{"id":125769,"date":"2025-02-12T11:57:55","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:57:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/?p=125769"},"modified":"2025-02-12T11:57:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:57:55","slug":"review-vacuous-in-his-blood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/review-vacuous-in-his-blood\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: <b>Vacuous<\/b> &#8211; <i>In His Blood<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Bloody Roar<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>For death metal in the UK right now, <strong>Vacuous<\/strong> are one of the current rising bands in the underground scene. Formed at the end of 2019 by guitarist Michael Brodsky and vocalist Jo Chen, the band started working on material during the pandemic lockdown in 2020 which came in the form of their debut EP, <em>Katabasis<\/em>. This showed their promising potential and fans were rewarded two years later with the debut album, <em>Dreams of Dysphoria<\/em>. It was personally for me a strong debut that was one of my favorite death metal albums of that year, displaying their chaotic and consuming atmosphere. Three years later, they&#8217;re releasing their second album, <em>In His Blood<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The album opens all guns blazing with the title track, \u201cIn His Blood\u201d that is a full-frontal assault of aggression. The momentum continues with \u201cStress Positions,\u201d showing off how Vacuous can mix up their cavernous and hardcore sides without any sense of mismatch or conflict between both styles. Described as \u2018<strong>The Cure<\/strong> meets death metal\u2019, \u201cHunger\u201d is an interesting track in that personally it reminds me a bit more of <strong>Morbus Chron<\/strong>\u2019s <em>Sweven<\/em>. While this does give off a more atmospheric &amp; lighter beginning, the intensity that fans enjoy with Vacuous is still present and the transitions between the intensity &amp; lighter moments both works well together with an aggressive climax to the track.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_48796\"  width=\"320\" height=\"240\"  data-origwidth=\"320\" data-origheight=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9N4u-4weKIM?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Jo Chen\u2019s vocal style in this album is just outstanding and dynamic, as the way he delivers them feels fresh while also still being just vicious and gnarly. This is something I\u2019ve always loved about Vacuous\u2019 sound, and it feels like he\u2019s turned it up even more here. \u201cFlesh Parade\u201d continues the dissonant aggression that the band thrives on without halting which makes for a great under 3-minute track. A slightly doomier side to the band\u2019s music is shown off in \u201cPublic Humiliation\u201d while maintaining its atmosphere and intensity. The drumming also takes the spotlight on this track, showing off its variety.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\"  style=\"display: block; margin: 0px auto;\"  id=\"_ytid_22347\"  width=\"320\" height=\"240\"  data-origwidth=\"320\" data-origheight=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hJGvbyFzOY0?enablejsapi=1&#038;autoplay=0&#038;cc_load_policy=0&#038;cc_lang_pref=&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;loop=0&#038;modestbranding=0&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;playsinline=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;theme=dark&#038;color=red&#038;controls=1&#038;\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  epyt-is-override  no-lazyload\" title=\"YouTube player\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cContraband\u201d is another interesting track that strikes an unsettling feeling, knowing its lyrical theme\u2014the 39 Vietnamese migrants who suffocated in a lorry attempting to come over to the UK. The track also gives the bass some spotlight as well as again showing off the best in Chen\u2019s vocal style in the sense of anger and emotion, given the subject matter. \u201cImmersion\u201d is another ripper in delivering nice riffs and ends with the drummer again showing off his intensity. The album ends with the longest track, \u201cNo Longer Human,\u201d containing everything you have heard in previous tracks blended well, which makes for a satisfying closure.<\/p>\n<p>Altogether, Vacuous does a great job with <em>In His Blood<\/em>, giving their sound a matured evolution while trying out new things without losing their intensity and unique sound. It reminds me a bit of how <strong>Carcass<\/strong> progressed when they produced and released <em>Necroticism \u2013 Descanting the Insalubrious<\/em>. The album takes you on a dark journey which demonstrates how well the band mixes up their atmospheric, cavernous and chaotic sounds throughout each track. It&#8217;s hard to say if I like it more or less than <em>Dreams of Dysphoria<\/em> because I really liked their debut album, but it doesn\u2019t take away that I enjoyed listening to <em>In His Blood<\/em>. Both of their releases showcase why I find Vacuous to be one of the best bands coming out from the UK for death metal right now.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center;\">4\/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell<\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-48835 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=709%2C162&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"709\" height=\"162\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=1024%2C234&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=300%2C68&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?resize=768%2C175&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/NEW_TOILETSCALE_4_of_5.jpg?w=1249&amp;ssl=1 1249w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><em>In His Blood<\/em> is out on February 28th via <a href=\"https:\/\/vacuousdeath.bandcamp.com\/album\/in-his-blood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Relapse Records<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bloody Roar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":125773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Stevo has the latest Vacuous in his blood!","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,39,403,70],"tags":[1215,1533,15771],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/VacousIHBreview.jpg?fit=710%2C375&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125769"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125769"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":125822,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125769\/revisions\/125822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/125773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toiletovhell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}