Carnal Law

2011 release from the Bay Area Death Metal band. Real Death Metal has been essential to the heavy music underground for 25 years now. The genre's appeal, unlike it's subject matter, will never die and it need not overly concern itself with trifles like "progress" and "relevance." One need only listen to timeless masterpieces by Grave, Autopsy, Grotesque, Repugnant and countless others for proof positive. Vastum is cut from the same diseased, rotted shroud. Their debut album Carnal Law was birthed from the wretched spawn of various other projects known and unknown. Vastum aurally copulates in the tapped vein of death metal's putrefied core elements. Focusing not on speed so much as creative songwriting with memorable riffs that both brutalize and dehumanize, and a dual vocal assault emanating from a lowered coffin, Vastum abuses indiscriminately without mercy. Tasteful, recognizable lead work not unlike the virtuosity one notes in mid-period Death or Carcass appears throughout but never overwhelms the fetid odor of vice at the center of `Carnal Law'. Like the paramount albums of the genre `Carnal Law' makes its point quickly and resolutely, with viciousness and intent.