by Evan Mester (@evabnmebsterb)
A reference to the location where Jesus was betrayed ahead of his agonizing crucifixion, the name Inward to Gethsemane alone is a subtle hint to those familiar with San Francisco death metal quintet Vastum that this new album is a different kind of beast. Historically, Vastum’s signature flavor of lyrical blasphemy centered around sins of the flesh taken to disgustingly perverse extremes (hell, like two-thirds of their entire discography is steeped in innuendo) and communicated via gratuitous and cavernous death metal. Unlike its predecessors, Inward to Gethsemane shifts the focus of its subject matter from the visceral profanity of sex to the suffocating, metaphysical anguish of religion and spirituality. On Inward to Gethsemane, Vastum flips biblical scripture on its head, peeling back the veneer of holiness to expose the sadistic double standards underlying organized religion. It’s the furthest thing from novel territory when talking about death metal from a bird’s eye view, but the way that Vastum leans into these themes on its latest record compliments the new directions the band takes with its arrangements and songwriting.
Immediately recognizable for its vice-grip of dual harsh vocals courtesy of Daniel Butler and Lelia Abdul-Rauf, Vastum’s hallmark style of death metal typically walks a razor’s edge between pummeling grooves and visceral thrashing riffage. Of course, sticking to one's guns like this runs the risk of dulling the edge inherent to many a metal act, so Vastum’s decision to embark on fresh thematic and stylistic territory with Inward to Gethsemane comes in at impeccable timing. Matching its more metaphysically grotesque subject matter, Vastum’s latest imbues extra emphasis on the hellish churn of mid-tempo death metal. Although meditating on the horrors of metaphysical concepts isn't anything new for the quintet, the more atmospheric textures of Inward to Gethsemane allow Vastum to incorporate an unprecedented level of definition to the unnerving hellscapes it weaves.
Opening track “In Bed With Death” creeps into the picture with a haunting aura before exploding into a cacophonous death metal vortex of meaty riffs, dueling harsh vocals, and ferocious yet deliberate drumming before fading into a haze of ominous chants that set the scene the following half-an-hour or so to come. The tracks “Priapic Chasms” and “Vomitous” are the clearest examples of the type of stylistic change-up that Vastum employs on Inward to Gethsemane, utilizing a mid-paced march as an aural canvas for it to paint its horrors upon, slowing things down to doom-laden crawl or blistering, mind-thrashing speeds. As a result of both scenarios, the collection of tracks within Inward to Gethsemane feels palpably dynamic, not solely from track to track but within each of their own individual runtimes.
“Stillborn Eternity” alternates between a double-whammy of a death-doom pummel and up-tempo aggression, with the layering of chanted and sung vocals on the track's atmospheric refrain functioning as its eerie throughline. As the most direct and brisk track on Inward to Gethsemane, “Indwelling Archon” shares the closest resemblance to Vastum’s previous works, wasting no time in unleashing a maelstrom of old-school death metal depravity. The similarities to Vastum’s previous material on this track also extend to its subject matter, with “Indwelling Archon” being Gethsemane’s most overtly erotic cut in the lyrical department, imbuing its familiar sensual grotesquery with a heretical, demonic twist. The eight-minute-long closer “Corpus Fractum” captures the essence of Vastum’s foray into macabre, cerebral horror within a poignant vertical slice, spanning the brutish Finn-Death sound that defined the band’s earliest material to the bone-chilling, ritualistic ambiance that Inward to Gethsemane steeps itself in.
Even with its thirty-eight-minute runtime, Inward to Gethsemane demands a close listen to best appreciate its combination of densely-packed themes and the impactful yet subtle maturation of Vastum’s overarching sound. Although a proper autopsy is recommended, there’s more than enough meat on the bones here to get a kick out of its immediate death metal depravity. At the end of the day, Vastum just write some damn good death metal, and Inward to Gethsemane points to the band’s streak of success showing no point in stopping anytime soon.