The Vomit Arsonist – Go Without

The Vomit Arsonist – Go Without CD Assembly of Hatred CD 2012

Noting that The Vomit Arsonist labels their own sound with the descriptive tags of death industrial and power electronics, I must admit this is pretty much spot on the money.  However, rather than having separate tracks in these two styles, their sound seeks to blur the line, constituting a careful blending of the two – i.e. merging the ominous factory rhythms, echoed warehouse atmospheres and bass pounding tone of death industrial, mixed with the harsher, distorted vocals and junk metal sound of power electronics.  Likewise across the seven tracks and 45 minutes, a broad consistency to the sound is evident.  Thus depending on the piece, the various tonal aspects include: stalking synth lines, metallic percussive / scraping sounds, mechanised factory conveyer belt type rhythms, which are further complimented by harsh distorted vocals.  Finally these various sound elements have then been treated with a cavernous, rumbling, echoed and bass driven production. For sake of comparisons, The Vomit Arsonist shares a certain linage to the sound of other US based projects, with elements of Steel Hook Prothesis, Navicon Torture Technologies and Nyodene D all coming to mind.

Thematically the cover art alludes to disturbed mental states and a dependency on prescription medication, and whilst the vocals are rendered indecipherable through the yelled / distortion treatment, the song titles only serve to emphasise themes of self loathing and negativity (i.e. titles like ‘where there is none one else to blame, I must blame myself’).  These predominant themes of ‘Go Without’ are further embedded through the use of vocals samples, where ‘Anhedonia’ includes a vocal sample which seems to reference drug addiction / dependency, whilst ‘The Futility of Life’ contains another great vocal sample focusing specifically on nihilism.

So whilst ‘Go Without’ does not break the mould, The Vomit Arsonist instead has focused on clearly understanding the core elements of the death industrial / power electronics to deliver a strong, focused and forceful album.  With this agenda in mind, ‘Go Without’ absolutely delivers the goods.

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