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.

• Lesions Of A Different Kind (2020) This could totally be a lost Carcass album between "Symphonies of Sickness" and "Necroticism". It even has the same general production quality, and while I'm a fan of cleaner modern production, this legacy mix actually really speaks to me, reminding me of the olden days. The thing though that really stands out are the songs. Yes, it sounds like Carcass, but many of these riffs and songs are right up there with the stuff Carcass was putting out. Really memorable riffs that are great to mosh to, even hum to. Undeath really captures the nuances of the early days while keeping it fresh. Highly recommended!
• It's Time...To Rise From the Grave (2022) A few more 90s death metal influences this time, while the Carcass stuff is still there, a little old Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel have been added to the mix. Sound wise, a little noisier than their debut. But the saving grace of this album is the absolutely great riffs. The songs are distinct, have plenty of catchy memorable bits, super moshable. The ultimate tribute to the early days of death metal, for old timers like me, and even new timers, this album is a must buy.
• More Insane (2024) This time 90s throwback Undeath are fully exploring the catalog of Cannibal Corpse and extracting inspiration everywhere they can. Imagine the Corpse wrote and performed an album somewhere between "Vile" and "Kill" and just forgot to release it. That album is this album. Back in the days when fast meant 200 bpm. Where blasts were used as accents as opposed to the main course. Lots of groovy and memorable riffs. And compared to their last album where I had an issue with the mix, the production quality has gone up a notch here, it sounds far clearer and not as muffled, pretty much as perfect as this style is going to get. If you miss late 90s early 2000s Cannibal Corpse, this is awesome, and will keep a grin on your face from ear to ear.
  

• 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.
  

• Februus (2011) Sort of a cross between Tesseract and Devin Townsend's Ocean Machine. So we have the Djent inspired poly rhythms, the sung and growled vocals, and the chiming guitars. But then we have a stronger emphasis on big keyboards, creating a powerful wall of sound (Plus the opening track starts in a very similar way to 'Seventh Wave', the opening track of Ocean Machine). That and the generally longer songs that flow into each other gives the album a bit of a soundtrack feel, which is very cool. Vocal wise, the growls are good, and the singing is good too, he's got a deeper voice than the various Tesseract singers, imagine something a little closer to Tool and you'll get the idea. There are some songs that are a bit shorter and more focused with more of the Meshuggah style heaviness, but a lot of the album is more ambient. The first disc ends with an 8 minute instrumental, that while simple in structure, has this epic feel to it. I don't think I could say it better than a commentator on youtube who said "this is the song that will play as you enter the gates to heaven. ...it's perfect" - gramdollar. The CD version of the album comes with a second disc which is 30min of almost purely ambient music, same feel, but no djent, just keyboard soundscapes. Really impressive stuff, I really dig it.
• Eight (2013, Re-recording) Re-recording of their original EP. The bits and pieces of the band that are so excellently performed on "Februus" are all here, but it's still a little rough, the Meshuggah influence is a little stronger, and the songs are generally short. I do dig the opening track, and little bits and pieces here and there. If you want to see where the band came from, this is a decent EP, but they perfected things for their debut, and that should be the starting point for all new fans.
• La Partition (2017) After a very long wait between albums, the second album from Uneven Structure is here. And if you're expecting a continuation of their last outing, you're gonna get something a little different. First off, the djent elements are a little lighter this time. A little less Meshuggah, a little more Tool (although there are certainly still some heavier parts like the end of 'The Bait'). Some of the spacey elements have been toned down a bit, and replaced with something a little closer to say Tesseract's droning guitars. But it's not a complete departure from their previous work, we still get songs that blend together seamlessly to create sort of one giant album long song, still plenty of shouting and singing from lead vocalist Matthieu Romarin, still that big epic feel, still plenty of polyrhythms, still several 7 min + songs. Not an album you're going to get on the first listen, not an album you can easily listen to while doing something else, it really demands your full attention. Overall, I think I prefer their first album a little more, but this is still a solid release. Hope to see some of their "sci fi soundtrack" elements work their way into their future work again, but I don't think fans of the band will be at all sad with their release.
• Paragon (2019) Sort of a bridge between the first and second albums. I LOVED their debut, and their second album was decent, but I felt strayed a little too far from the elements I fell in love with on their first. This album tries to do a better job of balancing things. Sound wise, their guitar tone on "La Partition" was really kind of whiny, the nice thick Meshuggah-ish chunky sound was gone. On this album, we're not back to the original sound, but the whining is gone, replaced with more droning high end strumming to create atmosphere on top of a stronger bass laden foundation. Vocal wise, I swear there's more singing on this album than their previous releases, but everything I feel this way there's a shout or growl thrown in to contradict my belief. I am happy to say the songs are generally more memorable as well. There's even a brief moment in the interlude 'Explorer' where they do their spacy scifi keyboard ambient thing again, totally gave me "Februus" flashbacks. In general, their debut was a 10, their last one was a 7, I'd give this an 8, an improvement over album 2, but still has a little way to go to reach that 10 again. Maybe one day they'll push the brutality side of their music again, but for what it is, something a little more melodic, this album is high quality stuff.

