Band:	Cult Of Occult
Album:	Anti Life
Style:	Doom metal, Blackened sludge metal
Release date:	June 2018

01. Al
02. Ni
03. Tf
04. Ie

There are probably members of the human species who enjoy life, but they are few and the most of them live in denial, always trying to find excuses and empty pleasures to keep up the useless battle against the facts of life - it's meaningless, it's painful, and you will die. The word life and its connotations will always be up for debate; is it good or bad? Cult Of Occult, a French sludge band, is on the negative side: this band is Anti Life and that's the title of their third full-length.

After their unlistenable Five Degrees Of Insanity (2015) the French cult sludge metallers return with another unbearable piece of work. Anti Life continues in the same vein as the earlier release: it's painful, unrewarding, and meaningless and the lyrics are still on the adolescent side. The lyrics, which at times gets a bit cringy, fit the theme because this album isn't trying to create any illusions - this band isn't here to be loved. The same can be said about the monotonous and repetitive music, and every time I listen to anything from the band I ask myself the same question: "why do I like this?" Is it the droney, pulsating sound or is it the black atmosphere or something else? I don't think there's an easy answer to the question; Anti Life is an album that's quite uninteresting and not much happens, but I like the album nevertheless.

The band made a big change in their sound with Five Degrees Of Insanity, which is continued on Anti Life; the band is pushing the boundaries of its black sludge in the direction of noise and drone and I can imagine that another step towards an even more abstract sound would make the band even more interesting. Their sound has become more introverted on every release and has come a bit closer to the sound of an angst-ridden body - the monotonous and pulsating bass is portraying the human heart pumping its blood in anxiety, the ghostly guitar reminds us of our panic attacks that could hit us at any second now, and the deranged vocals are the voice of our insanity. And maybe this is why I like Cult Of Occult: they are sounding more and more like myself.

Anti Life is an album that's far from the conventional melodies that you were thought to embrace and love as life itself. This album isn't free from melodic conventions - there's nice melody here, just a bit less, and there is a really rewarding atmosphere at times, a dark one. So the overall question for albums like this is always: why should I listen to it? Because it sounds like yourself, probably. But you could also listen to it and like it, because you're not as deranged as the vocals on this album, are you? Not yet as insane, what a relief - but you will die. An inexperienced listener will only find 60 minutes of anti-music here that won't do you any good in your fight against your inner demons. I suggest that you keep on listening to melodic and easily listenable music in your life; otherwise you will probably kill yourself, but who cares?