Vacuous announce Relapse debut album ‘In His Blood’ and share new music video

Hailing from the withering depths of the UK, VACUOUS make their Relapse Records debut with their new album, In His Blood, out February 28.

VACUOUS shared the official video for the album’s title track “In His Blood”. Watch on YouTube HERE and listen on all streaming services HERE.

VACUOUS Guitarist Michael Brodsky comments: 

“We put alot of ourselves into “In His Blood”. Our goal was to pull in our personal influences from different genres of music, blending everything together and pushing it all to the extreme in a very bold way. It’s raw, organic, unhinged and at times very imperfect, but feels like our most personal and honest music to date, which is what death metal is all about ultimately (to us, anyway). We can’t wait for everyone to hear it and couldn’t be more excited for the legendary Relapse Records to be releasing it.”

An overdose of death metal, In His Blood is a compelling mix of blazing speeds, chilling atmospherics, and angular riffing that bring the band into their own unique space. 

“We’ve talked about having different influences, and it felt like a bit of a dare to push things further,” guitarist Michael Brodsky says. “Back in death metal’s formative days, with bands like Autopsy, Obituary, Incantation, none of those bands sounded like each other: they were just pushing their collective influences together to the extreme. I think we’re still doing the same thing, just from the point of view of people who grew up in the 2000s.”

One look at the striking, blood-soaked cover art for Vacuous’ second album In His Blood, and you know the London-based death metallers aren’t messing around. Examining ideas of violence and voyeurism, the album’s title was inspired by a disturbing image the band came across on social media.

“It was a picture of a man who had killed someone, just posing, standing in their blood,” says Vacuous’ frontman and lyricist Jo Chen. “It got me thinking about how we consume images of death: it’s become so normalised.”

“The internet is like a graveyard of people’s trauma,” adds guitarist Michael Brodsky. “Seeing all that does something to you as a person.” 

Michael and Jo formed Vacuous at the end of 2019. They started out as a trio but when the pandemic hit, they hunkered down to write and realised their ambitions demanded a bigger band. They’re now a five-piece, joined by Max Southall on drums, Ezra Harkin on guitars and Zak Mullard on bass. Their debut album, Dreams of Dysphoria, came out in 2022, but it’s with their new, second album In His Blood that they’ve really hit their stride. 

From the roaring, quick-fire intensity of the title track to the haunting atmospherics of “Hunger” and the cinematic rumbles of “Contraband”, with In His Blood Vacuous push the limits of what listeners might expect from death metal. 

Under the overarching idea of violence and voyeurism, in the album’s lyrics Jo explores a number of topics including horror films, serial killers, school shootings, toxic masculinity, and the Global North and South divide. “The song ‘Contraband’ is about the 39 Vietnamese migrants who were suffocated in a lorry trying to come over to England,” Jo says. “It was such a tragedy, but it was blink and you miss it; news today and gone tomorrow. 

“I was born in London but my family are from Malaysia, which is historically a poor country,” he continues. “There’s such a juxtaposition when I go back there. Here in the West, generally, people are often so comfortable. The only access that some people have to extreme poverty and violence is online.” 

The album was recorded at Holy Mountain Studios in Hackney with Stanley Gravett, who Jo and Michael agree was crucial to the finished product. “This was the first time we’ve had any external help with arrangements which has been really good,” Michael says. “He was super invested in the record and helped us to unify everything. I’m really proud of how it sounds.” 

VACUOUS is:
Michael Brodsky – Guitar
Jo Chen – Vocals
Max Southall – Drums
Ezra Harkin – Guitar
Zak Mullard – Bass