ALBUM REVIEW: Cult of Occult, "Anti-Life"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 01/06/2018

Label: Music Fear Satan

Haunted vocals and a primordial stew of drums and effects make this an experience like few others. Heavy, undoubtedly, but also complex their latest recording, is among their strongest, with a stifling density sure to draw doom devotees' attention.

“Anti-Life”CD//DD//2LP track listing:

1). AL

2). NI

3). TF

4). IE

The Review:

That olden creak of the bass, drum rhythms painted black and bombastic guitars deliver the sound that is as familiar as it is beloved. In the case of Cult of Occult, it is also a welcome return.

The French sludge band has had a prolific career, with six releases since 2012. "Anti-Life," their latest recording, is among their strongest, with a stifling density sure to draw doom devotees' attention.

Their 2011 self-titled album is a good look at what makes Cult of Occult so formidable. Its Full of Hell-style crushing layers of volume and meandering riffs have long been part of the band's arsenal. When it premiered the 12-minute "NI" earlier in the year, the slowed down feel gave Cult of Occult's particular approach a sort of burn that is a treat as it is a trudge. The track possesses a kind of torment that a great sludge song can do, with paralyzing rhythms and, as here, its contemptuous chords that soar just over your head. It was a fine introduction to the new sounds the band has cooked up, and it gets better across the four-track, nearly 60-minute recording.

"AL" begins the album with a searing atmosphere. It takes a little patience, though, as the track goes in for more than two of its 15 minutes before the music picks up. Once the song gets moving, however, it comes surging forward with intense guitar and pressure cooker bass. The lo-fi, thick tempo of the opener sets an assertive tone for the album. "NI," the second cut, was a steely introduction to the album, but "AL" delivers on its promise.

"TF" builds off of "NI" with more of that multi-dimensional blend of sound – venomous bass work and blown-out guitars carve out a bruising pace, in the most lugubrious fashion imaginable. Haunted vocals and a primordial stew of drums and effects make this an experience like few others. Heavy, undoubtedly, but also complex in its arrangement and a great experience for doom and sludge fans looking for more than plodding riffs and songs about dwarves. Similarly, "IE" continues this nagging dread composed throughout "Anti-Life," with a sedated tenor that spirals into some of Cult of Occult's best departures.

Seldom can a band doing this style create something original with this level of output. However, Cult of Occult succeeds at making an album with a dark opalescence that rises above expectations.

“Anti-Life” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM PREMIERE: Cult of Occult deliver their latest experimentation in terror with "Anti Life"

Remaining in the shadows concealed from the light, and hiding in the darkest reaches of your nightmares, Cult of Occultare a quartet of misanthropic aural antagonists intent on inflicting their evil sounding musical diabolus upon the unsuspecting masses.  Releasing their debut self titled album in 2011, their experiments of terror are fuelled by hatred and their insatiable need to deliver the  crudest and most vitriolic sound and yet remain utterly addictive and captivating at the same time.   

Today on June 1^{st 2018} Cult of Occult deliver, “Anti Life” an album that is certain to positively dehumanize the listener and will push you to the brink of despair, with walls of vehement distortion, devilish screams and barbarous drums beats.  No light is to be found here, no hope or beauty, only hatred and darkness.  “Anti- Life” is certain to tear your soul apart, but it will also leave you crawling back asking for more and today, it gives me great pleasure to share Cult of Occult’s newest experimentations in terror.  All Hail the New Flesh and succumb to “Anti Life”.

Band info:  Bandcamp || facebook

TOP 16 ALBUMS: The Sour 16 for February 2017

Let it be known fellow Sludgelordians, “The Sour 16” returns.  The Sludgelord presents the very best riff based music to pour scorn on this desolate day and strike upon us the might of the riff, to inject our veins with sin and guide us on journey of subservice to doom, an act that goes against the very laws and teachings of populist culture, and for those that wish to come with us on our quest, kneel with me as we embrace the thunderous din that is, “The Sour 16”.

You know the drill by now, each month, you the reader are unwittingly compiling a list of the top 16 records of the month, covering all genres of metal.  Is it not a chart, in which reviewers or contributors extol their opinion about their favourite music.  To put it simply, “The Sour 16” are the records that have been trending the most at Sludgelord Headquarters.

