Album Review: Void of Vision ‘Children of Chrome’

Australian alternative giant UNFD’s latest signing Void of Vision are set to release their debut album ‘Children of Chrome’ into the world on September 30. We were lucky enough to wrap our ears around an advance copy of this angry and aggressive collection of 11 tracks, and are happy to share our delights and minor discrepancies with the young band’s ambitious freshman offering.

The album kicks off with lead single //, which is a fitting opener for the furious ride listeners are in for with ‘Children of Chrome’. Angry, loud, and chunky, all the ingredients Void of Vision are known for. A guest spot from Stray From the Path’s Drew York solidifies the track as a suitable opener for what is going to be an intense musical journey.

Next up is Blacklist¸a straight-forward mosh song, opens with a relentless drum beat pushing forward over a grimy guitar hook. The song features a clean-sung chorus that is appropriately dark and eerie, fitting with the song’s tone. The simple one-word pit call “BLACKLIST!” launches into a mosh-inducing breakdown that will have heads banging in bedrooms everywhere.

“Red Handed manages to both be derivative of Void’s own style, yet fresh enough to not be fatiguing.”

Ctrl Freak flows from Blacklist with the nostalgic screeching of a 90s dial-up internet tone before kicking in with a heavily effected sonic assault. Vocal glitches cut up the vocal pattern before the song rips into a fast and furious riff. The song bounces through savage screamed sections and clean sung passages, maintaining the intense energy established in the first two tracks.

The song features a bridge that strips the song back to a single lead guitar and a snare drum, slowly building and building into a soaring crescendo with harsh vocalist Jack Bergin and clean singer/bassist Matt Thompson engaged in a back-and-forth vocal tennis rally.

In Black & White opens with an eerie, sinister, heavily-effected guitar line, similar to Korn or My Ticket Home’s nu-metal roots. The verse riff is a slamming riff akin to some of Architect’s earlier offerings. While the track is, again, more of the same flavour, the pieces come together nicely and the song is cranked up a notch with a faster tempo and a few sneaky blast beats from drummer George Murphy.

As Above, So Below opens with one of the catchier and more head-turning riffs featured on ‘Children of Chrome’. Following more traditional metalcore values such as octave chord passages and thumping punk beats, the song clocks in at just over two minutes. Rest assured it is a satisfying two minutes. Backed up by solid beat-down section and sudden drop into one of the heaviest drop-tuned face-smashers on the market As Above, So Below is one of the standout songs on the album.

By the time Wallow kicks in the album is in danger of becoming a little stale, and thankfully some creative chord work and off-beat pulse changes keep the song fresh. A stripped back clean guitar and distant, echoing drum passage help keep the song dynamic and offers something new not yet seen from the Melbourne lads. Some excellent lead guitar work from guitarists James McKendrick and Mitch Fairlie close the song on a bright, almost-happy note, leaving listeners wanting more of this side of Void of Vision.

The album then softly dips into an ambient and soothing interlude titled Under Skin. It breaks the pace and allows room to breathe as Sunrise slowly opens. A re-recorded version of a previous single (then-titled SUN//RISE), the song is a powerful anthem that lifts the band to new heights, sonically, and demonstrates that amidst the fury and anger is intelligent song writing and craftsmanship.

While still featuring the elements that Void of Vision are known for, all the pieces of Sunrise flow together smoothly and effortlessly, leading the listener on an uplifting journey. The song crescendos with Thompson’s clean vocals begging “Don’t give up on me”, an emotional sucker-punch that shows that with a great and terrible anger comes a great and terrible pain.

Following this high-point enters heavy-hitter Red Handed, which returns to the furious storm of noise the album opened with. Adding in some spine-tingling ‘brown notes’ and a chopped up, glitch-filled lead line over one of the hardest hitting breakdowns on the album, Red Handed manages to both be derivative of Void’s own style, yet fresh enough to not be fatiguing.

“…it’s regrettable that Void of Vision were unable to capture the fury and emotional intensity they had clearly demonstrated throughout the album and produce a powerful ending.”

Album closer Fair-Weather slides in with a crisp clean guitar lick, oozing with delay and reverb effects, and abruptly jumps into an epic half-time wall of noise. Featuring a Northlane-inspired clean guitar over choppy drums verse, the song then falls into the trap so many album closers do. Trading in intensity for ‘epic’ vibes, Fair-Weather doesn’t quite reach the heights that Sunrise does, despite the repeating clean vocal lines and orchestral outro.

The song goes through the motions of breakdowns and heavy chord sections, but by the time this closer comes around it is all too familiar and unfortunately falls flat. While not a bad song, it’s regrettable that Void of Vision were unable to capture the fury and emotional intensity they had clearly demonstrated throughout the album and produce a powerful ending.

‘Children of Chrome’ is a valiant effort from the Melbourne 5-piece, and fans are bound to find something the love amongst the 11 tracks featured. Stand-outs As Above, So Below, Wallow, and Sunrise are bound to become crowd-pleasers in the months following the album’s release. Be sure to catch Void of Vision on their upcoming Children of Chrome tour to get a taste of what’s to come!

Void of Vision “Children of Chrome” National Tour

FRI 21 OCT
Workers Club, Melbourne
SAT 22 OCT
Fowlers Live, Adelaide (Lic/AA)
SUN 23 OCT
Phoenix Youth Centre, Melbourne
FRI 28 OCT
Red Rattler, Sydney (Lic/AA)
SAT 29 OCT
Drone, Newcastle
SUN 30 OCT
Phoenix Arts Theatre, Brisbane

Get Tickets HERE