Twisted by time and experience into form Fusa, Norway-based thrash metal band Inculter return beyond their tenth year of activity a changed entity. Solemn yet plagued with frustration this third full-length album serves to clarify the thread which tugs at their ironclad souls most is yet classic thrash metal. While they’ve always operated well within the bounds of this headspace they only just now achieve a sense of self, an everlasting fortitude which states itself with great confidence and intrigue this third time around. A warning of the oncoming storm delivered with furor and contrition ‘Morbid Origin‘ does well to recall the spiritus of old bones while sidestepping some of the dementia which afflicts most umpteenth generational slime today, cracking through the greyness with a shining mutant league aggression sure to send starved thrash classicists into their own gnarled form of refeeding syndrome.

Inculter formed circa 2012 by way of original drummer Even and guitarist/vocalist Remi Nygård (Morax, Hjelvik) who’d been playing in a prior group (Excavator) which hadn’t been going anywhere fast. Lifetime students of the riff and clearly inspired by the rise in thrash classicism and black/thrash in Norway and nearby territories in the early 2010’s, their earliest output was raw and darkly beaten-out work starting with the ‘Stygian Deluge‘ (2013) 7″ EP and direct follow-up LP (‘Persisting Devolution‘, 2015) wherein Cato Bakke (Reptilian, Sepulcher), who had originally joined as drummer, swapped to bass and the line-up was rounded out by drummer Daniel Tveit. At the time I might’ve compared their work to earlier Sacrifice but most folks marked that debut as black/thrash metal and that’d been their reputation until the masterful late 80’s death-thrashing throttle of ‘Fatal Visions‘ (2019) hit and changed things up entirely. It was #12 on my Top 50 Albums of 2019, and reviewed incredibly well for my own taste and featured a far more accomplished and mature result, clearly inspired by a certain era of thrash which was harder-edged, reminiscent of thrash metal’s riff obsessions that’d co-developed with extreme metal’s rise. For that goal, that intense sound, I’d found it to be a brilliant infinitely repeatable album and a hard act to follow. In fact ‘Morbid Origins‘ changes things up yet again as these still fairly young folks evolve in terms of songcraft beyond the riff which is still devoted to the ‘old school’.

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Critical Defiance: This Villa Alemana, Chile-based thrash band put out a similarly impressive record (‘Misconception‘, 2019) a few years back and is worth bringing into the conversation on classic thrash done right today as we dig into ‘Morbid Origin‘. See also: Parkcrest ‘…and That Blue Will Turn to Red‘ (2019)

Dekapitator: It’d be an oversight to not mention the heavier ‘AJFA’ treatment of this Bay Area retro-thrash band’s sound for their second LP. ‘The Storm Before the Calm‘ (2007) still holds up for how directly they’d hit their target.

Nekromantheon: Though you’ll hear plenty of Slayer and Sepultura in the attack of this top-tier thrash metal band (see also: Deathhammer) you won’t hear as much circa ’86 post-‘Master of Puppets‘ Bay Area presentation in records like ‘Visions of Trismegistos‘ (2021) as you might on this far more melodic Inculter album.

While it’d make sense to consider compatriots Evoke and Nekromantheon in any discussion of Inculter‘s total body of work thus far this particular album has taken a far, far deeper stab into the realm of Bay Area thrash metal presentation. This is shorthand for dramatic introductions, varietal modes injected into each piece, and a declarative yet sombre affect which feels yanked directly from an era where thrash metal musicians worldwide were doing their best to find a reaction to the feral outbreak that was ‘Ride the Lightning‘ and the two steps taken beyond. That isn’t to say that Inculter sound like they’ve copped ’84-’88 Metallica for their gig but, eh, you’ll hear those records deeply set within the genetic code of ‘Morbid Origin‘ and this of course opens us up to an entire realm of ancient references that lead back to that source. The best way I’ve found to put it is that if ‘Fatal Visions‘ was a dark, head-down riff hammering haunt then this follow-up is a dramatic upheaval and a lean toward the thoughtful, world-wizened point of view notable within the most dire late 80’s thrash metal visions. In this sense the first impression shouldn’t be that we’ve turned back in time but that this is a pure thrash record less concerned with but not devoid of the dark, primitive turns of proto-death.

The opening pair of “Intro” / “Death Reigns” builds a different sort of dramatic tension as the intro piece doesn’t necessarily show its cards in terms of where we’re headed. The astutely stabbed-through riffs that greet us are familiar in flavor and all the more rousing for it as I’d quickly realize that per my experience much of 2023 (and 2022 for that matter) that my brain had been starved for this level of insight charred into a classics-informed, vitalized approach to real thrash metal. Vendetta (Deu) and a few other late-to-LP German bands spiked up in mind as that opener ripped through its very focused and tightly wound arrangement, all about the riffs and the rush of the attack, but the sophisticated stretch of the composition and its inevitable downturn made much more of an event than expected and this’d set the bar damned high to start. The lasting effect of a thrash record is yet a product of where it takes the mind, how their vision carries itself out over the course of ~45-50 minutes, but I couldn’t deny that this was a damned exciting slipstream of a record to jump into.

