Vacuous – Dreams of Dysphoria
Release Date: 14th October 2022
Label: Dark Descent / Me Saco Un Ojo / FHED
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Doom, Black Metal.
FFO: Incantation, Cerebral Rot, Ataraxy, Spectral Voice, Autopsy.
Review By: Rick Farley
Cavernous death metal four-piece hailing from London, England, Vacuous are clearly inspired by the brutish, grimy sounds of old school death metal. You can hear it in the band’s music. However, writing it off as simply basic OSDM worship would be a huge disservice to the band and yourself. Yes, the overall sound will have you reminiscing about those exciting early days of Swedish, American and The U.K. death metal scenes, but I assure you this is its own thing, ready to bludgeon you in ways not even felt yet. The members also sight grindcore, powerviolence, doom, and black metal as influences on their overall sound, which creates this hellacious amalgamation of unique filthy fucking death metal brutality. Gut-wrenching hooks, doomy entrancing melodies with an anguishing emotional side that will lead you to bursts of malice filled, blackened violence. The undeniable death metal spirit of old is here, and it’s brought some nightmarish friends with it.
Dreams of Dysphoria was recorded and mixed by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse Studio. Ben Jones mastered this exceptional album. It truly sounds incredible. No triggers, no fuckery, just dark and rapid old death metal Atmospheric, ugly as hell but still clear. The drums sound powerful with tremendous punch, the snap brings them to the forefront, feeling live and vibrant. The guitars are tight but, have dirty chainsaw fuzziness with a sharp, gritty bite. The vocals are reverbed enough to give that huge, cavernous growl that bellows from the bowels of hell. The earth-shattering low end is warm with a crushing thickness, bringing everything together to become this colossal beast of devastating heaviness.
The embedded single Matriarchal Blood has a hefty stomping groove complete with cowbell at the beginning. Headbanging, clearly, is not optional. This putrid groove contorts itself into fearsome blast beats with low gutturals and chain sawed speedy riffs. Only to bring pounding double bass, chugging guitars and tremolo picked melodies offering more change of pace in this bloodbath of savagery. The grating vocals shift from extremely low growls to higher pitched screams. A doom-laden section towards that last minute with a dread filled melodic lead set the song off to an even higher level of staggering. Stigmata Scourge has a little touch of screaming grindcore that builds up to a relentless pounding of guttural death metal. There’s nothing pretty about this track, just pure vile, menacing violence. The looming Devotion threatens of nastier things to come. A doomy clean guitar melody with double bass and distorted chords leads to disgustingly heavy walls of riffs and black metal shaded blasting. A droning melody of sombre dread over a crushing low end brings this track to its oppressive end. Every track on Dreams of Dysphoria is a stunning showcase of atmospheric yet suffocating torrent of exemplary pulverising death metal.
A remarkable debut album, Dream of Dysphoria is a prime example of a band that knows its strengths and seamlessly plays to them. It’s complex to the point of great musicianship, but simplicity drives the bulk of each songs composition, making this is an extremely harsh and brutish album that should appeal to the masses. Its accessibility comes from the band’s first-rate song writing and integration of other influences into one sick, cohesive death metal masterpiece. The album brings familiarity that’s painfully welcoming, but also brings new ways of presenting its dreadful, punishing, and bestial reckonings of the old sounds. Even with this being a debut album, Vacuous sound like a peerless band that’s been around for ages. It’s simply that fucking good.
(4.5 / 5)
