Review by Nathan on January 8, 2023.

Vastum’s genre is hard to pin down succinctly: it’s death metal, sure, but it’s also slow death metal that’s not quite slow enough to be considered death/doom. Vastum doesn’t ever go really fast, but they also rarely drop things to a funeral doom-esque crawl, instead focusing on the oft-neglected, trudging builds and transitions that usually serve as the break between intense and overwhelming riffs, but rarely make up the meat. Vastum has made a career out of carving a niche in their “slow death metal that isn’t death/doom levels of slow but still pretty slow” hole, and Orificial Purge doesn’t expand on that template at all, instead content to refine the contents of what’s there. It’s sometimes surprising that the band can hold your interest for so long with such consistently middling writing, but Vastum is good at getting a lot with a little and using the space between riffs to their advantage.

To put it another way, Vastum is the auditory equivalent of sexual frustration. Patricidal Lust explored the concept and atmosphere with much more focus, but Orificial Purge remains within the same formula. Each riff is an agonizing crawl that doesn’t please you fully, but has enough of a lick in it that it makes you hope the next riff will finally satisfy you in the way you’re craving, but that riff only ends up doing the exact same thing to you. I can’t think of a better way to musically symbolize a 30-year-old incel dude that just sits in his basement cranking the fuck out of his meat most evenings. There’s a bit of careless self-indulgence and reckless abandon in the riffs, but it’s stifled by the slow drudgery of everything going on. You can jerk off as many times as you want to the weirdest porn your loins desire, it’s still going to leave you with residual feelings of guilt and shame. The mixture of hints of pleasure in the melodic licks and slithering grooves with the predominant base of blueballing and frustration that Orifical Purge provides makes it much more engaging than the sum of its parts might have you think upon first listen. Vastum isn’t a very flashy band and they don’t really hook you in the first time you hear them, but once their album is done you can’t help but acknowledge that the songwriting makes even the mediocre riffs stand out a bit. It’s a bit of a grower, greater than the sum of its parts.

This band has some pretty big namedrop value in an incestuous California scene. Connections to Acephalix, Necrot and Hammers of Misfortune exist between multiple members – I’m not sure if this is Leila Abdul-Rauf’s main band, or a side-project/supergroup thingy. As a result you can guarantee that there’s more songwriting prowess than usual for an otherwise relatively unproven band. Perhaps that’s why Vastum can stand out and has some replay value being adjacent to a frequently snooze-inducing death/doom genre. They’ve still got a bit longer to go before they can be considered forerunners of their genre, but Orifical Purge does make noticeable strides in subtly creating a more immersive sound and I also note a bit more detail in the riffing. This didn’t quite have AOTY-level impacts on me, but it’s very well done for what it is and I’d be the first one to rec Vastum to someone who wants something that sounds close enough to death/doom without having long boring parts. Orificial Purge is a bit hard to get into, but it’s worth the struggle.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10

Review by chrisc7249 on July 18, 2022.

These Californians have been around since the very beginning of the 2010s, unbeknownst to my feeble mind, at least up until the release of their latest installment, 2019's Orificial Purge. I was intrigued by the trippy album art when I first encountered this record, as well as being released on the great 20 Buck Spin label, so I gave it a spin and wasn't let down but also wasn't blown away too much.

Vastum is pretty straightforward, and the riffs are fairly simple and have been done before. There's only a handful of riffs on this album that I would say are truly unique enough to be their own, while the vast majority of them are just rehashes of things we've all heard before. Still… they felt new and likeable when released in this package, complete with a nasty production, great vocals and a good, but not great sense of songwriting.

The opening two tracks are perhaps my favorite of the bunch, showcasing the best vocal work as well as the most headbang worthy riffs. I was particularly impressed by how understandable the lyrics are, especially coming from death metal where all the lyrics just sound like gibberish. This made the listening experience a little more unique and fun to get into. Overall, though, the riffs feel pulled from your typical culprits; Incantation… Bolt Thrower… Autopsy… maybe a little Cannibal Corpse. Nothing you haven't heard a thousand times before, yet, Vastum doesn't come across as repetitive.