Where we find depth, feeling and tradition doesn’t necessarily falter from that point of grand momentum. “Age of Reprisal” is a heavier, chunkier melodic piece which has all of the tragedian theatre of late 80’s thrash in its push from verse to refrain and back as it stretches toward the harmonized lead break in the middle, perhaps as close to a ballad as Inculter would dare (eh, see also: “Perennial Slaves”) but also an affected piece ready to switch gears in between solos as the two guitarists trade off masterfully for a solid third of the song. We’re right there on that line of where a thinking man’s thrash record becomes “prog” in the mind of the pleb, a la ‘Victims of Deception‘, before they pull back and keep it tuneful, stomping; “Chained to the Void” is probably the most retro-Bay Area nod on the album which sparks back to tradition per its opening riffs, sporting ‘Bonded by Blood‘ and ‘Kill ‘Em All‘ era grooves given a crossover-era sleekness by way of a higher-set bassline and tension’d verses but the song itself is rushed-at heavy metal when chopped down to pieces and movements, a trip which is not only about the riff but what dramatism they can illustrate between the most forceful points of attack. The rise, rescind, and pummel-out of that piece then leads us into the jogging, stomping and echoed shouting of “Children of Demise” which is technically not that far from some of the less blitzkrieg moments on Inculter‘s debut but here it may as well be a piece from Side B of ‘Beneath the Remains‘, or, ‘Coma of Souls‘ even. These pieces serve as a solid plateau reached for the album as Side A makes a case for doomed generations, upheaval, and a wholly shattered realm of death.

Produced by Nygård and exacting in its resonance the balance of compressed ‘old school’ damage control and the potentially blistering nuclear precision of modern thrash metal is well-met on ‘Morbid Origin‘ where the guitar tone is essential in anchoring the greater voice of the album and the guitarist/vocalist’s register is declarative and echoing in its diction, hard-assed in the way a bands like Turbo (Pol) and Gladiator (Svk) were after getting ahold of late 80’s Sepultura records, putting a stern barked-out frustration behind it. We feel this strongest with the commanding lunges of “Children of Demise”. This isn’t too drastic a change beyond ‘Fatal Visions‘ so much as a deeper trip down the rabbit hole in higher fidelity which comes primarily by way of the render of the rhythm section, who’ve been given a more resounding/cleaner bass guitar presence and less cacophonic room noise from the drum kit. This lends a feeling which is is ‘epic’ in the way most recall classic thrash being on the way to the 90’s, even if that notion is more of a “remastered”, revisionist effect. Mastering from Gord Olson (Darkened, Demisery) seems to have not only understood this punchier intent but given a slightly ruddy, ‘old school’ underground coloration to the album which is yet free of garish noise. As we reach past the second half of the album its sound design becomes a key component to keeping the blood flowing and the ear energized by the classic yet deeper-set dynamic shared between the performances available.

To be frank I was already sold on this album before it was time to hit Side B, you’ll recall I’d given a highest possible recommend on their last record and this one’d already surpassed its reach and capably stretched further back into the 80’s in doing so. But there was no guarantee that hyped feeling would last until “Extinction” hit with its disillusioned solider beats rolling in to kick off the second half before cutting into more classic rock/70’s heavy metal inspired melodies about ~3:08 minutes into the song. Slinging leads out loose and hitting a primed NWOBHM-tinged riff while retaining the stabbing pulse of the rest of the album this not only echoes the effect of the opener but uses the energy of classic speed metal to shake up the blood mid-album and get the body moving after the intermission. This also helps make the argument for Inculter‘s own touch upon thrash metal as there is a point of bliss that hits with “Extinction” where they’re not just on a roll but going above and beyond, perhaps taking some lessons learned from Nygård‘s work in his solo heavy metal project Morax and letting it bleed through a bit. And hey, beyond that the lead is a hook, a solid hit for my own taste, and a moment that’ll yank me back into the innards of this record for that feeling time and again.

‘Morbid Origins‘ is a big album, about as big as it could be within reasons at ~50 minutes in length, yet it’d be hard to justify extracting any one piece in order to trim it down, even as you might begin to eyeball the Slayerized stamp-in of the title track (“Morbid Origin”) an ambitious, riff-filled ~nine minute song which serves as the dramatic peak of Side B and the biggest statement. Throw in a guest solo by way of Arild Torp (Obliteration, Abhorration) alongside a striding, circularly spun jog through a number of riffs and you’ve gotten some extra momentum to ride through ’til the end and perhaps some inspiration taken from the more affected side of Inculter‘s Chilean counterparts who’ve provided a few similarly ambitious records in recent years. The one thing this song’d kicked up in mind is that I’d have appreciated more melodic interjections from the bass guitars as they do well to highlight the climb and descent of this piece, no need for a virtuosic prowl necessarily but it’d been effective to embellish this particularly long-winded song and its many turns; Where one might begin to argue for cuts in the running order could be the last two pieces wherein we get the chugging despair-ballad “Perennial Slaves” which adds theatre to the full listen but nothing too remarkable in terms of arrangement and “Lethal Salvation” which functions as our bullet-ride out with a few sinister thrashing turns and a kinda circa ’83 metal shakedown around ~3:18 minutes in. These pieces add to the whole of the full listen but don’t necessarily ante-up or round out the experience in a profound way.

Taken as a whole ‘Morbid Origin‘ does an incredible job of showcasing the leaps, bounds and impressive mutations available to the songcraft Inculter have always had a knack for, now developing a voice which is not only thrilling within earshot of any true thrash metal fan but also transcendent of the usual simplified morphology of the sub-genre in motion. There is a delicate balance upheld herein where thrash metal can be so traditional in scope/form yet not entirely fall upon the soft, tired barking of nostalgia and instead create a darker more vibrantly contrasted hue and deliver it with a serious punch. A very high recommendation.

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