Interview with VACUOUS (UK)

VACUOUS - The London-based death metal trio went well with Michael (Guitar), Jo Chen (Drum / Vocal) and Damiano (Bass). They wisely filled the lockdown period by making their first demo in April and a few months later arrived with an EP titled "Katabasis", released on November 6, 2020, and now it is available on CD and Cassette Limited via FHED. This is an ancient tradition of death metal and played with relentless rage, instantly offering all the cool elements you’ll find on these 5 EP tracks: crushing riffs, storming beat and extremely dead vocal performances. This formula seems “typical” but the whole spirit of the song is brought to the maximum chart, leaving nightmares to the listener and creating a pure panic atmosphere. VACUOUS carries the cult and depicts chaos and despair under a dark battles. The sound of the EP, it was overshadowed by the early group reminiscent of the classic BOLT THROWER and the cult atmosphere of ABHORRENCE. Always occur with pure grind blast then switches into some thick-as-tar death metal horribleness, and back again. ‘Fermentation’, ‘Voluntary Immurement’ and ‘Blood Eagle’,

offer a momentary rhythmic change. Not yet slower, it wrapped in a thickly claustrophobic aura, pact of doom and exploding drums, with a little extra horizontal arrogance touched from ASPHYX meet INCANTATION as well. Therefore, sickness is absolutely in ''Katabasis'' EP, that will leave you amazed if you were a fan of the most morbid death metal early 90s. However, Let's dig some information along with explanations from their two members Michael and Jo chen ...

   Your band was just formed, right? Even though, you have just released a demo and the latest EP this year. It seems that you have made initial preparations for your material?

M: We formed in late 2019/early 2020. We began discussing this band in December but our first rehearsal was in January of this year. In the first few months, we experimented a lot in the rehearsal before finding a direction we all felt happy with and decided to record a demo to sort of cement this early vision of the band and use this as a baseline to move forward. We initially self-released the demo, but then Jim from F H E D approached us about doing a run of cassettes and we’ve decided to work with him again for Katabasis.

   Tell about your line-up?  How did the idea to form this VACUOUS group come about?

M: I had been trying to play in a band for a little while and got introduced to Jo by a mutual acquaintance of ours, with whom we were trying to start a black/death metal band. That ended up falling through and Jo introduced me to Damian and I think that’s when things started picking up. I think we realised quite early on that we all have very different musical backgrounds, but enough in common to work together and I think that element of variety is one of our main strengths.

    Have you planned to add more members to strengthen the sound structure, or three pieces now are enough to rock the studio?

M: For the purposes of our Demo and our EP, I think we’re really happy with what we’ve been able to achieve as a 3 piece. From my standpoint, involving fewer people makes the process more straightforward and I think everyone’s contribution has had an impact, which I like. But yes, going forward, things may change…

Regarding your new EP 'Katabasis'. Is it a good representation of your sound or the sound that you want? Did you have a clear idea how you wanted to sound?

M: I’m really pleased with the way Katabasis came out. I think one thing we aimed to accomplish with our first demo was to cast ourselves a very wide net in terms of the elements we wanted to incorporate in our sound. We’ve got some punk, grind, doom/sludge elements mixed in with our death metal so when it came to writing the EP, it was really a process of streamlining these elements and turning them into more fleshed out and comprehensive songs. 

Jo: I think it's a decent representation. Like Michael said we are all constantly listening to different shit and drawing from different things so what we want our band to sound like changes a lot too (I mean still staying within the realm of death metal more or less) - as long as we are bringing the ferocity and excitement I think that's what matters. I'm proud as hell of it, but definitely want to be darker and more intense on the next release.

   How has social media react to your band so far?

M: It’s been good overall. We rely on Instagram a lot to reach out to people. Obviously, we’d rather have actual shows to promote ourselves but we’ve had some good feedback on social media, so that’s all we could ask for, really.

Jo: Gotta get some of that real life attention too.

 Are you, Jo Chen the lead singer?  and you also drive the drums at once?  How do you maintain your balance especially during the speed section?

Jo: Yeah I do all the screaming and gargling. wrote the drums knowing I probably won't be able to pull them both off at the same time (I'm not dave bland for instance haha) but didn't want to water them down. We have a trick up our sleeve which will be announced shortly which solves that problem though. My fam is from Malaysia by the way, so this is dope. (Apparently I met a fellow countryman, unexpected! Haha — ed)

You do a lot of research on sort Greek mythology, like Katabasis. Where did you get the source of making the lyrics as a whole?

M: We decided we wanted to research the “depths” for the overall theme of the EP, so caves, catacombs, mines underground settlements, as this is something we all found fascinating and fit the aura of the music. I came across the name in the book “Underland” by Robert MacFarlane, which examines the world beneath us. The term “Katabasis” comes from Greek mythology and signifies a descent into the underworld. In addition, it’s also a term that has been used in modern psychology, to refer to a descent into one’s psyche and in particular depression. I think the fact that this EP was written in lockdown makes this particularly fitting as this project gave us something to “dive” into, rather than us each retreating completely into isolation. 

