmonies, vocals, the production - everything was top notch for me. "Dead Souls Cathedral" has minimalized these Dismember-esque influences a lot. There's still a bit of that Swedish death metal shit here, of corpse, but it is not something what would dominate over these songs. Stylistically, this album is way more diverse and brings a whole spectrum of different influences, from Demonical or Grave and other Swedish bands, through Gorefest ("Erase" LP) groove and Bolt Thrower heaviness, up to doom / death metal even. There's still a lot of that melodic stuff here, even leads have often that more harmonious sound, like in "Disintegration". But generally, the album is focused on heavier stuff. 

It sounds interesting, sure it does. I believe that Ulcer came up with much more original and intriguing album, it's not a style, which would be so common. Just check the song structures (with the average five to six minutes for a song), how Ulcer builds the tension, how they put the strong accent on creating the atmosphere rather than focusing on the vile brutality and aggression. This is where all those more melodic and almost gloomy parts come up, like in "Cold Darkness". This is also where some of the keyboard played backgrounds have been used, which is also something pretty cool. Generally, I think it is a good album, but one, which requires a bit more time from me, to really get into it.  

Standout tracks: "Those Black Gods", “Die With Us”, “Dead Souls Cathedral” 

Verdict: 75/100