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Moving further away from their early hardcore and metalcore roots, Void of Vision’s newest release is an exploration of the darkest thoughts and depression through the health battle of vocalist Jack Bergin wrapped up in an industrially charged explosive envelope. This is the sound of a band challenging themselves and their listener at the same time.
Kicking the door in quickly, Oblivion is an opening salvo that combines their heaviest moments with their most electronic, like an angry Nine Inch Nails or a Bring Me The Horizon with the kind of small twists that only seem to come from Australian bands.
On an album full of honesty, Gamma Knife is one of the standouts, describing the process and feelings Bergin has gone through to repair the damage a brain bleed, followed up by the only quiet moment in the reflective Beautiful Things. Frankly with such weighty subject matter, it is a relief to get something that takes a minute to look back on the opening slew of tracks and show some healing.
From here though, the band ramp back up from the less electronically driven Empty to penultimate track Decades brimming with enough electronica to kick off a rave. All of this leads to Angel Of Darkness, the character that Bergin has hidden behind on this album to tell his story. Introduced as the first single from the album before there was any real talk of what was to come, it envelopes both album and subject matter up neatly.
Perhaps it is the honesty or maybe the knuckling down of more electronic elements that makes this album so appealing, or maybe Void of Vision has hit a stride that finally can match the intensity they throw out from the stage night after night. It doesn’t really matter how they got here, this is a career defining album and you would be remiss and possibly un-Australian if you didn’t jump in and revel in another group of Aussies as they ascend the heavy music popularity realms.
