Vastum – Inward to Gethsemane
Release Date: 10th November 2023
Label: 20 Buck Spin
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal
FFO: Bolt Thrower, Undergang, Autopsy, Necrot, Phrenelith, Mortuous, Coffins, Dead Congregation, Grave, Demigod.
Review By: Eric Wilt
A wise man probably once said, if 20 Buck Spin releases an album, it’s a banger. In the case of Inward to Gethsemane by Vastum, the wise man that probably said this was right. The longest running band on 20 Buck Spin has returned with its fifth release, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a band with Vastum’s history of dark and oppressive music.
Vastum plays a familiar brand of death metal that is no less enjoyable for its reliance on the tropes of the genre. Featuring the dual vocals of Daniel Butler and Leila Abdul-Rauf, Vastum creates a dense wall of bludgeoning guitar and thunderous bass that seldom relents in its overwhelming attack on the listener’s ears. Mixing old school death metal riffing with a contemporary feel and lyrics that plumb the depths of hell, Inward to Gethsemane isn’t an album for the faint of heart, but fans of death metal old and new will come back to this album time and time again because what Vastum does, they do as well as any band out there. 
(4 / 5)
