Received a 7.9 rating from Pitchfork. Vastum’s second full-length is the manifestation of much personal tribulation and strife, reflected not only in the morbid hyper-realism of the album’s content, but also in the making of the record itself, which involved devastating real-life tragedy, numerous delays, departed members and a sense of frustration by all involved. It’s work born of pain. Nonetheless, Patricidal Lust is noticeably heavier, more abusive and more mentally calamitous than its predecessor Carnal Law. Recorded with Jeff Davis (R.I.P.) and later Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, Patricidal Lust has an atmosphere of eerie foreboding shrouding the doomed death metal husk at its center; the cryptic dual vocal dynamic of Daniel Butler (Acephalix) and Leila Abdul-Rauf (Saros, Amber Asylum, Hammers of Misfortune) narrates this journey through the body. The ghosts of Steer and Schuldiner echo in twisted half-remembered inference while the calculated, blunt rhythm section invokes abhorrent basement torture dungeons. Lyrically far beyond that which most death metal bands are capable, Patricidal Lust delves ever deeper into subject matter first seen on Carnal Law—the anguish and confusion associated with sexual abuse, incest and the blurry area where eroticism and madness vaporize into an unrecognizable fog of horror. Certain to leave a lasting impression, Vastum’s Patricial Lust is what lies at the core of obscene abomination.
