The UK's VACUOUS make their Relapse Records debut with their new album, In His Blood.
An overdose of Death Metal, In His Blood is a compelling mix of blazing speeds, chilling atmospherics, and angular riffing that bring the band into their own unique space. “We’ve talked about having different influences, and it felt like a bit of a dare to push things further,” guitarist Michael Brodsky says. “Back in death metal’s formative days, with bands like Autopsy, Obituary, Incantation, none of those bands sounded like each other: they were just pushing their collective influences together to the extreme. I think we’re still doing the same thing, just from the point of view of people who grew up in the 2000s.”
From the roaring, quick-fire intensity of the title track to the haunting atmospherics of ‘Hunger’ and the cinematic rumbles of ‘Contraband’, with In His Blood VACUOUS push the limits of what listeners might expect from Death Metal. “We have some surprising influences on this album,” Michael says, explaining that the track ‘Hunger’ came out of imagining what it would sound like if The Cure made a Death Metal song. The spontaneity and attitude of punk and hardcore are also an influence, and Michael namechecks Converge – less for their sound, and more for their mindset and experimental nature. “They’re inspiring for how they meld different styles together, but it still falls loosely within hardcore and metal,” he says.
Under the overarching idea of violence and voyeurism, in the album’s lyrics Jo Chen explores a number of topics including horror films, serial killers, school shootings, toxic masculinity, and the Global North and South divide. “The song ‘Contraband’ is about the 39 Vietnamese migrants who were suffocated in a lorry trying to come over to England,” Jo says. “It was such a tragedy, but it was blink and you miss it; news today and gone tomorrow. “I was born in London but my family are from Malaysia, which is historically a poor country,” he continues. “There’s such a juxtaposition when I go back there. Here in the West, generally, people are often so comfortable. The only access that some people have to extreme poverty and violence is online.”
Going forward, VACUOUS want to keep pushing boundaries, being spontaneous, and taking risks. “We want to have a discography where every album is distinct,” Jo says. “We don’t want to feel like we’re repeating ourselves. You think of a band like Carcass, who do this and it’s super fun to listen to. We just want to keep trying something different.”
