Hi guys; the band being rather young maybe you could start off presenting yourselves a bit, where are you guys from, bands you played with in the past, stuff like this.
LAR: The band is young, but most of the people in it are not. We are based in the San Francisco bay area, and play and have played In lots of other bands, Acephalix, Saros, Hammers of Misfortune, Amber Asylum, to name a few.

You released Carnal Law as a demo this year and almost simultaneously 20 Buck Spin signed you to release it on CD. Did that actually surprise you, like things are going a little too fast?
LAR: We’re grateful that the label was able to put it out right away so we could have it ready for touring. Most of us have been at this for a very long time ( some of us 15-20 years) in other bands, so no, I wouldn’t say things are going fast; if anything, it’s a relief to have an immediate response when you’ve worked really hard at this most of your life.



LI: Not a big surprise. We were selling the album on tape. We needed someone to put it out and 20 buck spin offered us to do it. That’s how things are supposed to go.

I'm sure you had that question a thousand times but coming from the Bay Area that basically saw the birth of Thrash Metal, how does it feel to be a Death Metal band out there since DM hotbeds in the US are usually bound to Florida and New York? How would you describe the SF DM scene?

LI: DM is in your mind, is in your soul, anyplace is good to do it.



LAR: There is definitely a DM scene here, but most of the bands are not doing what we’re doing, i.e., primitive and dirty death metal. There are lots of bands going the more technical route – like Origin, Odious Mortem – but we have nothing to do with that scene really. We don’t use blastbeats or triggered drums. I think we stand out for this reason.

Musically speaking, Vastum play Old-School Death Metal that, in my opinion, pays tribute to early legends like Autopsy or Carcass. OSDM is lately coming back with full force with bands like Dead Congregation, Encoffination, etc. What do you t

hink are the motivations of all these bands, including Vastum's, for a style that was almost considered near dead by 1996? Why not play Brutal Death Metal or Deathcore like 80% of the bands out there or even Thrash Metal considering your origins and the ongoing revival?
LI: We don’t play another kind of music because the music we play is the music we like. I m really bored with almost all thrash and I really despise most of now days music. You’re basically asking us why don’t we do some shitty band that sounds like a bunch of other shitty bands. It’s just not gonna happen.



DB: For me the spirit of death metal is in its original form. The feeling, the mood, the rottenness... None of the genres you mentioned evoke this like traditional death metal. So those of us who want to connect to this spirit of death metal will play in a traditional style. 

With the future release of Carnal Law on CD, how are things looking for you at the moment? Any tour planned to support the release of the CD? Talking about gigs and witnessing your passion for Old School Death Metal, what would be the bands, active or split up, that you'd love to tour with?
DB: We’re playing shows with Anhedonist, Ritual Necromancy, Negative Queen, Knelt Rote in a month and half or so up north in Portland and Seattle. Other bands I’d love to tour with are, many obvious, Grave Miasma, Disma, Necros Christos, Blessed Offal, Negative Plane, Dead Congregation or broken up bands Timeghoul, Mythic, Morpheus Descends, Nuclear Death, Mystic Charm, (old) Samael.

I couldn't help but notice the presence of a Lady within Vastum's ranks. Now it's bothersome to have the same questions over and over but since I hadn't had the chance yet to interview Bolt Thrower's Jo Anne or Thorr's Hammer's Runhild, there goes my turn. How is it like to be a woman in a scene that has so few (besides the fact that your growling would put to shame most wannabe DM vocalists!)?
LAR: It’s always hard to answer these kinds of questions, because most of the time, I don’t know what the person is really asking. My experience with being in bands is just like anyone else’s regardless of gender: working you

r ass off to write songs, practice, play shows, record, tour, etc, while simultaneously working a day job, and essentially getting very little in return because that’s what doing a band is all about: doing it because you have a burning desire to create something, and nothing else. For those who want to read more in-depth on my thoughts on sexism and metal, go here: http://feministheadbanger.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/a-conversation-with-leila-abdul-rauf.



Lyrically speaking, while most DM bands deal with death (duh!) or occult/esoteric stuff, you seem to explore new grounds like sexuality (sexuality, not porn...). Is it just being from sexually-open-minded SF or how come? How do you "live" the fact that people might expect your lyrics to be more gore-drenched or occult especially with influences like Autopsy?
LAR: The French seem just as sexually open-minded to me…



DB: We write about sexuality to some extent but in general the lyrics are about the sanctity of ‘base materialism’. What this means is that we write about the sacred character of the abject and the abject, to most people, happens to center around their sexuality. We tend to contrast the classification of sexualities with the mysticism and religiosity of eroticism. Does this all come from living in San Francisco? Maybe somewhat. Does this come from exposure to abject experience? Absolutely. In general, though, I’d have to say our lyrics aren’t really groundbreaking. It’s basically just references to philosophy, mysticism, and psychoanalytic themes, which bands have been doing since the inception of the genre (Order from Chaos, Nuclear Death, The Chasm, Disharmonic Orchestra, and a ton more). And in my opinion, this approach is just as much death metal as Autopsy’s.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview for Spirit of Metal. Time for some last words from you guys and time for me to say goodbye and remind everyone out there that Carnal Law does kick some ass and is worth every penny you'll spend on it. Thanks guys!
DB: Thanks for the interview.



LAR: Thanks for the interview, the kind words, and for being so patient with our busy schedules!

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Interview done by GandhiEgo

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