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INCULTER
Morbid Origin

Edged Circle Productions (2023)
Rating: 8.5/10

It’s nice to hear a thrash metal outing not riddled with yappy, generic screamo vocals. Instead, Fusa, Norway-based Inculter opts for a more straightforward savagery in the vocal blurts which give this record a confrontational old school feeling circa mid-to-late 80s, but, as evidenced on previous offerings, a blackened edge.

In spite of its rawness though, this release is far from being a mere throwback even with its varying influences. However, due to the violent streaks, which range from Slayer to Sepultura, Inculter boasts that organic Norwegian sincerity; a secret recipe of bleak belligerence which adds extra snarl to proceedings. One moment you get hit with a Slayer-esque hammer, the next something nasty and South American, and then a Teutonic piledriver.

This is an engrossing experience that sizzles with sinister aplomb, but then again you’d expect such drive and conviction from a band that has been around for over a decade. A number of Norwegian bands ranging from Aura Noir to Impugner boast that same primitive vibe, even though they play different styles, and that same underground aura is prevalent here with a track like ‘Chained To The Void’ with its Bay Area riffage circa old Metallica, but there is melody too with the meaty ‘Age Of Reprisal’.

Inculter, considering the various line-up changes over the years, remain one of the most impressive yet underground acts on the circuit, supplying a driving starkness that even has the ability to nod towards a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal grease (‘Extinction’). However, it’s the epic title track which enables the band to set itself apart. ‘Morbid Origin’ as a song is a riff monster, but then we have ‘Perennial Slaves’, a morose ballad which emerges before the twisted thrash of closer ‘Lethal Salvation’.

Album number three from the band showcases the progression alongside the feral velocity we expected. With each release Inculter brings a darker vision, even with the more evident chunks of greater melody this time round.

Neil Arnold

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