Review INCULTER ‘Morbid Origin’

Norway is known for their black metal scene and still there are also bands, hailing from the country in the North-West of Europe that are at home in other heavy subgenres. One of these bands is Inculter from Fusa.

The band started in 2012 and released with ‘Persisting Devolution’ a debut album in 2015. With ‘fatal Visions’ followed the sophomore release and four years later; the next strike is available.

‘Morbid Origin’, that is the title of Inculter’s newest effort. Eight songs and an intro, that is what the track listing offers, and it start with the sinister intro that leads to the fulminant ‘Death Reigns’. Inculter unfold the full blast, a thrashing madness. And not only that the guys push the pedal really hard. The break in the middle section with some very melodic leads creates a great counterpart to the aggressive rest of the song.

The songs on ‘Morbid Origin’ are all rather long and it is the title track that stands out with playing time of more than eight minutes. It’s not exactly new what the Norwegians push to the record stores. It is rather the heaviness and a bulldozer riff power that leads to some headbanging if you want it or not.

Photo: Christian Misje

Back to the title track. The song is kept in a moderate pace and entails blistering solo parts. This is music for a beer-soaked club show, and I have to say that the music will work live most probably even better, than what you get to hear in these 48 minutes.

The song that is most to the point is the grooving ‘Children of Demise’. It is a raging song that brings back memories of the glorious late 80s. Equipped with smartly placed breaks the track is a furious thrasher that delights from the first to the final note.

Inspired by bands like Testament and Sepultura it’s hymns like ‘Extinction’ being great examples for a contemporary interpretation of the origins of thrash metal. And that ‘Perennial Slaves’ starts with a very short acoustic part fits into this context. The rest of the song is a slo-mo riff attack combined with an evil spirit.

Again, Inculter doesn’t reinvent the wheel of thrash metal but what the trio delivers is raw and spirited thrash metal, performed with a lot of passion. None of the tracks is a downer. Instead, this album is a deference to the mighty riff – raw and with the necessary edges. This album is a headbangers delight.