I'm not a "deathgaze" expert- but I don't think I have to be in order to relish Detriot's Vazum. To clarify, the band, Vazum, consists of the delinquent duo Zach Pliska and Emily Sturm, and they describe their synthesis of industrial influenced post-punk, alternative metal, and death rock as deathgaze. Prior to encountering their most recent LP V+, I was familiar with the term "deathgaze," but only as it was used by another band- the theatrical Japanese goth-metal group, Deathgaze.
I only know about the Deathgaze because I had a crush on a girl who was really into visual kei back in college, and in spending time with her, I ended up absorbing some of her weird passion for the genre. Deathgaze has nothing to do with Vazum, and they sound radically different. While Deathgaze's Ai could approximate the authentic and insensate croon of a vampire drifting in your bedroom window, Zach and Emily don't sound nearly as bloodless. That's actually what's caught my ear about V+ in the first place- the passion of Zach and Emily bring to the project is irrepressible. They really can't help but throw themselves into their offerings.
No matter how obsequiously they may bow before the altar of Bauhaus on tracks like the darkly stirring "Haunted House" or the gothic, guillotine blade glide of "Razor Smile," they don't seem capable of detaching themselves from the subject matter of their songs, or the expression of their performances the way Peter Murphy and his monster squad always managed to. But, I personally think this is a good thing. If I ever had a complaint about Bauhaus, it was that they could sometimes sound TOO disinterested and aloof. Vazum gets directly in your face and it changes everything. The tempos are hot, the grooves slice and gauge like a company of demonically enchanted knights attacking the stone walls of a defenseless medieval church, and the vocals smolder and entwine like a pair of dessert eagle wielding co-ed assassins, locking lips and hips as they defend themselves in the center of a bloodied gymnasium against the advancing hoard of their zombified former classmates.
As an added bonus, V+ is a very danceable album. The shadowy guitar work helps build up a sensual atmosphere while the throbbing beat resuscitates the animal in you that society has shamed into hibernation. The repetition of each of these songs's structure aids in the design as well, ensuring that you can find your groove in each before it sunsets. Vazum might call this deathgaze, I just call it a good time.
