Void Of Vision On New Album ‘What I’ll Leave Behind’…
Jack Bergin, and by extension his band Void Of Vision, have been through a hell of journey. A journey that has taken them to dark places of the soul. A journey that has changed their landscape and how they approach life moving forward. However that’s the key, they are moving forward. Be it with an upcoming arena tour with Parkway Drive or the storming new album What I’ll Leave Behind, Bergin and co have revolutionized themselves and are primed to blow, excuse the pun, your mind.
The album deals with Bergin’s health concerns and his journey through the descent and recovery. I won’t write about those health concerns as Bergin’s lyrics – often raw, confronting and emotional – are the only words that can do them justice. What is clear is the album is divided into parts, each one a step detailing chronologically into Bergin’s life at that time.
‘It wasn’t the intention, it just very much so did, so I’m glad you picked up on that. It very much fell together like that. I think even accidental. I think the beauty of this album is you can put the track listing in a bunch of different orders and it still kind of makes the same experience. Every track is kind of a little step of mine throughout this whole experience and just different levels of, I guess existentialism, even just questioning everything in the scene. There was a lot of struggle involved with the lead up and the recovery and I think that’s part of everything that I’ve written about.’
‘I think this does take you on a bit of a journey and I think musically we managed to also compliment that very well. I think there’s moments on this record where it pulls you back for a little bit and then throws you back in. There’s a couple of twists and turns, but it just really does take you on a bit of a journey and shares the experience as a whole.’
The middle of the album is a great example of the switch in journey with the music no less intense. Tracks like ‘Neurotic’ deal with the existential crisis Bergin is going through before the operation, while ‘Beautiful Things’ is sonically different as recovery begins before Empty – and its line of Living Dead – deals with the guilt of being alive before the album finishes with the lead off single, the much different Angel Of Darkness.
‘I know ‘Angel Of Darkness’ has been out for months now, but even putting that at the back end of the album is like this grandiose finish that we can just leave this on. The whole idea behind ‘Angel Of Darkness’ was just this lingering fucking feeling of just grief and just questioning everything, a lot of anxiety wrapped up in what the future holds. I don’t know what everything will be once we’re gone and I think that leaving that overarching theme to cap off the album, just leave it there, reminding the question of what happens and what do we actually leave behind. Because I feel like the beauty of this album title and album is the question is still not answered. We are yet to know what we leave behind until we do really leave this earth. I just hope that we have given it the best that we can on this and have done something to leave a bit of a legacy behind, leave something to remember by. That’s the most important thing. I feel like many walks of life will go through this and just you’re born and you die and I think it’s important to leave your mark before you go. I think creatively it’s a beautiful, beautiful opportunity and privilege that we have to be able to do so. And I’m very lucky to be in the position that I am to be able to put out art and have people actually hear it too. I cannot believe that I get the opportunity to do this. It’s crazy, honestly’.
Angel Of Darkness was conceived during a great time of unrest and multiple questions about the future of the band, Bergin’s ability to perform and overall health. So a character was born, one of necessity that you could say saved Bergin the performer.
‘Angel Of Darkness’ was like a character. The fun behind that track was, it was kind of like a gimmick that I’d been possessed at the time. We had to just write me off basically for commitments for a hot minute. When I first got the medical news, I was so busy with medical stuff and I just had to keep down low and stop activities in general. It was a really tough time. I was just pretty much out of any social situation and ‘Angel Of Darkness’ was kind of like a disguise of just playing it all down and I had an excuse to disappear and not be there because I was just sort possessed, if you will, and a nice little gimmick that we threw in because it would’ve been weird to just not do anything.’
‘Even on tour, I wouldn’t speak on stage in between songs. We’d have a backing track talking for me and I don’t know, it was kind of a play to help me do less and help me bring down the strenuous activity that might affect my health. And it worked. Honestly, man, it was crazy. We had about three months of worldwide touring in front of us, so I knew that we had to kind of strip it back for me so I could just do it with this and it all worked out.’
That track closes the album with a feeling of what could be next for the band after the hell before it, something initially that the band went for the opposite, that this could be the last hurrah.
‘It was supposed to be the most crazy grandiose version of this band that it could ever be. As you’ve seen with the visuals too, it was just on top of another level. I guess we were wondering, we may as well if we never get a chance to put out music again, then let’s put out this version, a version no one’s ever seen. Something crazy that can just show people another side of us that they’ve never seen. I think we really did that. I’m still surprised with how well it did because it is quite a different Void Of Vision track and we managed to retain a lot of fans and perhaps scare some away. But I think that is truly a very futuristic kind of vision of what the band could be. And it’s nice to leave people waiting on that track. Like you said, the last thing there is people like, oh, is this what’s next? But regardless, I think the rest of the album did have to be stripped back from those kind of visuals of how raw and honest it was and it was hard to express a lot of that with all the makeup and the imagery and the costume design and I don’t know, it’s also lot real to just do it in plain clothing and just tell our story just in the most raw and honest form possible.’
Musically the album is quick with the longest track at three mins and twenty seconds and is aggressive, punchy and stomps harder than anything they’ve done before. So, with a storming album under their belt, a tour of Austrralia and the US to come, a program to manage the health, does that mean it’s all smile and Wiggles covers on the next Void of Vision album?
‘Hahaha! Exactly, man, that’s the thing. I’ve gotten everything off my chest now, so bloody hell. It’s going to be a struggle to top this one. I think we might have to completely change face. You’re right, it might be something a lot lighthearted just to save face on all these 10 years of negativity. I think I’m done now. I’ve checked out of the psychologist’s office. I’m ready to go!’
Interview By Iain McCallum
What I’ll Leave Behind is out on September 20 via UNFD. Pre-Order/ Pre-Save HERE…
On tour with Parkway Drive, tickets from Destroy All Lines…
