Hailing from England, cavernous five-piece death metal band Vacuous was conceived during the global pandemic, and had to record their first-ever demo during the lockdown in April this year.
Just seven months after releasing their writhing demo on cassette through FHED and Red Door Records, the band put out their debut EP Katabasis which seamlessly melds old school death metal (OSDM) with d-beat/grindcore. This amalgamation of the brevity of grindcore and the complexity of death metal ultimately translates into an insanely harrowing deathgrind sound that evokes an atmospheric dread from start to finish.
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While there may only be five songs that clock in at just 20 minutes, the sheer density of Katabasis is enough to satisfy any old school death metal fan. If you’re looking for boisterous blast beats, roaring guitar riffs, and guttural vocals, look no further because Vacuous will deliver all of the above in just a single EP.
The band which comprises guitarists Michael Brodsky and Ezra H, bassist Damiano Cerbo, drummer Max Southall, and vocalist Jo Chen, last played a gig at The Black Heart in London where they performed with other death metal acts including Celestial Sanctuary, Slimelord, and Mortuary Spawn.
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As gigs are now a reality for avid concert-goers in the UK, Bandwagon caught up with Vacuous vocalist Jo, to see what they have in store for the future.
How was Vacuous conceived? Tell us more about the formation of the band and how you guys got involved with music.
We were all in neighbouring bands that just didn’t go anywhere, and we knew we wanted to play a certain type of music so we decided to form a band together. I was drumming and Michael was the guitarist, and the singer couldn’t come one day so I ended up doing vocals, and it just kind of went from there. It was actually supposed to be a Power Trip-y cross-over Trash kind of band with the singer Seth from a local hardcore band called Stiff Meds but he got really busy with that so I was left in a room with Michael, and we just started talking about death metal, and bonded over that basically. It isn’t the most interesting story but that’s essentially how we got together.
What influenced the band’s unique blend of death/doom metal with elements of d-beat/grindcore? Are there any bands that have particularly shaped your sound?
When I was 15-16, I remember being into Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains, that type of thing, and I saw this guy wearing an Infest t-shirt at a skate park. I thought that looked kind of cool so I listened to them and while I felt it was overwhelming, I really liked it. When I was 16-18, I was trying to absorb as many hardcore and powerviolence bands as I literally never heard anything like that before, and at the same time, I was listening to a lot of slower bands like Grief and Eyehategod. Those were really key as well. Portal was a big one for me too, I was mega influenced by them, and weirdly enough, they were one of the first death metal bands I got into.
Damian the bass player really loves grindcore and powerviolence. Michael, who writes all the guitars, is more into black, death, and heavy metal. Collectively, we like bands like Autopsy, Disembowelment, Demilich, Dystopia, that kind of stuff, and we listen to a lot of Black Breath as well. We’re also inspired by newer bands like Cerebral Rot and Of Feather and Bone.
I understand you used to simultaneously drum and do vocals for the band before solely focusing on the latter—what nudged the change?
Because we recorded the EP over lockdown, I wasn’t obliged to record both the drums and vocals at the same time. I got to explore drums in a way that I never did before so it got quite frantic and messy which I really like but when we were rehearsing for the EP, I was having doubts about whether I could play those songs fully live. That’s when we got Max from Hellripper in and he’s super good. I can’t wait for everyone to hear the drums on the new album.
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What inspired your EP Katabasis? Did Greek mythology have anything to do with the conceptual idea behind the EP since the term ‘Katabasis’ is essentially an ancient Greek term for the descent into the underworld?
The term Katabasis is Greek but is kind of used as a replacement for depression. That whole summer Michael and I talked about caves a lot, and what it would be like to be trapped in there. In the back of my mind, the caves were always a metaphor for depression but I didn’t want to open up about that at first. After that release, we got proper close so the themes on the new album are more open now. Again, it’s just about being in that really awful place, just anxiety, depression, and what have you. I guess it’s quite basic in terms of lyrical themes.
Your demo was recorded in the midst of the pandemic—what was it like writing/recording music under such circumstances?
I was never in any bands before so I can’t really compare but I think it made us less time waste-y because we knew we only had so much time to get stuff done so we all fully prepared in advance. I guess it just kind of sucks not being able to rehearse for weeks on end. We feel like we’re back at zero again when we do because all our muscle memory has been reset by the time we meet up. I just hope we don’t go into another lockdown because now we’re actually playing shows and stuff.
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Tell us more about the new material the band’s been recording. What can we expect from that moving forward?
There’s a lot less punk and grindcore. There’s like one d-beat section in the whole album. And there’s a lot more black metal which I really like. I think it’s a lot more emotional, the guitars sound a lot sourer, and there are some really sad chords and riffs. On the previous two records, I’m basically just doing a low voice throughout, whereas on this record I sound a lot more like I do live because I was able to record in a studio and I didn't have to worry about my neighbours. So basically less punk, more death/doom, more black metal, and more high vocals/screeches.
The new stuff is just so much more what we wanted. It’s obviously, lyrically and thematically, a bit depressing but there are some grooves on there that will make you want to dance or bang your head or whatever. It’s a really fun album to listen to. The riffs that Michael wrote are so good, and Max’s drums and Ezra’s second guitar are all really great. I’m super proud of it. I think people are going to like it so I’m really excited for everyone to hear it.
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Also Jo, you’re originally from Malaysia—how do you think the metal scene there differs from the one in London?
I was actually born and raised in London so I never really got to experience the metal scene in Malaysia. I didn’t even know Malaysia had a metal scene until two to three years ago but it’s something I wish I could’ve grown up around. I’m really thankful for the people I’ve met in the London scene even though they’re more hardcore and punk-orientated rather than death metal. It’s difficult to compare because I have no reference for the actual scene there but I did a lot more research on death metal bands like Brain Dead and they’re all really good. They can stand their own against all the American and European bands for sure.
What’s it like being an Asian musician based in the UK?
I think I’m honestly a lot more accepted in the extreme metal and hardcore scene as a minority than I am in just real life if that makes sense. When I go to a gig I actually feel comfortable. I still get social anxiety but way less than when I go to university...that’s exhausting for me because I have to explain my tattoos or why I’m wearing a Last Days of Humanity shirt or something like that. I grew up with a lot of racism in London, and I guess that always made me feel like an outsider. When I was a kid some guy at the park was like, I’m going to let my dogs on you if you don’t get out. It just turned me into a really anti-social person but then when I found this music, it was genuinely life-changing and I think a lot of people feel that way deep down.
Lastly, does Vacuous currently have plans for any upcoming shows? Would the band consider playing in Asia in the near future?
We have some local London shows with other punk and death metal bands, and then next year we’re going to step it up. We’ll be doing a three-day tour in the North East of England with one of the shows being with Convulse. They’re such a sick Finnish death metal band. That’s going to be the first OG death metal band we’ll be playing with. The promoter is also putting on a show with Dead Congregation and Phrenelith, but sadly he didn’t ask us to play that. Obviously, I understand he’s booked us for a different show but at the same time, I really wanted to be on that. But we’ll also do a five-day UK tour when our album actually comes out so that’ll be fun. If someone wants to invite us to Asia, we would definitely love to play a show there.
Catch Vacuous in Newcastle at the Byker Grave Festival in April 2022.
You can also stream their music on Spotify or better yet, snag a physical copy of Katabasis on cassette tape/CD/vinyl from their bandcamp.
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