Dependant on the level of your black metal knowledge, Inflabitan may or may not be a name you are accustomed with. Inflabitan has been pulsating within the black landscape for many years now and has been gaining notoriety as a cult Norwegian black metal act but is that all about to change with this, ‘Intrinsic’, the band’s first full length release.
Inflabitan takes the moniker from the name of founding member and main drive behind the artistic input of the band and this lends itself to highlight that Inflabitan has control of all guitars, bass and vocals on the package, alongside black metal royalty, Anti-Christian (most famous for duties with Norwegian heavyweights Tsjuder) who picks up duties on the drums.
The album is constructed of 10 tracks of glorious venomous black metal, real slabs of power and precision with every chord struck, every beat crushed and every scream spat out being venomous beyond belief. ‘Mental Radiation Fix’ starts the album and this exhibits a thrashier black metal DNA. The melodies are delicate and mature and the rate at which the fretboard is navigated and the skins are beaten is almost mesmeric. This track, and all that follow, sits at the speedier end of the spectrum. There are strands which resemble the speed and intricacy of Children Of Bodom and the dark and twisted shadows of Taake, with Inflabitans vocals smacking of those of Hoest at times.
The album continues with an almost confused outlook, body and soul. It sits well within the black metal camp with the vocals being raw and extreme, spiteful and malevolent. The chords are definitely black esque and the drum score could sit alongside many of its Scandinavian cousins with ease. But what sets this apart from numerous black metal offerings is that if you sit back and dissect the workings and infrastructure of the album, it has similarities to many death metal authorities, conjure up Immolation, Morbid Angel or even Kataklysm in your mind and you wouldn’t be far wrong. The beauty of ‘Intrinsic’ though is that it doesn’t just leave and be happy with resembling 2 of the greatest metal genres ever, no, it wants to add a 3rd string to its bow and that is one of a thrash title. At times this album is as heavy and dark as anything you may well come across on your journey through the underworld, but imagine then adding on a pace with which a 100m sprinter would be proud of and you are there.
The album peaks and troughs with heaviness and speed. Always changing up the presentation to demand that you are captivated and focused so as not to lose you along the way. This requires continual attention and doesn’t let up from start to finish, but if you manage to see it out to the end without finding it too eclectic in the genres it displays, you may well find nothing but a new appreciation for your new found friend.
A genius in its composition, or a mixed up Firestarter, you decide, but whichever way you lean, you can’t deny the complexity on offer in ‘Intrinsic’
(8/10 Phil Pountney)
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