ALBUM REVIEW: Inward To Gethsemane – Vastum
San Francisco Death Metal supremos VASTUM make a welcome return after four years with their new album Inward To Gethsemane on 20 Buck Spin, and the follow up to 2019’s Orificial Purge is definitely worth the wait. The band have garnered quite a reputation with their take on death metal and it is great to hear them taking heads off with this new material, especially as it gives you a chance to hear the brilliant vocal dynamic between the piercing style of Leila Abdul-Rauf and the guttural roar of Daniel Butler again and the results on Inward To Gethsemane are brilliant, with the vocals riding over a smorgasbord of death metal excellence.
After a brooding and intimidating opening, In Bed With Death kicks Inward To Gethsemane off with a swirling dervish of what VASTUM do best, and that is make grinding death metal with a delightfully pounding groove. The unhinged Priapic Chasms follows and shows more eclecticism from the band before the powerful Stillborn Eternity takes your head clean off with its menacing nature as it resembles some form of death march.
The formidable interlude Judas breaks things up but doesn’t let up either the heaviness or the pace of the record and adds an intimidating and menacing vibe to proceedings before Indwelling Archon bulldozes all in its path with its totally uncompromising and unapologetic nature – the VASTUM death machine rolls on and on. Inward To Gethsemane reaches its conclusion with the crushing Vomitous and closing track Corpus Fractum, which slows things down to almost a doom vibe complete with some truly hellish feedback adding to the atmosphere as it closes things out. It could be a strong contender for the heaviest thing on the album, and is a great way to finish things off.
VASTUM have definitely announced that they are back in great style with this album and the label they have brought it out on are a perfect match as 20 Buck Spin are purveyors of so much fine underground extreme music, with the death metal they have put out in particular among the best around. This year alone the label has brought out well received albums from the likes of by TOMB MOLD, ASCENDED DEAD and TORTURE RACK and this new VASTUM album stands proudly among them.
With Inward To Gethsemane, VASTUM have made an album that is forward-thinking but never loses any of the primitive rawness that makes the band special. This is densely layered death metal delivered with a razor sharp finesse and maniacal heaviness from start to finish, and it sees VASTUM reach new heights and crawl deeper into depravity with both their creativity and brutality in equal measure.
Rating: 8/10
Inward To Gethsemane is out now via 20 Buck Spin.
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