VACUOUS - In His Blood

The sophomore album from the UK death metal band, finds VACUOUS carving out their own sonic niche that sets them apart from the pack, while not leaning too heavily on their influences. For death metal bands this can be challenging as there are staples to the genre's sound like the guttural vocals and thundering double bass that are expected, it's up to the band as to how they want to use those building blocks, and many get stuck on the sound rather than writing the songs. These guys fucked with the sound, by making interesting production choices, then builds an almost Incantation-like ambiance, but it's spacious where most death metal hit's you with a denser crunch. In doing this they freed themselves up to decorate this sound with eerie melodies. 

The second song finds them locking into more of a thrashing attack. Perhaps not as hooky as bands like 200 Stab Wounds or Gatecreeper, these guys layer guitars in a swirling web of eerie melodies that is as heavy sonically as it is metal, achieving the sweet spot I seek out from all music no matter the genre. Things get even darker on "Hunger", making their head first lunge into the powerful chug it switches to even more effective.  Another thing going for them is the fact the vocals have more purpose and are not just limited to the low growl, but intone other shades of anguish.  "Flesh Parade" is the first song that finds them conforming closer to the classic death metal sound, this is effective since up until this point they have hit you with other sounds. 

Another strength of their songwriting is they do not always feel the need to hit you with a bestial blast which makes the times they employ it in the otherwise dismal mood of "Public Humiliation" more effective. It also is the first song I recall having a guitar solo. "Contraband" wisely allows the bass to hold things down, which is a rarity as bass often finds itself being buried on death metal albums. "Immersion" has some hardcore influence to it, though is darker than most hardcore. "No Longer Human" finds a balance of deliberate darkness and animalistic menace. Overall this album deserves a 10, it's the standard by which other death metal albums are going to be measured, as they are true to the genre but with a fresh take on it. Relapse Records is releasing this beast February 28th  

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