Ulcerate

Ulcerate
Guitarist Michael Hoggard at Hellfest 2014
Background information
Also known as	Bloodwreath
Origin	Auckland, New Zealand
Genres	Technical death metal, Post-metal
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Neurotic, Deepsend, Willowtip, Candlelight, Relapse
Associated acts	Vassafor
Website	www.ulcerate-official.com
Members	Jamie Saint Merat Michael Hoggard Paul Kelland
Past members	Mark Seeney Jared Commerer James Wallace Michael Rothwell Phil Kusabs Ben Read Oliver Goater William Cleverdon

Ulcerate is a New Zealand-based technical death metal band formed by guitarist Michael Hoggard and drummer Jamie Saint Merat in 2000. The band have released five full-length studio albums to date. The band's fifth full-length album Shrines of Paralysis was released on October 28, 2016 on Relapse Records. The band have been featured in numerous articles as one of New Zealand's most prominent extreme metal acts, have toured widely across North America and Europe, and have been compared favourably to bands such as Neurosis and Gorguts. The band's sound has been described as "nauseating, disorienting and gleefully disharmonic", and is characterised by extremely technical death metal with extensive use of dissonance, time signature changes, and complex song structures.

The core membership of Ulcerate, including Jamie Saint Merat, Michael Hoggard and Mark Seeney, formed in 2000 under the name "Bloodwreath". In early 2002, guitarist Jared Commerer and vocalist James Wallace were added to the line-up while Seeney departed. The band began writing material for its debut recording, Demo 2003, and changed its name to Ulcerate prior to its release. In 2004, the band released its second demo, The Coming of Genocide. Both demos were subsequently compiled and released by The Flood Records and Deepsend Records under the title The Coming of Genocide.

In early 2006, Ulcerate signed with Neurotic Records. Vocalist James Wallace left the band in 2006 as the band was preparing to record its first full-length album, Of Fracture and Failure. Ben Read was recruited to fill the vacant vocal position. In contrast with Wallace's lower-pitched growls, Read relied on higher-pitched screams, reminiscent of hardcore vocals. Jared Commerer also left the band and was replaced by guitarist Michael Rothwell. Of Fracture and Failure was recorded and mixed by Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard. It was mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Studios, New York, USA. The album artwork was created by Jamie Saint Merat.

In 2008, Read and Rothwell departed the band, with Oliver Goater recruited as Ulcerate's new guitarist and bassist Paul Kelland assuming vocal duties. Kelland's approach returned the band to a lower-pitched vocal style. Ulcerate then started writing and recording its second full-length album, Everything Is Fire. The album was acknowledged by critics for its unique approach to death metal, with Allmusic's Phil Freeman praising Everything Is Fire for incorporating the "percussive intricacy of Isis", "intricate scaffold of jagged, art-metal guitar", and use of repetition that was closer to Shellac than Suffocation.