Review by Daniel for Gorement - The Ending Quest (1994)

Sweden’s Gorement are one of those unique cases of an extreme metal band that has built up a following very gradually over many years before finally being placed on somewhat of a pedestal by underground enthusiasts who all swear blind that they were into them back in the day. The reality is that unless you were an obsessive tape trader then you probably didn’t encounter the band until long after the year of release. There was a bit of a buzz around the tape trading scene about Gorement’s solitary full-length in the mid-1990’s & I was lucky enough to pick the album up through an Aussie trader I was involved with who was utterly infatuated with Swedish death metal, particularly of the doomier variety as we find here.

I have to say that “The Ending Quest” didn’t blow me away at the time though & it’s been fascinating to see their cool-factor gaining momentum over the years. I’ve been meaning to revisit the album for a good four or five years since I noticed it had been remastered & released by Century Media, mainly because I wanted to see if I’d been missing something back in the day. I also had a strong suspicion that “The Ending Quest” might be something that would interest our beloved Sonny given that one of my strongest memories of it was that it sat somewhere in the grey area between death metal & doom/death.

Upon review, I’d have to say that that’s a fairly accurate recollection because, despite most websites claiming Gorement to be doomy death metal in a similar way to that of bands like Autopsy & Asphyx, I’d suggest that “The Ending Quest” is actually a more genuine hybrid & worthy of a dual tagging (& clanning too if you want to get technical). Gorement combine the classic mid-paced death metal of Bolt Thrower & early Amorphis with the melodic doom/death of early Paradise Lost & Katatonia but they do it with the sort of grimy underground authenticity that appeals to an audience that was raised on crudely dubbed demo tapes. The execution is fairly sloppy & unsophisticated with the musicianship not being high on the list of priorities however those aren’t criticisms as such as those elements tend to work in with Gorement’s whole image & mystique to tell you the truth. I think it’s the contrast of the dark brutality of death metal with the catchy melodies of doom/death that gives them a unique atmosphere & appeal that’s quite rare these days & the filthy production job only further enhances that.

Front man Jimmy Karlson does a splendid job at the death growls & he may well be the highlight of “The Ending Quest” although there’s also an argument for the atmospheric guitar melodies during the doomier moments too. Unfortunately for me though, I’ve always favoured the more sophisticated American brand of death metal over the comparatively more primitive Scandinavian style & that position sees me craving a little more professionalism here. Despite quite enjoying almost the entire tracklisting, I can’t say that I find any of these tracks to really hit my sweet spot. It’s only really the noticeably weaker “Darkness Of The Dead” that I regard as being subpar with the other nine songs possessing an impressive consistency, even if the level they’re maintaining isn’t close to the top tiers. I tend to find the doomier moments to be more attractive than the up-tempo death metal riffs & I think that comes down to the band’s lack of precision as much as anything.

After giving “The Ending Quest” a few active listens in recent days I’ve reached the conclusion that not a lot has changed in regard to its appeal for me personally. It’s certainly an enjoyable listen but I can’t say that I feel like I’ll be returning to it any time soon. Is it worthy of the praise it seems to receive these days? Well… no, I don’t think it is. There was much better material being released at the time & I kinda get the feeling that it’s the albums primitive aesthetics that are as responsible for its lofty status as much as anything else. I mean, just take a look at that album cover, particularly the logo which seems to have been hand-drawn & pasted on with glue! If that’s not authentically underground & primitive then I dunno what is.