Melbourne’s Void Of Vision aren’t the first band using music to convey a strong moral message, but theirs is one that’s certainly worth listening to. Blazing with acerbity at greed, corruption and injustice, the five-piece incorporate gleaming metalcore and djent-fused hardcore with hard-hitting social and political fury. When Hammer asks vocalist Jack Bergin to elaborate on the title of the band’s debut album, Children Of Chrome, his frustration is palpable.
“The Children of Chrome are basically the hope and the future,” he says. “They’re the people who give a fuck and in a world where hate is spreading further, we need them more than anything else now. I feel like the anger we portray on this album is speaking very much on behalf of not only ourselves but a lot of likeminded people in our suburbs, in our state, in our country.”
Children Of Chrome addresses issues such as the Middle East migrant crisis, while recent single //, featuring Stray From The Path’s Drew York, tackles recent anti-Muslim immigration rhetoric in Australia. Over a pulverising riff, Jack spits: ‘Do you call this freedom of speech? I say that freedom’s been breached’, while Drew asks: ‘How can you turn a blind eye with such ease? If you’re not angry, then you’re not listening.’
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“In Australia there’s a lot of stuff about [controversial Senator] Pauline Hanson in the media,” says Jack. “There’s a lot of Islamophobia happening at the moment and I don’t understand how it’s got to the point it has. We just want to encourage people to talk about it and find a better way of living.”
Children Of Chrome marks a change of direction from the band’s 2014 Broken // Bones EP. Recorded in the home studio of Ocean Grove drummer Sam Bassal, it’s a weightier listen, both sonically and in terms of its lyrical content. Gritty, guttural and brooding, it takes as many cues from the grooves of Rage Against the Machine and Limp Bizkit as peers Northlane. But the band would rather fans focused on their message.
“Everybody craves change but very few actually choose action and make a point to try to enforce it,” says Jack. “I’ve recently overcome a lot of problems of my own and gone past that self-loathe lyric vibe that I was going with on the EP. I learnt a lot about the world writing this record, all these things going on that I had no idea about. I fear for the future of the world but you can’t let that fear take you by the throat. It’s a very evil world we live in and I’m very glad I know that now.”
CHILDREN OF CHROME IS OUT NOW VIA UNFD