The results are compiled based on page views alone and calibrated into the list below.  All reviews can be viewed by clicking the artwork and we have included album streams wherever possible. (Total views since their publication are highlighted in red)

16). Morta Skuld - "Wounds Deeper Than Time" (579)

15). Crystal Fairy - "Crystal Fairy" (629)

14). Woe - “Hope Attrition” (660)

13). Weltesser - "Crestfallen" (711)

12). Grey Widow - "II" (720)

11). Dread Sovereign - "For Doom The Bell Tolls" (739)

10). Brutus- "Burst" (820)

9). Wiegedood - “De Doden Hebben Het Goed II” (924)

8). Psychedelic Witchcraft– “Magick Rites and Spells" (979)

  

7). Darkest Hour - “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”(1011)

6). Death Alley - "Live At Roadburn" (1023)

5). Cult of Occult / Grim Van Doom - "Split" (1096)

4). Sleep - "The Clarity" (EP) (1437)

3). DOOL - "Here Now, There Then" (1439)

2). Unearthly Trance - "Stalking the Ghost" (1526)

1). Widows - "Oh Deer God" (1705)

A big thank you as always to our amazing writers, your dedication knows no boundaries and for that I am truly grateful. February’s  “Sour 16” features reviews by:  Victor Van Ommen, Ben Fitts, Theron Moore, Brandon Green, Charlie Butler, Chris Bull, Jake Wallace, Conor O’Dea & Grim Trashcan

ALBUM REVIEW & PREMIERE: Cult of Occult / Grim Van Doom - "Split"

By: Ben Fitts

Album Type: Split

Date Released: 15/02/2017

Label: Vendetta Records

Plump, earthy bass tones, ominous, cymbal-heavy drumming, hellishly guttural vocals and filthy guitar distortion are set to a tempo that makes Sleep look like a grindcore band. All of these elements remain constant throughout the twenty-two minutes of “Black Sea”, giving the song an endless, trance-inducing feel.  Grim Van Doom’s side of the album has very little fat on them; they are all lean, brutish works of harsh sludge that churn your stomach and make the marrow of your bones tremble.

Cult of Occult / Grim Van Doom DD//LP track listing:

1). CULT OF OCCULT - "Black Sea"

2). GRIM VAN DOOM – "Crimson"

3). GRIM VAN DOOM - "Interlude"

4). GRIM VAN DOOM - "Rust"

5). GRIM VAN DOOM - "Azure"

The Review:

The split album by the sludge bands Cult Of Occultand Grim Van Doom starkly contrast the two very different approaches that the two bands bring to the same genre. But, if anything, that contrast grabs the listener. Cult Of Occult’s half of the album is one, twenty-two minute long track titled “Black Sea”. It rumbles like a distant demon patiently clawing its way out from hell, one massive handful of earth at a time. Plump, earthy bass tones, ominous, cymbal-heavy drumming, hellishly guttural vocals and filthy guitar distortion are set to a tempo that makes Sleeplook like a grindcore band. All of these elements remain constant throughout the twenty-two minutes of “Black Sea”, giving the song an endless, trance-inducing feel.

The half of the album given to German quarter Grim Van Doom is rather different. Containing three songs and a brief interlude, Grim Van Doom’s side of the album is like a punch in the face from a spiked, steel gauntlet. While all three song’s on Grim Van Doom’sside of the album cross over the five minute mark, there is still a feeling of very little fat on them; they are all lean, brutish works of harsh sludge that churn your stomach and make the marrow of your bones tremble. Pungent tones grate against your eardrums as they doll out riffs that sound as if they had been written by someone who had spent the last two decades fuming at past transgressions and plotting revenge.

Having the music of these two different bands stacked side by side is an effective way of exaggerating the qualities of both. Both Cult Of Occult and Grim Van Doom create music that is firmly within the sludge metal sphere, so there is enough similarity for coherence. However, while each band grabs sludge by the throat, they do so from disparate angels. Cult Of Occult’s slithering journey through the abyss brings out the pounding, martial energy of Grim Van Doom, who in turn make the hellish sounds Cult Of Occult that much more vivid.

“Cult of Occult / Grim Van Doom” is available here

Band info: facebookcultofoccult|| facebookgrimvandoom