Jo: I read Annihilation which is a sci-fi horror type novel as well as a lot of Junji Ito so I think that definitely had an impact on the lyrics. I was kinda drawn to the idea of spaces being inherently evil and having intention to hurt us as well the "Call of the Void" aka the impulse to hurl yourself down or into something unknown. Also played a lot of horror games such as Bloodborne and Anatomy.

 Ok tell us about the cover art of the EP.  I think abstract is something to be expressed?

M: The cover is based on a scrapped architectural concept for a nuclear repository site that was being designed to store nuclear waste underground permanently – where it would not be disturbed for thousands of years. The idea of burying something ugly and evil deep down underground really fit with the overall theme of Katabasis both in terms of the aesthetics and the more psychological driven concepts mentioned earlier.

Jo: Yeah, and the idea that if it was discovered one day thousands of years into the future, despite all the warnings people would still want to uncover it - again the call of the void type thing. I found the concept watching Jacob Geller's video essay "Fear of Depths"  which was another inspiration - I deffo recommend. 

Please list down five groups (any genre) that you are currently admiring? And Why?

M: ZHRINE: Icelandic black metal seems to always be very harrowing and glacial – this band taps into that sound with the extra weight of crushing death metal riffing. They ooze atmosphere, mixing dissonance and melody and are one of the best live bands I’ve seen in recent years. I think Zhrine did subconsciously have an influence on how I approached the writing and aesthetics of Katabasis. They’ve only got one album from 2016, and I’m desperately awaiting a follow up.

MALOKARPATAN: Really original black metal band that mixes 70s rock, classic heavy metal and Slovakian folklore with this really great and quirky occult vibe. They’ve got a retro aesthetic and sound but make it sound fresh and interesting.

SPIRIT POSSESSION: Another crazy black metal release from this year. Not even sure how to describe this one. Everything is full of reverb and bends in every direction, like a psychedelic Aura Noir or something.

OF FEATHER AND BONE: I slept on these guys originally, but I am now fully on board. Total death metal annihilation – the way it should sound. Nothing is light or fun here, just pure fucking evil. Also, respect to them for undergoing a major style change and coming out stronger on the other end. Eagerly awaiting the new album.

ALICE IN CHAINS: Been revisiting them a lot lately. Despite being really catchy and radio-friendly at times, I still find them crushingly heavy and dark in a really primal and harrowing way, but also incredibly beautiful at times. I’ve been into them since my teens and have never grown tired of them.

Jo: DROPDEAD: one of the first "extreme" bands I listened to - instantly fell in love. just so much immediacy, at the time I'd never heard anything so fast or loud and their tunes don't really lose that intensity after loads of listens. I really wanted to scream like bob otis.

TRIUMVIR FOUL: They just make shit which sounds like it isn't made to be heard by humans and gets me excited about music in general.. Would love to see em live one day because the sound and atmosphere on record just smokes a lot of other Death Metal out right now. Intense is good.

SZA: R&B singer from the states. She just has an amazing voice and I like her melodies and really personal subject matter she chooses - doesn't shy away from talking about awkward and depressing stuff which I respect. Actually what I used to listen to a lot coming back from rehearsals and shit.

 DEAD IN THE DIRT: The Blind Hole is basically a classic to me. My go to grindcore/hardcore album and the vocalists sound so pissed. This style of hardcore (along with bands like Nails, Converge, Trap Them, Cursed) eventually got me into metal so it holds a special place in my heart. 

- KOMMODUS: Black metal inspired by Integrity??? sign me up. I'm not as die hard a fan of Black Metal as Michael but damn this is that shit (probably cuz its got that sly hardcore influence). Like Volahn has some really beautiful instrumental parts too. Definitely not heard much like it in 2020. 

Do you remember the first time you picked up an instrument? When and how was it?

M: My dad bought me an acoustic guitar when I was 12. I wanted an electric guitar so I could play rock but my parents insisted I start with acoustic and take lessons first, and I’m glad they did. I stuck with it long enough and a few years later, I got an electric one. Both guitars were cheap Ibanez models.

Jo: I have ADHD and my mum couldn't stand me drumming on every surface haha. She found these group drumming lessons which were like five quid or something stupidly cheap so started going to those but didn't last that long. I stopped for a few years but then I went to a charity programme for kids who had dropped out/been kicked out of school and their music programme gave me a lot more confidence and so I've been rolling with it since. (ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder - Ed)

    How is your daily routine, is it still in the lockdown period?  Next step through this quarantine period to promote the EP, Maybe you recorded some music videos or etc?

M: We’ve just entered a complete lockdown here in the UK, so we can’t rehearse at the moment. We’ll carry on writing, which we can do remotely. We’re working towards a short split release, which we hope can be out in the first half of 2021.

   That was the last question for me, thank you so much for your time, last words for your new fans?

M: Thanks for the interview and thanks to everyone who has checked us out so far! This project has already exceeded our expectations so everyone’s support really does mean a lot to us. Check out the band CELESTIAL SANCTUARY – their album next year is going to kick your teeth in!

Jo: Thank you so much.

https://vacuousdeath.bandcamp.com/releases