Innovative Detroit-based duo VAZUM are bringing their unique deathgaze sound to the UK for an impressive third consecutive year,starting as usual with a show in the historic underground vaults in the Old Town of Scotland’s capital.
As in 2025, the gig took place at the Banshee Labyrinth, the nation’s self-styled “most haunted venue”, with its suitably subterranean maze-like layout and spooky decor making it a natural home for both the Edinburgh Horror Festival and gigs like this, so it came as no surprise to hear VAZUM’s Emily say that the venue “feels like home”.
As on previous tours, VAZUM have arranged quality local support for each show of their UK stay, with post-punk three-piece Gateway opening the Edinburgh show. In a genre dominated in Britain by those whose careers started in the 1980’s - only one of the thirteen acts billed to appear at the sadly-now-cancelled Deadinburgh Festival this year had no members over fifty years of age - it is encouraging to see younger bands taking on the mantle, with Gateway being less than half the age of many audience members and indeed so young that they don’t use Facebook (relying solely on TikTok and Instagram, apparently), but their sound has a timeless quality based around solid song structures, rooted in the interplay between some interesting bass motifs and singer Cameron’s nifty guitar work. Recent single Stiff Bodies ironically fails to get the assembling crowd dancing, but the band’s grunge-tinged and alternative 80’s influenced sound elicits an appreciative audience reaction, especially for punkier songs from the forthcoming EP Truth and Voices, which like the aforementioned teaser track will be available on Spotify.
As at their Edinburgh début two years ago at Bannermans, at which the band’s relentless drum machine Jimmy was christened, VAZUM’s set is liberally sprinkled with new songs from their as yet unfinished album, beginning with No Mercy, a short clip of which was revealed online at the start of the year. With Zach and Emily alternating in the lead vocal role, the duo blast through a set which picks up pace with a bone-shaking rendition of lead single Breach from most recent album Western Violence, followed by its counterpart Blush, with Emily’s strong vocal, notably in the upper range, showcased perfectly. The dark riffing of Exile provides an apposite backdrop for Zach’s own deep echoey delivery, whilst his stunning arpeggio modulations allow Emily to shine once more on another track from that album, Alien, which follows.
The band’s genre-inventing originality is celebrated in another new song, Death Gazers, which unsurprisingly does what it says on the tin, combining unsettlingly oblique guitar chord changes with more ethereal elements, creating an atmosphere of creepy familiarity not unlike the best horror movies, but never in an obvious or clunky manner.
With the wonderful Thief the only survivor from V+ days, the set ends with further tracks from the Western Violence, including a joyous finale rendition of the title track, which has the reasonably sized audience (especially considering the clash with the Scotland v Brazil World Cup match) grooving along enthusiastically. The show ends not with an encore, but with a raffle in which one lucky punter wins a t-shirt, before the affable duo return to the merch table where hopefully their costs for the evening were covered.
VAZUM’s biggest-ever and highly-recommended UK tour continues tonight with a near sell-out show in Newcastle supported by both Black Rain and Social Youth Cult, with further shows in Leicester, London, Oxford, Bristol, Coventry, Leeds and Manchester.
