Ulterior – 15 EP (2008) [DiscError] // Grade: B+

Ulterior is part of a recent crop of UK bands moving past the decade long post-punk revival for the darker pastures of  Goth & Death Rock. But then again most things Goth are inherently post-punk, so toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. 15 consists of the 3 distortion drenched songs that sound a lot like Alien Sex Fiend raping (lovingly of course) The Jesus & Mary Chain with a synthesizer. And while Ulterior clearly wear their influences on their sleeves, they manage to do so with a sense of jarring urgency that’s long been missing from indie music since we elected The Arcade Fire de facto rulers for life.

I always know a debut EP has really succeeded when I can’t appreciate it as cohesive release and I’m just left hungering to hear more.  The 3 songs on 15 are most certainly not enough to satisfy my tastes and I can’t wait to hear what Ulterior would bring to a full-length album. But in the meantime we have this and their more recent sigle Weapons to whet our appetites.

- My Pal the Crook