Doomcult's debut is a successful one. I suspected going into it that I would enjoy 'End All Life', mainly because of its title, one that gave me the impression that it would include some nihilistic themes. I wasn't wrong. 'End All Life' is an incredible piece of Traditional Doom, one whose anti-religious messages make for a provoking listen.



The best thing about the album is the riffs. Depending on the song, they are either evil or melodic sounding, but always catchy. I can say that no guitar part stood out to me as dry; Doomcult did a great job with their songwriting in this regard, and only the best riffs seemed to make the final cut. The arrangements are often varied, and there is an appropriate number of lead guitar parts to fill them out. The drums always seem to be doing something interesting as well - or at worse, fitting - but the bass guitar seems to mostly hang in the background providing root notes, though not exclusively; there were a few sections where I heard it as distinct from the rhythm guitars.



My first impression of the vocals wasn't a good one, but they quickly grew on me. There are a few cringeworthy verses where Doomcult's singer seems to talk in rhythm to the beat, doing so in a snarly tone, but they always resolve to a powerful, shouted chorus and are forgivable. By the end of the album, I had come to really like the vocals and the way they carried the lyrics. The themes of this album are grandiose ones, and I found lines such as, "Welcome to God's cremation" to be highly entertaining. In the vibe of Neurosis, the vocals hang on belted shouts, sometimes carrying a hint of melody, and at other times projecting as rhythmic yells of pain. They are often layered, adding emphasis to the cries of blasphemy, misanthropy, and doom that ring throughout the album.



In the second half, the songs seemed to blend together more so than they did with the first, but this is not to say that they sound the same, just that they loss a touch of momentum towards the end, but this is a small point. 'End All Life' is a mature debut, and one that I will be coming back to in its entirety. There are many memorable moments here. While I wouldn't say 'End All Life' is for everyone who enjoys Doom, I would say it's for most. My favorite tracks were 'Master' and 'Hammer'.





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