• 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.

• Artificial Aberrations (2023) Two man brutal death metal / slam band, one handles the vocals, the other everything else. Imagine Devourment but with fewer fast bits and more slamming bits. The guitar tone is thunderous with lots of distortion, bass and sharp high end, the drumming obviously a machine, but it doesn't matter, it provides the right amount of pummeling and blasts. The vocals are pretty crazy, absolutely unintelligible, I didn't realize what a wide variety of gargles it's possible for the human throat to make. The songs don't have any real standout riffs, its all variations of the chromatic stuff the genre has provided us before, but as a statement of brutality this is top notch. Plenty of fun.

• 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.
• Ravenous Impulse (2016) Its been a full decade, and finally we have the second album from the band (an album originally promised back in 2008). And man, they just continued on from where they left off. I mean, the sound on the album is almost 100% identical to their first album, and of course the song style is also identical, so despite the 10 year difference, this really sounds like they recorded it about 5 seconds after completing their debut album. Session drummer John Longstreth does a great job of ripping through the songs in his usual super speed style. The sound is clear, the performance is accurate and intense. If I had any critique its that I feel the songs on this album aren't quite as strong as on their debut. But if you liked the first album, this one is well worth buying, and maybe the support will persuade the group to release album 3 in short order.
• Wrath Encompassed (2020) So what were you expecting? A progressive metal masterpiece with clean singing? I mean anything is possible I suppose, Gorguts with their third album managed to innovate and redefine what death metal could be, and they started as a more straight forward death metal band. So what about Unmerciful? Nope. This is another brutal blast fest in complete sync with their other 2 albums. The pace as usual is unrelenting, really the only difference is I feel the song writing has gone up a notch, and the sound quality, while still good, is a tiny bit more muffled compared to their other two. But otherwise, if you know this band, you will be in no way disappointed, and if you don't know them, prepare for eardrum destruction.
  

• Hauled Off In Chunks (2022, EP) A slightly slower and slightly groovier Disavowed, or perhaps Pyaemia. So technical death metal with lots of blasts and double bass, lots of fast alternate and tremolo picking. And good quality midrange vocals. The thing that gives these guys a few extra points is more memorable riffs, they don't steer from the tried and true death metal style, but the hooks are good. The mix is perhaps a touch muffled, but otherwise this is a high quality release.
  

• The World Is Ours (2010) Death-core band, somewhat similar in style to Bury Your Dead, but with a little less groove and a few more breakdowns (also some similarities to Unearth). Plenty of start-stop riffs, and the usual mix of screaming, growling, shouting, and spoken word stuff (almost no singing thankfully). Generally I'm not a fan of this kind of stuff, but I do appreciate the band's intensity, the mix is excellent with a huge thunderous guitar sound, the backup chorus of people shouting at you are a nice touch, you really do feel like you've been slapped silly after listening to one of their songs. As far as the style goes, these guys are top notch. But probably won't appeal to the death metal crowd.

• Malicious Malpractice (2019) Powerful death metal with fast alternate picking, and some good moshable bits. Tends to remain on the fast to midpaced region, imagine Disavowed but a tiny bit less technical. Lots of the usual blasts and double bass, mid range vocals that could use a little variety, but are decent. The songs are really well written, lots of strong riffs, and riffs you think you know where the chord progression is going but turns out you don't. If you dig the relentless pace of Disavowed, you'll love this album.
• Exploratory Autopsy (2023) Similar to their last album, but with a few differences. On the plus column, the sound is a lot better, you can hear the bass a lot more and overall it's a bigger sound. But sadly, on the negative side, I'm just not finding the songs here as catchy as they were on their previous album. All the technicality is there, lots of great fast picking, changing time signatures, but it's missing those standout riffs that you can bang your head to in between the chaos. Reminds me a bit of Decrepit Birth's first album, amazing musicianship, but needs more instantly memorable hooks. The best song is definitely the labum closer 'Corneal Epithelial Debridement', but otherwise the songs feel a little same as. Anyways, I'll keep playing the album to see if the songs grow on me, but I think their previous album was the better one.