Between the sporadic but legendary live performances and a worshipped discography of modern era true death metal with five albums in twelve years all released through 20 Buck Spin, Vastum has become a torchbearer of the grisly and grotesque underground, both within its native Bay Area and well beyond. The cavernous density that Vastum has made a core element of its sound remains as inhuman as ever, continuing to delve into darker atmospheres; it’s always punishing and with a fearsome momentum. Along with founding members vocalist Daniel Butler and guitarist-vocalist Leila Abdul-Rauf, the current live line-up features drummer Adam Perry, heard on the legendary Patricidal Lust and Hole Below LPs, bassist Colin Tarvin (Mortuous, Evulse), and guitarist Greg Brace (ex-Dispirit, Wild Hunt).

Finland’s Morbific is a rotten-to-the-core death metal trio deformed in the filthy and profaned boneyard of Kitee in early 2020. The band’s Pestilent Hordes demo was unleashed in the summer of 2020, and it rapidly gained them some following amongst the finest gourmets of the variety of festering, moldering and disgusting death metal that’s malignantly influenced by Autopsy, Rottrevore, Deteriorot, Mortician, Grave, Maimed, Undergang, Impetigo, and ancient Finnish masters of death and decay such as Funebre and Disgrace.
Shortly after, in the spring of 2021, the debut full-length Ominous Seep of Putridity saw the odious light of day to unanimous praise by both the fans and the media. Just a year later – and now aligned with both Memento Mori and Me Saco Un Ojo – Morbific released their second full-length, Squirm Beyond the Mortal Realm. Aptly titled, the album quickly became a cult favorite of utterly uncomfortable, slimy death metal.