When Melbourne’s Void of Vision went into creating their fourth studio album, What I’ll Leave Behind, they didn’t realise it was going to be their last.
Throughout the last decade, the four-piece have carved a space completely their own within the Australian metalcore community; respected by peers and fans alike for their visceral take on songwriting and musicianship, but also for their enduring likeability.
Key to the success of a band like Void of Vision is an unwavering commitment to honesty and openness in their storytelling, no matter how brutal or scathing it can feel for the musicians to leave themselves emotionally raw. And with What I’ll Leave Behind, Void of Vision captured this balance of pain and vulnerability perfectly.
As a final offering, this was an album that painted a definitive portrait of a band reaching crossroads that forced perspective and ultimately lead to a place of new purpose and resolve.
For frontman and songwriter Jack Bergin, the journey of creating What I’ll Leave Behind was intrinsically tied to his own journey of literal survival. Living through and recovering from a series of seizures and surgeries resulting from a life-threatening brain bleed, Bergin’s outlook on life and mortality understandably shifted.
The existentialism threaded throughout the album mirrors the real-life impact of Bergin’s health issues, not just directly on himself but on the band and those close to him. It’s why What I’ll Leave Behind feels more intensely personal than previous Void of Vision efforts, and why there’s a beautiful balance between dark intensity and musical vibrancy on the record.
At the end of the process, the band looked inward and started to ask questions of themselves and their future – ultimately realising that while the love for music was still there, their personal lives needed room to find new opportunities, stability and fresh experiences.
“Calling it on your own terms isn’t something I necessarily see a lot of anymore,” Bergin says during a moment of reflection with Rolling Stone AU/NZ. “It seems like bands are ending in the worst case scenario, and there’s not really a proper send-off. It’s a blessing for us to be able to do it this way.”
Throughout February, Void of Vision will tour Australia for the final time – a celebration of What I’ll Leave Behind and a victory lap for their time as a band.
The excitement and anticipation surrounding this tour feels like Void of Vision are approaching a moment of graduation rather than departure. Bergin agrees.
“Listening to the set list, I can feel it in the camp, the excitement is starting to lift now,” he says. “It’s been a very interesting experience. I think we’re all in a similar boat – we’re all moving on to the next chapter in our lives and there is excitement surrounding that, but there’s also this tour which is equally as exciting. We get to send it off in the biggest and best way possible.
“We’ve had time to sit with our emotions and collect everything for ourselves. We had the big break over Christmas to be with family; we’ve obviously been able to share this with our close family and friends. Now, it’s just a matter of being excited! We wrapped up the set build and got everything organised, so it’s all locked in.”
Fans who were lucky enough to catch Void of Vision on tour with Parkway Drive in 2024 were able to see the band in arenas, an opportunity Bergin and his bandmates considered a bucket list moment.
That sort of accomplishments, along with the release of What I’ll Leave Behind, made the decision to call time on the band all the more impactful: disbanding at a career peak, and to have confidence in the decision to do so, demonstrates strength and bravery – especially at a time where sustaining a career in music feels harder than ever.
Yet for Bergin and Void of Vision, they leave behind a legacy to be proud of in their body of work, a collection of music that prides itself on innovation, exploration and ambition when it comes to pushing the boundaries of their genre and their own artistry.
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“Going into this record, obviously we didn’t know it was going to be the last record,” he admits. “All our mission was, was to create the absolute definitive work, the best thing that we’d ever done after Chronicles (2023) and melding so many different genres together.
“We had experimented and reached a point where we knew who we were as a collective and where we needed to be. To put that out and have it be the last body of work, it’s really special. I think we have created somewhat of a legacy for ourselves, we’ve left it on top. This album will be the most important piece of art that I’m associated with for the rest of my life.”
That isn’t to say that the decision to disband was an easy one. The conversations were hard, but perhaps the realisation that it was the right move for everyone to make was a harder reality to initially accept.
However, now this tour is approaching and new horizons are looking exciting. Bergin speaks of the chemistry within Void of Vision positively – they’ve arrived at a place of peace.
“The world that we are involved in, however much it is changing, it’s crazy and so to combine our future livelihoods, my health, and the longevity of our lives, happiness and success… it was an important decision to make,” he says.
“It’s a difficult pill to swallow sometimes, but it was very eerie how this felt like the right time, right place situation. The decision needed to be made when it was made; it was very difficult to have those conversations but at the same time, very therapeutic. It was a very reflective period where we realised we had kicked all the goals and achieved everything we set out to achieve, plus ten times more.
“It’s crazy for a bunch of kids starting this out of high school, not knowing what was going to come of it, or how long it was going to last. It’s a mature moment for all of us, to finally be at peace with it and make the best call for each other, not just the collective. Our own personal lives needed it more than ever.”
For Bergin himself, he’s excited about what lies ahead for himself and his bandmates outside of Void of Vision. As with all bands within the heavy genre, community is at the heart of each project – Bergin is keen to continue to grow as a creative within the scene and watch a new wave of artists come through.
While he might not be onstage, Bergin is enthusiastic about where Australian heavy music is headed, and is proud to have been a part of a beautiful moment of its history and evolution.
“Community is absolutely everything in this genre,” he says. “I still have a lot of energy to put into the music industry – that’s the mission now. I want to go out and encourage younger people to get back into it. We are at an amazing point in the music world right now where it is possible to do all of this. We are in a weird space in the wider world right now, but that’s when music is needed more than ever. It’s when the community comes together more than ever.
“I want to stay around and kick about in the music industry for as long as I can, because I’ve fallen in love with it and I don’t want to let go. It’s just been so kind to me and it’s let me in, welcomed me with open arms when I needed somewhere; if I can do that for other people as well, I would love to. We’ve all found a home in music, in one way or another. It’s not going to be the end; we’ve left something behind, and that’s the most important thing of all.”
To listen to What I’ll Leave Behind with added context and knowledge behind it, it’s hard not to hear a sense of finality embedded in the foundation of each track – no matter how unintentional it may be. It doesn’t negatively impact the overall listening experience of the record though; if anything, it bolsters the intent behind each track.
Clarity was achieved through experiencing some extremely rough and confronting circumstances. For Void of Vision to have reached such a place of resolve at the end of it all, speaks to their continued connection outside of the music.
Bergin sums it up with a smile.
“We were asking bigger life questions which, admittedly, probably led to where we ended up with the band. Having that emotional vulnerability in being so open with one another encouraged these conversations about life to happen. That’s how we landed where we did.
“Throughout the album campaign we were realising more and more how relevant every bit we touched on was. It’s so scary, you can relate everything I was writing about my health, everything I was singing about in that terminology, you can relate that to the band wrapping up. It’s just about looking at life, how it is, and not taking it for granted. Realistically, that’s all we need to do. Live life, love life as much as we can.”
Void of Vision 2025 Australian Headline Tour
With special guests Gideon (US), Unitytx (US) & Knosis (Japan)
Ticket information available via destroyalllines.com
Friday, February 14th*
The Tivoli, Brisbane, QLD
Saturday, February 15th^
Hamilton Station, Newcastle, NSW
Sunday, February 16th^
Manning Bar, Sydney, NSW
Wednesday, February 19th^
UC Hub, Canberra, ACT
Thursday, February 20th*
Northcote Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
Friday, February 21st*
The Gov, Adelaide, SA
Saturday, February 22nd^
Magnet House, Perth, WA
*All Ages
^18+
