Doomcult is the name of the solo project of J.G. Arts, Dutch musician previously known for his militancy as bassist and singer of thrashers Bulldozer Breed. Being a first release, moreover by someone who, at least as far as we know, had not had anything to do with doom before, End All Life is really a surprising work. The merit of the album is to enclose a form of doom rather dynamic and with a good dose of melody, which makes it quite listenable even if, of course, when you are faced with this genre, talk about simple usability seems almost a blasphemy. In fact, Arts manages brilliantly to escape the temptation to join the thriving gothic doom scene of his country, opting for a very naive version of the genre, starting from the voice, a growl a bit ‘ungainly, which can remember broadly that of Mister Curse of the great A Forest of Stars and also, at times, that of Patrick Harreman of compatriots Moon Of Sorrow. Just the latter, a band capable of giving to the presses some formidable and underrated albums at the beginning of the nineties, could be boldly considered a possible and unconscious point of reference, especially for the melodic aspect, because Doomcult are still faithful to their company name, so the rhythms are obviously slower, but a track like Ravens reminds not a little the gestures, net of a sound rougher and without the contribution of keyboards. The musician from the Netherlands convinces with his not so obvious doom, although in the presentation is cited the inevitable triad albionica as a source of inspiration, which I do not agree at all having to base myself on what End All Life returns (maybe something of Paradise Lost, but the first Anathema and My Dying Bride there is no trace, I would say); beyond this, which is not so important, to make much of the difference are the brilliant guitar intuitions that Arts disseminates in every song, keeping away from experimental temptations: here the doom is proposed in a rough form, direct and damn effective and, indeed, partially unexpected given the musical background of Arts. It’s not a coincidence though, if the most effective tracks are also the most animated ones, such as Ravens and Wrath, but on the whole everything works pretty well within these three quarters of an hour of music of great substance. End All Life represents a nice novelty that leaves a certain amount of curiosity to see what Doomcult‘s next moves will be.

2016 – Morbid Syndicate 2018 – Loneravn Records