Working PR with a brand new band on their first proper release is always a scary venture, as you just don’t know if publications will be willing to take a risk on an artist they’ve probably never heard of. Vacuous hadn’t even been able to play live at the time of this EP release because of the pandemic, but they worked their asses off, recording this fantastic and gruesome death metal gem. Brilliant music perseveres, as this EP was well reviewed and cassette tapes sold out fast. I was pleased to see that in 2023, Katabasis saw a vinyl repress by San Francisco based label Sentient Ruin Laboratories. Vacuous have gone on to become one of the UK’s most exciting new faces on the death metal live circuit.
ACCOLADES
“Music to drown to. This band hit with all the force of a scummy tidal wave.”
~ GBHBL
“Old school death metal with a grindcore flavouring. It blasts through the speakers like the black box from a malfunctioning aeroplane in rapid descent.”
~ Scream Blast Repeat
“This band invokes a high amount of putrid sonic bile with each second of this release.”
~ Cvlt Nation
FROM THE PRESS KIT
Speaking about the EP themselves, “Katabasis is a term from Greek mythology which signifies a descent into the underworld. We took this both on a fairly literal level, researching the different physical depths – caves, catacombs and underlands – but also the term’s usage in modern psychology to refer to a descent into one’s psyche as well as depression; particularly fitting given that this EP was recorded in isolation.”
Katabasis sees Vacuous delivering more of everything – a more pummelling, raging, harrowing and all around darker record than their first demo. Self-recorded by the band during lockdown, the EP was mixed and mastered by Ben Jones (Slimelord, Lugubrious Children) with additional post-production from Tom Dring (Corrupt Moral Altar) at Vagrant Studio; Vacuous take the influences of old school death metal and reflect them through the lens of a bleak, miserable and oppressive 2020 Britain.
Released November 6th 2020 on Vinyl, Cassette and Digital by FHED.
PR TRAIL 