Whether or not you feel personally close to death in this moment, it is difficult to escape the fact that death is all around. Many of us, closely watching the atrocities occurring in Palestine and other parts of the world with unprecedented access to real-time photos and videos, have been sitting night after night “In Bed With Death.”
And so is titled the opening track to Inward to Gethsemane, the fifth full-length album by Vastum, a death metal band that has called the Bay home for a decade. Gethsemane—for those unacquainted with Christian belief—is the garden in Jerusalem where Jesus begged God to spare him from his impending suffering. Of course, Jesus ultimately accepts God’s will, Judas arrives to betray him, and the crucifixion occurs as God had planned. So what are we to take from this? Beg all we want, we’re doomed anyway? Disgusted and aghast, Vastum’s five members scream their way through the garden, concocting a maelstrom of beating black and white inner turmoil. Aside from a brief, trudging reprieve on “Judas,” it’s a nonstop pummeling.
Varieties of vinyl, CDs, and cassettes of the new album are available via Pittsburgh label 20 Buck Spin.
Vastum doesn’t have any live performances planned for 2023, but you can see Leila Abdul-Rauf play a solo set alongside Stellar Void and Kali Ra at the Golden Bull on Saturday, November 25.
