Inculter: Persisting Devolution

Norse teens on a mission to thrash the world senseless

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There is something incalculably heartening about discovering a young band with an instinctive grasp of the fire and fury that made thrash metal such a vital, exhilarating force for metallic good three decades ago.

Inculter come from a small town in Norway and the intensity of their delivery on this raw, uncompromising debut says it all about how the small-town mindset can inspire feats of unstoppable ferocity.

Firmly entrenched in the scabrous mire of Possessed’s Seven Churches and the runaway train terrorism of Kreator’s early works, Persisting Devolution doesn’t so much reject modern metal values as deny their existence altogether.

Gleefully punk as fuck, songs like Diabolic Forest and Death Domain hurtle along at barely controlled speeds, firing off an enthralling, scattershot flurry of Slayer-tinged riffs and proto-death metal violence, every note and beat played as if to ease the pace or soften the attack would be an outright betrayal of everything the ancient gods of steel stood for.

Metal thrashing mad and proud of it, this is one of the most exciting debuts to emerge in years./o:p

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.