CUTTHROAT - INVOKING TERROR

Released through Dying Victims Productions, the EP thrives on the kinda chaos that is tightly held together by pure instinct. The production in this one is deliberately dry & organic, allowing room to breathe for each instrument. Bass growls beneath sharp edged riffs, drums explode with relentless energy, & guitars swing between speed & sinister grooves. Nothing’s over polished, & every performance lands exactly where it should.

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Cutthroat’s influences are obvious, but never distracting. Echoes of early Possessed, Morbid Angel, Merciless & Necrovore surface through the record, but Cutthroat avoids becoming any kind of tribute act. Instead, channeling the same aggression that defined formative years of death & thrash metal.

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“March of the Damned” unleashes the record’s hostile intent with full force riffs & commanding momentum. The title track keeps pressure high, while the compact “Azathoth’s Lair” delivers a burst of pure speed without sacrificing any atmosphere whatsoever. “Morbid Rites” arrives as the EP’s centrepiece, moving between neck breaking assaults & dark, heavy passages that reveal the band’s strong songwriting. Closing track “Life Beyond the Grave” leaves the biggest impression, proving Cutthroat understands that memorable death metal relies as much on moments of tension as outright violence.

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Lyrically, Invoking Terror embraces all the classic themes of blasphemy, death, infernal warfare & occult horror. Rather than chasing the trend of conceptual depth, lyrics reinforce the record’s mood, recalling an era when atmosphere mattered just that little bit more.

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For a debut mini album, Invoking Terror displays a lot of confidence. Cutthroat understands exactly what made the genre so dangerous in its former years & delivers it with youthful intensity, conviction, & enough savagery to suggest that an even stronger full length album is only moments away.

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Score 9/10

Words by LearnTwoExist 

In collaboration with Headbangers Australia

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