Orificial Purge is a respectable slab of death metal that doesn't do anything excellent, perhaps except the vocals, but they don't do anything wrong either. It's heavy, it's gritty, it's got a decent amount of energy and… it's old school death metal. And if you're hooked on this shit like I am, Vastum definitely is a good fix to get doped out on every now and then. I'll go back and give their earlier albums a listen in the future for sure.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Review by Alex on October 8, 2019.

How so sudden urges arise picking at the weakness of the biological; 6 more tracks laced in the sap of patricide, incest, lust and shame among many more transgressions here to satiate the itch. By the tongue that condemns, while the hands play in sinful discharge, Vastum reopens the damaged Hole Below for yet another intoxicating session of putrefaction and pleasure. Scrape clean the rust from the gates of maliciousness, crack open its welcoming stretch and penetrate its simulating, yet all the while venomous vulva, take a deep breath in honor of dignity before plunging deep into the pleasures of pacifism and puke uncontrollably before the wails of Orificial Purge. Vastum's bed is one of adultery, forbidden fantasies, suppression and ruthlessness, yet bodies climb into their luring sheets despite the multiple warnings; many a sin committed since being under their custodial carelessness directed by Carnal Law and yet amidst the flashing photographs of bondage and butchery, a sinister smile forms within the cheeks. Though misused till the anatomy has misshapen to that of a rag-doll, the comfort of sleeping amidst the nauseating stench of dried menstrual fluid and ejaculate has become an obscene obsession.

From the womb of death metal pelts Vastum with their 4th malpractice to make more sordid the deformed walls this medium. The agony of want has troubled their offspring since fondling the Hole Below; though their flirt with the spacy spooks of Spectral Voice in May of 2019 awoke hopes of more foul pleasures, it was not nearly enough to satisfy the depraved longing felt throughout the growling bowels of the genre. Here now amidst the glimmering light of masterpieces bestowed upon us like a series of tongue lashings from a feared, crooked, god-mother, Orificial Purge has arrived from the moral-less abode of Vastum. Keeping in tune with what appears to be the band's favorite number, (6) lewd exercises have been unorganized for those seeking a means to deconstruct their mental soundness and revisit their sickness. The swamp is active yet again, massage the tingle, cum play in the slit.

'Dispossessed in the Rapture (First Wound)' is but the initial puncture made, an opening to access the pasture of delectation; some reflections of Gorephilia's 'Interplanar' and 'Hellfire' materialize yet no-less intersticed from what constitutes a Vastum record. The seductress Leila, still very active as the hive queen with her signature sexual-guitaring touch and seducing growls, while her primary larvae companion Daniel, stretches the cunt's elastic to bursting widths through his dungeneous bellows. Bacterial contamination meets new levels, such does the debauchery during 'Abscess Inside Us' as riffs swirl ecstatically within the septic, molested and maimed muff, hence the call for an 'Orificial Purge' is made necessary to absolve the germinal quagmire. Sit and watch the minge absentmindedly cannibalize itself, till a gory gush of genital juices pour from its vacuum.

The Quim rests in convalescence from cruel copulation, washed of microbe, though sore and depleted of energy, is not free and is still subject to brutality: however, until recovery is complete, measures are enforced to seek out another chasm of charms regardless of origin or construct. Vastum is a creature of an ever-modifying DNA structure forming to fit fetishes; while the familiarity of Shelby’s riffing and Luca’s pulse are perpetrated, one can’t help but notice the face of the organism slowly morphing amidst Chad’s drumming antics. Consistent double bass now appears to be more embraced by the band though not used very much; those moments primarily come to light on ‘Dispossessed in Rapture (First Wound)’ and self-titled track ‘Orificial Purge’, offering contrast and tinkering to the meaty bosom of Vastum’s sound, but does not come at the cost of intimacy. The collective effort put forth ensures no ends are loose, thus binding this poking asset compatibly for the final presentation.

Still no sentiments are expressed for the ailing, what’s done has been done, heads look toward the horizon for what new promises and delights may arrive all the while prepping in hopes ‘His Sapphic Longing’ is fulfilled. ‘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. To be released October 25th, 2019 on CD, vinyl cassette and digitally through 20 Buck Spin; let “Limerent objects intrude a stunted psyche”.

Rating: 9 out of 10