Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Vacuous - Katabasis (2020)

The British death metal scene is littered with ugly as fuck underground acts that never seem to find the cold light of day in terms of getting picked up by any of the bigger music labels.  On a recent dm splurge I picked up on Vacuous and their brand of "caverndeath" which instantly reminded me of Grave Miasma minus some of the obvious experience that GM possesses within their ranks.  Katabasis is a riff infested beast for fans of walls of chopping and bruising death metal riffing and to be honest that is just about the extent of the offering over the twenty minutes that the band give us on this debut EP release.  

You are not going to find much in the way of variation here folks.  This is just a straight up, head off and shit down neck affair that fills the depths that it creates with a lot of the same stuff.  Sure there are slower sections that creep into existence to provide some respite from the monstrous riffing and there is argument to say that over a short format such as this, any more atmospherics would certainly suck momentum out of the Incantation-like fury that dominates the release in the main.  However, it is hard work to try and separate out individual tracks here as it stands, such is the level of consistency on show.

Although I probably will not revisit Katabasis beyond the three listens I have given it to formulate enough of an opinion to write this review, I am intrigued enough to hear what the debut full length from last month sounds like with a slightly longer run time to play with.  Although not a bad release by any means, Vacuous' debut EP feels just like a tick-box affair and as such gets appreciative nods without straying anywhere near the realm of excitement for me to give it much more than a cursory glance.