by Dan Goldin (@post_trash_)
They say there is beauty to be found everywhere, but spend enough time on the internet and its easy to see these are ugly times in an ugly world. You could log off and go outside, sure, but there's new music to listen to. Toronto's Life In Vacuum understand that ugliness, and on new album All You Can Quit, they're embracing it, reshaping it, and regurgitating it back in the form of scathing post-hardcore and acrobatic noise rock. Due out this Friday, April 27th via New Damage Records, the trio's approach to their music is dirty but rarely deranged. They pull from emotional roots and off-kilter arrangements to kick up dust with a sense of purpose. This isn't ugly music for the sake of being ugly, this is a reaction to our surroundings, a display of growth through chaos.
"Jazz" may be a misleading title for the album's opener, but there's definitely a swing to it, and not just the pummeling "swinging for the fences" we've come to expect from the noise rock elite. Life In Vacuum eschew depravity and sludge for a nimble ruckus, adept to unpredictable time changes and aggravated shouting, placing them in good company with modern post-hardcore bands like Meat Wave, Big Heet, and METZ. There's an elastic quality to their music with tracks taking divergent paths only to snap back into place. Songs like "Quitting" and "All You Can Eat" (which seemingly combine to bring us the album's title) are relentless rippers that stab with every punctured guitar riff, the low end forever digging it's hole deeper, entangling the frantic vocals and creating guttural perfection in the process. It's brutal but undeniably melodic, ragged yet complex and easily digestible.
Sasha Chornyy (guitar/vocals) alternates between lacerating primal destruction ("Uniform") and melodic depth ("Sinker"), each side of the coin finding it's own footing as their expansive sound shifts both mood and immediacy. The band sound unhinged but never reckless, their attack always well crafted and stampeding onward. The band's rhythm section, Ross Chornyy (drums) and Geoff Albrecht (bass), is utterly incredible, wrapping themselves in such tight syncopation it feels likely to implode, the two leading an onslaught on your senses for damn near the album's entire 40 minute run time. The ground beneath them may be quaking, but it's business as usual for Life In Vacuum.
Stream the album and check out the band's upcoming tour dates below.
Tour Dates:
04/27 Toronto ON @ Baby G w/ DIGEST, LILIM, Iris
04/28 Waterloo ON @ Chainsaw w/Romancer, Heart Attack Kids, Wayfarer
05/02 Paris, Fra @ Comedia In Montreuil
05/04 Strasbourg, Fra @ Kawati Studios
05/05 Zurich, Sz @ Obenuse Fest
05/06 Milano, Ita @ Coa t28
05/09 Cesena, Ita @ Magazzino Parallelo
05/10 Graz, Au @ SUB
05/11 Maribor, Slo @ Dvorana Gustaf Pekarna
05/12 Zupanja, Cro @ MKC Zupanja
05/13 Novi Sad, Ser @ Fabrika
05/14 Zagreb, Cro @ Akc Attack
05/16 Budapest, Hu @ DRRPNC
05/17 Bratislava, Sk @ Club Fuga
05/18 Cadca, Sk @ Acafe
05/19 Katowice, Pl @ FEST MOCNY SZLAG #5
05/20 Brno, Cz @ Bajkazil Brno
05/21 Olomouc, Cz @ Misto Cinu
05/22 Plzen, CZ @ Divadlo Pod Lampou
05/24 Hamburg, DE @ Rote Flora
05/25 Recklinghausen, DE @ Akz
05/26 Koblenz, DE @ Jam Club
05/27 Ghent, BE @ Aap
06/01 Detroit, MI @ Trixies
06/02 Kalamazoo, MI @ Rancho Unicorno
06/03 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
06/04 St Louis, MO @ Foam
06/06 Denver, CO @ Club Scum
06/07 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Underground
06/10 Los Angeles, CA @ THe Offbeat bar
06/12 Reno, NV @ Holland Project
06/15 Victoria, BC @ Subculture
06/16 Vancouver, BC @ 333
06/20 Edmonton, AB @ The Buckingham
06/21-06/23 Calgary, AB @ Sled Island
06/24 Saskatoon, SK @Vangellis
06/25 Winnipeg, MB @ Handsome Daughter
06/26 Minneapolis, MN @ Mortimer's
06/27 Milwaukee, WI @ Quarters