Confronting Your Mortality With JACK BERGIN From VOID OF VISION

Melbourne metal outfit Void Of Vision have flown the flag for
Australian music for over a decade; the quintessential underdog
that remains humble and unassuming despite having more than enough
heart to claim whatever patch of turf they, in the minds of most
observers, deserved.
Rather than restricting themselves and overstaying the musical
welcome they built from their debut EP, 2014's Broken//Bones
through to 2016's Children of Chrome, 2017's Disturbia, 2019's
Hyperdaze and the amalgamated CHRONICLES series in 2023, Void Of
Vision approached each new sonic cycle with the mindset of
bettering themselves and their sound in the best and easiest way
possible.
By letting it come naturally.
Each release saw the band morph into varying degrees of their
growing musical psyche, refusing to allow their insatiable search
for self-respect and musical growth to be harnessed in any way,
shape or form.
Respected by their peers and adored by an ever expanding legion of
fans, Void Of Vision became an entity unto themselves with an air
of invincibility around them that was inspiring and infectious.
Until they almost lost vocalist Jack Bergin in early 2022 to what
was later diagnosed as a "glitch" in his head.
The normally outgoing and accessible frontman was forced into
becoming an involuntary recluse after returning to hospital in
April 2023 suffering intense headaches before being rushed into
surgery for a life-saving procedure that forced him into
confronting his own mortality and coming to terms with the now very
real fact that tomorrow may not be as assured as he once took it
for granted to be.
As he has done his entire life, Bergin again turned to music, but
this time it was with a different outlook on life that manifested
itself through songwriting for a body of work that eventually
became the genesis for Void Of Vision's new album What I'll Leave
Behind that is due for release on September 20.
A swirling maelstrom of massive riffs, abrasive edges and sonic
bursts of intensity, What I'll Leave Behind is the product of a
multitude of fear, sorrow and regret coupled with a renewed
appreciation for life that could only come from the perspective of
someone who has looked death in the eye but refused to accept
it.
HEAVY recently sat down with Bergin to discuss a tumultuous past
few years and the music that recounts it.
"I had my first nocturnal seizure," he explained when we ask him
about the initial circumstances that saw him wake up in the back of
an ambulance, terrified and unsure of how he had got there. "It's
basically an unavoidable moment where you are asleep in the dead of
the night and your brain will just - basically due to my AVM which
is constricting my blood flow - and leads to a… I can't remember
the actual name of the type of seizure, but it led to me waking up
in the back of an ambulance. I was very lucky to have my partner at
the time there, and she was calling the ambulance before we knew
it. But it was very weird because for the first time in my life
that was a moment that I have zero recollection of. You can have
your moments when you are on a night out, and you get drunk, but
this was just completely different. It's complete blackout, with no
clue of what happened or how it happened. I just went to sleep and
woke up in an ambulance, and that was a really wild experience.
It's the first instance of what happened. I went to the doctors,
and they started beginning the plan to get rid of this AVM in the
back of my brain and begin the process for radiotherapy."
In the full interview, Jack opens up about the rest of the journey
that nearly claimed his life, confronting the illness, how he
harnessed those fears into the process of turning it into music for
the new album, removing himself from the public eye in order to
recover and hating every minute of it, creating an anterior persona
dubbed the Angel Of Darkness to mentally adjust to the changes, how
the ongoing support from his bandmates and fans in general helped
him regain focus, the continued musical growth of Void Of Vision,
their upcoming run of shows with Parkway Drive and more.


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