Music review: Godkiller - The End of the World (1998)

A guilty pleasure of mine, really, because I'm aware that it's lacking in the originality department. I mean, take a large lump of Samael worship (it's basically the missing link between Passage/Exodus and Eternal; even the vocals remind me of Blood Ritual), add the sad languor from Godflesh's Cold World EP and you're really not far.

Where it distinguishes itself, in my view, is that despite wearing its influences on its sleeve and a 45 min runtime, it never feels boring and only rarely "sagging". The full LP is a buttery smooth experience, though not accomplished enough for laser-focused listening; I think it was gunning for some kind of "hypnotic trance" result - like New Era Viral Order - but only managed a "sleepy evening in the armchair".

Not that much emotional response from me, so I'll skip the usual self-indulgent paragraphs… and instead praise the strangely warm and well-executed drum machine, the constant head-bobbing groove and consistent quality/atmosphere.

If I were to improve it, I'd remove "Still Alive" that feels quite superfluous and trim a few dozen seconds off "Down Under Ground", "Following a Funeral Path" and "Waste of Time". Would shorten the album by around 5 minutes to give a much tighter result.