User:Namib dessert/The Destroyers of All

The Destroyers of All is the third full-length studio album by New Zealand death metal band Ulcerate, released through Willowtip Records on 25 January 2011.

Lyrics
While the music was composed by Merat and Hoggard, the lyrics were written solely by Kelland. At the time of the recordings, Kelland was reading and influenced by Sam Harris' The Moral Landscape, along with Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra for a "more poetic writing style". The Destroyers of All lyrics were seen as bleak and pessimistic, but in Kelland's words it "attempt to portray a species who are obsessed with the other-worldly and spiritual, in the process neglecting all that is wondrous about the Earth, its history, and its inhabitants." Kelland further explained that this pessimistic attitude reflects the cost of this obsession.

The songs focuses on a theme consistent throughout The Destroyers of All, as a continuation from Everything Is Fire. According to Saint Merat, "The Destroyers of All as a general theme is how human beings as a species have a propensity to destroy. The album progresses to elaborate our destructive habits and the lack of respect we hold for the planet, its inhabitants, and each other." This sense of continuity is most evident on the opening track "'Burning Skies,' [which] refers to the adversity in the face of obviousness." Kelland explained that is "the desire of many for the sanctuary of being a part of something, generally an ethereal purpose or afterlife. This delusion degrades the value of all that is natural and, by virtue of its enormous scale, assigns a certain servitude."

"Dead Oceans" are the history of life many fail to acknowledge on their quest for the supernatural. In completion, "Cold Becoming" describes a viral cycle of indoctrination that reinforces this denial and devaluation of life. "Beneath" proposes an unimportance of humanity compared to the complexity of a constant expanding universe. Kelland said "'The Hollow Idols' are our imagined personification of intention in the universe. They embody all our desires, strip us of reality, and empower a decrepit morality. They instill blind and hollow hope and fracture our posterity." Land degradation caused by pollution and the man's neglect by not preserving it is addressed on "Omens". The album's closing track "The Destroyers of All" summarises its preceding songs, "describing our shame and resignation, and accepting that in many years, we will be anonymous and forgotten."

Track listing
All lyrics written by Paul Kelland, all music composed by Jamie Saint Merat and Michael Hoggard.


 * 1) "Burning Skies" – 7:34
 * 2) "Dead Oceans" – 7:01
 * 3) "Cold Becoming" – 6:16
 * 4) "Beneath" – 6:56
 * 5) "The Hollow Idols" – 6:06
 * 6) "Omens" – 8:26
 * 7) "The Destroyers of All" – 10:30

Personnel

 * Jamie Saint Merat – drums, engineer, mastering, mixing, artwork, layout
 * Michael Hoggard – guitar, engineer
 * Paul Kelland – bass, vocals