OUR LIST OF 2025’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 12): TOMBS, VACUOUS, CLAIRVOYANCE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2025  2 Responses »
Jan 192026
 

(written by Islander)

I spent some time this weekend trying to figure out what I should add to this list after the three segments I’ve planned for the first three days of this week, which is as far as I’ve gotten. I thought I ought to pay more attention to songs from albums that didn’t make any of our year-end lists, and albums we didn’t even review, and songs I didn’t comment about in weekend roundups. I have a lot of listening ahead of me.

But today’s choices are all from albums we paid attention to in print last year. They were all on my radar back in late December when I started mapping out the first two weeks of this January rollout. They are all from albums we reviewed and that rightly received their fair share of acclaim during YE list season. Continue reading »

VACUOUS: “IN HIS BLOOD”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Feb 032025
 

(Here we have Wil Cifer‘s review of the second album by the UK death metal band Vacuous, which is set for release on February 28th by Relapse Records.)

Death Metal continues to gain popularity with bands like Cannibal Corpse as festival headliners and playing arenas. Its aggressive release makes it perhaps the most fun of all metal sub-genres yet it is all too often stuck in its ’90s nostalgia. This leads to bands idolizing the Morbid Angel‘s and Obituary‘s of the past and not always pressing forward with fresh new sounds and songwriting that moves beyond the bounds of its double-driven and growled vocals.

The sophomore album of Vacuous, In His Blood, finds the band breaking out from the pack to create their niche and find their way without leaning too heavily on their influences. Sure, guttural vocals are the main narrative, but other anguished vocalizations are employed, to give the tormented-larynx approach more purpose, rather than an obligatory gurgle underlying the frantic din. Continue reading »

BEST OF BRITISH: EVEREST QUEEN / TERRA / VACUOUS

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Oct 192022
 

(Andy Synn presents three more meaty morsels of home-grown heaviness from the UK)

I’d like to begin this article with a quick apology to the bands involved – I had every intention of writing about you sooner (especially those of you I’ve written about before) but life… uh… got in the way.

Still, we’re here now, and even though these reviews are coming post-release I hope they bring all of you some new fans (and hopefully some new sales too). You deserve it.

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IMPRECATION, CABINET, VACUOUS, LAMENTATIONS, THEOTOXIN, GNASCH, THE ROVING MAGPIE, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 032022
 

A meteor didn’t hit my house, fast zombies didn’t attack, and I didn’t prostrate myself before the demon alcohol last night, so I was able to prepare this roundup of new songs and videos.

There’s obviously a lot to take in here, but after an opening trio of death metal malignancy and malevolence the music goes in lots of other directions, some of which I think you’ll find surprising. Lots of cool cover art too.

IMPRECATION (U.S.)

The opening of this first song creates an eerie and queasy mood, in keeping with its title. The main part of “Bringer of Sickness” also channels disease through its dense, writhing and roiling riffs, palpitating drums, and malignant growls. But Imprecation also administer savage, primitive slug-fests and disemboweling gouging, and bring in both supernatural organs and wraith-like soloing to make the experience even more hideously chilling. Continue reading »