[photo by Chris Johnston]
In the wake of the release of their Orificial Purge LP through 20 Buck Spin in October, Oakland death metal horde VASTUM is plotting new tour dates in its support.
Their first show of 2020 will see VASTUM performing as one of the main headliners of the inaugural Shadow Frost Music & Arts Festival taking over Frederick, Maryland on February 21st and 22nd, joining Deceased, Darsombra, labelmates Magic Circle, and many more. Guitarist/vocalist Leila Abdul-Rauf will perform a set from her solo/ambient project at the fest as well.
VASTUM this week announces a run of Pacific Northwest dates in March. The band will storm through Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland March 19th, 20th, and 21st on the brief but brutal run. Watch for support acts to be issued shortly.
The band is also one of the first confirmed to perform at this year’s installment of Migration Fest. The new installment of the annual gathering will take place at Mr. Small’s Theatre on August 1st and 2nd and will see VASTUM joining the likes of Falls Of Rauros, Kowloon Walled City, Mizmor, as well as labelmates Obsequiae, Tomb Mold, Ulthar, Immortal Bird, and many more.
VASTUM Tour Dates:
2/21-22/2020 Shadow Frost Music & Arts Festival – Frederick, MD [info]
3/19/2020 Astoria – Vancouver, BC
3/20/2020 The Highline – Seattle, WA
3/21/2020 Star Theatre – Portland, OR
8/01-02/2020 Migration Fest @ Mr. Small’s Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA [info]
Watch for additional tour dates to be announced in the months ahead.
Orificial Purge is available on CD, LP, cassette, and all digital platforms through 20 Buck Spin via the label webshop HERE and Bandcamp HERE, as well as through other retailers and digital providers.
Stream VASTUM’s Orificial Purge in its entirety RIGHT HERE.
VASTUM returns with their fourth album, Orificial Purge, the anxiously awaited follow-up to their acclaimed Hole Below. With its members playing in Acephalix, Necrot, Ulthar, Mortuous, Ionophore, Cardinal Wyrm, and others, the band’s dedication to their craft is showcased throughout the underground. After three standout albums over the course of the last eight years, the effect of VASTUM‘s influence has by now seeped into the wider death metal scene, leaving an indelible mark due to their singular amalgam of aural primitivism and aesthetic originality. Their most markedly refined and tortured oblation to date, Orificial Purge represents the dominant return of VASTUM, a death-doom band driven by the horrors of psychic and corporeal life.
Lead vocalist Daniel Butler, guitarist/vocalist Leila Abdul-Rauf, guitarist Shelby Lermo, bassist Luca Indrio, and returning drummer Chad Gailey are joined by Ryan Honaker who provides guest strings to Orificial Purge. Honaker and Abdul-Rauf also help shape the album with elements of ambience. Recorded with Greg Wilkinson (Necrot, Nightfell, Ulthar) at Earhammer Studios, and visually represented by the brooding abstraction of San Francisco artist Laina Terpstra, Orificial Purge is one of the year’s most vicious and hypnotic LPs.
“…VASTUM‘s latest record sees them further developing their musical cohesion to the point where it feels like the product of a full-time band at its peak instead of a collection of musicians from other bands. 9/10″ – Blabbermouth
“…more of a refinement on their sound than a revelation – improved atmospheric introductions and tighter drumming are the big changes – but still stands a cut above their imitators. 8/10” – Decibel Magazine
“The music on ‘Purge is both sinister and suffocating, a dense and wholly appropriate foundation for its disturbing and intriguing lyrics.” – Bandcamp Daily
“The low-end is so satisfying, and it taps into the primal part of the riff brain – there are moments when the full-body rumblings feel like gravity is intensifying and melting you into the floor. And when those riffs first pick up and begin to work in mischievous melody alongside subterranean blasts, it sounds like some sort of guttural death metal machine gun.” – Stereogum
“It’s a real burner, heavy as a bag of bricks but not afraid to embrace a more melodic side too.” – BrooklynVegan
“There is no filler to be found, and even the scant moments of atmospheric quiet feel justified by the subsequent onset of tectonic death. As a band that is not talked about nearly enough, VASTUM again prove that they are among the very best in the genre. 9/10″ – Exclaim!
“Plodding, mid-paced dirges and dungeon-crawling death-doom riffs are woven seamlessly into lacerating melodic dissonance and celestial grandeur, all bolstered by a pummeling rhythm section. A refined work and a fascinating expansion of their already formidable sound, Orificial Purge is a triumphant, attention-worthy return for VASTUM.” – Invisible Oranges
“Bay Area heroes return… and continue their path of gutterstare/mutant death metal rife with some perverse obsessions and furious attack.” – Metal Injection
Orificial Purge, upon inspection comes across as a celebration of VASTUM‘s journey thus-far, modules of all that is their makeup swim to surface and is then greeted by elements now a bit more espoused though not copious to ensure a total change in methodology. 9/10″ – MetalBite
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