Photo by Stanley Gravett
London’s death metal force, Vacuous, makes their thunderous return today. The quintet calls to death metal’s earliest days in their effort to grow and morph their own unique take on the extreme metal genre. To that effect, their second full-length effort, In His Blood, shows a significant expansion of the band’s range and ferocity in their tone. In a press release, guitarist Michael Brodsky says, “Our goal was to pull in our personal influences from different genres of music, blending everything together and pushing it all to the extreme in a very bold way.”
Vocalist Jo Chen–in an exclusive conversation with Decibel–says, “Musically, we looked a lot at goth and other non-death metal genres for inspiration, especially for the quieter sections. I have a lot of respect for bands who create visceral and vicious music from softer palettes.”
For Chen, he had a goal of catchier and direct songwriting. He admits, “It’s an itch that I’ve been wanting to scratch but didn’t feel capable until this release. My friend and producer Stanley Gravett really pushed me to try harder in this aspect. On previous releases the lyrics were more flavor text-y and were largely improvised, so I’m really proud to have something more concrete and unashamedly verse-chorus-verse.”
Their vision and efforts are apparent across In His Blood. The tracks across the band’s Relapse Records debut are infectious and also showcase a broader palette of styles in a tight 31 minutes of music. It’s an ideal way to stake your claim in the landscape of top-tier modern death metal bands.
Vacuous uses newly-honed sound to convey a grim and foreboding subject matter infecting society as a whole–our growing normalization and voyeurism of death, violence, and suffering. The album title and cover are inspired by “a picture of a man who had killed someone, just posing, standing in their blood.” Chen says in a press release. Additionally he states to Decibel, “I got obsessed with the idea. It spiraled into seeing the internet as this endless graveyard and the final moments of your life can be stretched ad infinitum and therefore trivialized.”
Chen drew inspiration from a number of films as well as news headlines. “Contraband” is about “the 39 Vietnamese migrants who were suffocated in a lorry trying to come over to England.” He also explored many topics including horror films, serial killers, school shootings, toxic masculinity, and the Global North and South divide to tell the stories within In His Blood. “Films such as Pulse and Red Rooms helped me make sense of it,” Chen reveals.
The culmination of source material and engrossing songwriting makes for several standout moments on the album. The opening howl and breakneck speed of the title track showcases Vacuous’s ferocious intensity. “Hunger” and the penultimate track, “Immersion” highlight the band’s newfound focus on haunting atmosphere. For Chen, however, the biggest moment for him came in the space outside of the album.
“I became seriously catatonic during the making of the album (for nonrelated reasons) so it’s a miracle it was finished at all. My bandmates, Stan, and Charlie from Crypt of the Wizard all helped me return back to form, so for me personally, it’s a triumph over an incredibly destabilizing bout of depression.”
Ultimately, In His Blood marks both a personal and musical triumph for Vacuous. The album is an early statement in a year filled with anticipated extreme music. The broadened scope and inspiration also shows a band honing its vision after five years together and stands as a fierce inflection point to guide their next five years.
In His Blood is out today through Relapse Records. Check out an exclusive stream of the album and pick up a copy of the album now.
