Project Description
VOID OF VISION
Cover Slipknot’s – ‘Pychosocial’
[With guest appearances from Marcus Bridge (Nothlane), Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer) and Ryan Siew (Polaris)]
(Single Review)
Reviewer: Connor Gutteridge
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After introducing their forthcoming album Hyperdaze with a belting first taste last month, Void Of Vision are upping the ante with the reveal of a blistering Slipknot cover. One of Slipknot’s most celebrated songs, ‘Psychosocial‘, gets the Void Of Vision treatment alongside special guest appearances from none other than Marcus Bridge (Northlane), Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer) and Ryan Siew (Polaris).
The collaboration comes as part of a Metal Hammer compilation CD paired with the magazine’s special Slipknot edition last month. The likes of Cursed Earth (‘People=Shit’), Hacktivist (‘Duality’) and Employed To Serve (‘Purity’) also lend their skills to the CD, resulting in an absolutely pummelling compilation of covers.
Though an appreciation for Slipknot spawned later in his musical journey, Void Of Vision lead vocalist Jack Bergin explains that he immediately became hooked on the unique quality and sheer aggression of the collective. With ‘Psychosocial‘ cemented as a personal favourite, it only seemed natural that the band would choose this to sink their teeth into.
On recording the cover, Bergin adds:
“When we got the offer from Metal Hammer we were at the final stages of finishing our album ‘Hyperdaze’ and the lethargy was kicking in – a small refresher in the form of recording this cover definitely helped bring back the passion and energy to the final process of the record”.
“The whole idea for the collaboration stemmed from us wanting to build on what was shaping up to be a normal run of the mill cover, and to catch some attention and have as much fun with it as we could. We also wanted to show the UK/Europe how a group of Australian musicians could tackle such an undoubtedly influential song to each and every one of us.
“I think we organised it all in literally a day, everyone was that keen to jump in on it that the rest of the story just wrote itself. We get to tour with friend’s bands through music all the time, but getting to work with them on the recording aspect of it is a whole new level of satisfying.”
Hyperdaze is due for release via UNFD on Friday September 13, with lead single and video ‘Hole In Me‘ out now. Atop the release, Void Of Vision will thrash stages in Australia, Europe and the UK in support of Northlane, as well as take to Heaven And Hell Festival alongside the likes of The Amity Affliction, Crossfaith, Underoath, Make Them Suffer and Trophy Eyes.
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One thing I’ve learnt over the years of listening to many bands that do covers of big names is that it doesn’t always go so well and sometimes an idea that could be amazing sometimes backfires. However, sometimes you have an earful of awesome which makes you bang your head even harder than when you first heard the original. I believe that this is the case for Void Of Visions cover of Psychosocial.
One of the critical elements of any good cover I believe is the ability to make it close enough to the original to make it known to listeners, but far enough away from the original to make it their own. Psychosocial, originally performed by Slipknot from their 2008 smash album All Hope is Gone is still to this day the most recognised song not only from the album but in all likeliness from the band. With the magnitude of the song being as big as it is there is a lot of pressure for a band who decides to cover it to live up to the high standard. Standard achieved!!
The use of different variations of scream vocals during the verses and similar but different tones in the vocals for the choruses is an awesome touch that sets this apart from the original. This was achieved with the use of guest vocalists Marcus Bridge (Northlane), Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer) as well as the familiar voices of Jack Bergin and James McKendrick to make it a real Void Of Vision song. The way that the unclean vocals switch around from highs to lows is a major difference from the original and really works to give the song a different dynamic to the original.
Another massive change is the guitar work throughout the whole song. Aside from the riffs and progressions themselves, everything is unique to the track. The guitar tone used in this track works so well with the low end of the bass to actually give it a thicker sound than the original, this cannot have been easy to do seeing how Slipknot are known for their big sound. The addition of Polaris Lead guitarist Ryan Siew for the ripping guitar solo after the second chorus is a thing of genius because he brings a very similar feel to Jim Root’s original solo with a few tweaks. He really makes the solo his own without taking to much away from the original roots of the guitar solo, adding in a few licks that we haven’t heard before to have any listener loving life.
The arrangement of this cover is done really well in that it keeps the heavy feel of the original while dialling back a few of the elements such as synthesizers and keg hits. It is not easy to strip a song back to baseline and still make it sound thick and not sacrificing any dynamics, but they have done just that. All in all, a great job by Void of Vision, super excited for the new album and can’t wait to see them at their upcoming shows.
2019 AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES
SUPPORTING NORTHLANE
TICKETS
Friday October 11 – UNSW Roundhouse, Sydney
Saturday October 12 – The Triffid, Brisbane (SOLD OUT)
Thursday October 17 –170 Russell, Melbourne
Friday October 18 – 170 Russell, Melbourne (SOLD OUT)
Saturday October 19 – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide (SOLD OUT)
HEAVEN AND HELL FESTIVAL
W/ THE AMITY AFFLICTION, MAKE THEM SUFFER, UNDEROATH, TROPHY EYES + MORE
TICKETS
Saturday September 14 – Riverstage, Brisbane
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