ULCERATE
Originally a concept of Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard,
together with the addition of vocalist Mark Seeney in late 2000,
the foundation of Ulcerate was formed. Then under the moniker
'Bloodwreath', this line-up remained intact for all of 2001 whilst
the band struggled to find a 'sound' both stylistically and
compositionally.
Early 2002 brought a line-up change with the enlisting of guitarist
Jared Commerer, and James Wallace to fill the now vacant vocal
position - Mark having left to pursue his drumming. This new
line-up brought a new level of focus to the band and work quickly
began in constructing material that would later become the four
tracks of the band's first recording effort. It was with this
release that the decision was made for a clean slate beginning and
so came the demise of Bloodwreath, and the subsequent rise of
Ulcerate.
While it was fairly removed from Ulcerate's current sound and
direction, this S/T 2003 demo proved to be a solid platform from
which the band could evolve. It also helped garner a wider local
appreciation with people beginning to recognise the style and
songs. As it stands the tracks 'Subversive Supremacy' and 'Smash
the Deceitful' are still popular regular inclusions in the current
live set.
Throughout 2003 the band continued to build from the success off
the S/T demo and by late November tracking was already underway for
'The Coming Of Genocide' EP. During this recording process Jared
Commerer decided he wished to focus on his jazz bass playing and so
chose to leave Ulcerate. Michael Rothwell joined soon after filling
the void on second guitar left by the departure of Jared. Also at
this time Ulcerate's first permanent bassist was enlisted in the
form of Phil Kusabs.
For the second time in as many years local support for the band
built rapidly off the back of a release - this time with 'The
Coming Of Genocide'.
While 2004 proved to be a highly successful year with a solid
line-up, by mid 2005 the decision was made to further refine the
Ulcerate 'sound', and the band opted to move to a cleaner finger
style bass approach, adding an extra dimension to the sound. Thus
Paul Kelland was recruited with the departure of Phil Kusabs.
Early 2006 vocalist James Wallace departed, with Ben Read (ex-Kill
Me Quickly, Misadventures in Self Surgery) filling his vacancy
bringing an entirely different sound and a formidable set of lungs
to the band on the eve of completing their debut full-length for
Italy's The Spew records. The 2004 demo 'The Coming of Genocide'
was also rereleased on The Flood Records, with 2003's self-titled
demo included as bonus tracks and an interactive CD-ROM component.
In April 2006 Ulcerate signed with Dutch extreme metal label
Neurotic Records, whose roster includes such notable acts as Spawn
of Possession, Psycroptic, Visceral Bleeding and Panzerchrist among
others. Their debut full-length 'Of Fracture and Failure', released
at the end of 2006 this album is gaining more than proper
recognition. Touring options will be sorted out for 2007.