Void Born: We have a very strong do-it-yourself attitude
Void Born emerged from the shadows of the European metal underground, carrying the weight of decades of experience and a sound that embodies the raw essence of Death Metal, Crust Punk, and Doom.
Hello Void Born, thank you for joining us today! It’s a pleasure to interview you.
RG (Bass & Vocals): Thank you. Thanks for having us.
To start things off, can you tell us a bit about how Void Born came to be and what drew you together as a band?
Well there’s not a big or spectacular story about that. Void Born is not your typical band that was started to pursue any music business goals. I had a full album of old songs on my studio hard disk and so when the pandemic hit and when we were confined to a 5k radius and later on within our county I started rewriting and re-recording these songs together with two friends of mine DC (Guitars & Vocals) and SD (Drums). There was nothing else to do at the time. So in hindsight Void Born started to escape reality back then. We’re all into the Warhammer 40’000 lore and sci-fi universe ever since we bought and listened to Bolt Thrower’s Realm of Chaos album in 1989. Therefore, it was kind of obvious to us to use these storylines as a foundation for the overall lyrical concept.
Your music blends Death Metal, Crust Punk, and Doom. How did you decide on this unique combination of genres, and what influences shaped your sound?
It wasn’t a conscious decision to use these music styles or influences if you will. The riffs just came to me in a natural way. I started playing in bands almost 40 years ago and as you can imagine we all were influenced by a lot of different stuff over the course of time. I personally don’t think that it is a unique combination. If you look at some of the early Death Metal bands between 1988/1989 and the early 1990s there were a lot of slow sections in songs and also a kind of a punk spirit as well. Mainly because people just started out playing metal I guess and if you’re not a very proficient or accomplished player in the beginning when you start out, some songs tend to sound a bit more punk-ish in a natural way if you know what I mean. So what we did with the songs on „In Throes of Rage “isn’t something that hasn’t been done before. It’s just our own personal blend of elements that were already there.
Are there any bands or artists that have had a significant influence on your music or that you admire and draw inspiration from?
Well of course there are certain bands or artists that influenced us more than others but Void Born wasn’t modelled after a specific style, genre or band. Like mentioned before it’s our own blend that we created with elements that were there before and that other bands have used before. Now having said that if we’re brutally honest some listeners will be reminded of early Bolt Thrower, Carnivore and underground bands like Dream Death and Discharge maybe. Look I personally think that when you’re listening, playing and writing music for a long time — several decades for example — then it’s only natural that some of it seeps through into your own playing and writing. I believe it was always like that since the beginning of rock music or even before that.
Your new album, “In Throes of Rage”, was released on January 10. What can fans expect from this album in terms of themes, musical style, and overall atmosphere?
Well technically it is more like an EP with just seven songs and a running time of roughly 20 minutes. Regarding themes or storylines. All the songs tell a story of different characters from the Warhammer 40’000 universe or lore. Naturally these stories translate into the music as well. It is very dirty, raw, brutal and grim. It is definitely not happy music. There are some short epic moments in there as well especially when we mix slower Doom sections with Synth-sounds and Gregorian-like choirs. In addition, it can be seen as a soundtrack to these sci-fi stories that are actually just a reflection of the brutal side of our own reality we live in. A metaphor if you will.
The album draws inspiration from Warhammer 40,000. Can you delve deeper into how this universe influenced your creative process and the album’s narrative?
I think it would go too far to go into depth about that. Like mentioned before we were drawn to the lore and stories since 1989 just because it is so different than all other sci-fi stories. There are no happy ends, no real heroes and the line between good and evil are very blurry. It’s grim and dark and bleak. Most of the time everyone dies a horrible death in the end. It is almost a mirror of humanity’s darker side.
The topic itself is something for us nerds but there are stories about the Custodians, the Legion of the Damned, the Black Rage of the Blood Angels, the Death Watch and a story about the awakening of a Dreadnought and a lot more. People who might be familiar with the lore know what I’m talking about. The narrative plays into the overall atmosphere of the music I think. But at the end of the day it’s up to the listeners to decide how they feel about that.
“Death Is Just Down the Road”, “The Vigil That Must Never End”, and “Indestructible” are standout tracks on the album. Can you share some stories or experiences from the creation of these songs?
Thanks and I agree for the most part although I think each song on the EP has its own distinct feeling and quality. We had even more songs but decided to only finish and release these 7 songs that we felt were the strongest material. Now regarding the creation of these songs. I had these fragments and sometimes already finished arrangements for some of the songs.
Parts of the material go back at least 10 to 15 years. But the songs weren’t ready or finished when I started to re-write everything in 2020. “Death Is Just Down the Road” and The Vigil That Must Never End” are very good examples of what was there before we finished the songs. I had riffs for a verse, a chorus and maybe a middle section and/or a doom section and the trick was to arrange these together so they would fit. Some of the songs were nearly finished before but I didn’t like them anymore. Some of the songs had an even stronger hardcore/crust/punk sound to it.
The old versions were tuned to D, so everything two half steps down from standard tuning but we felt that it wasn’t enough to sound like what we wanted. So we tried different tunings and finally decided on B and sometimes C. The rest of the songwriting or re-writing process was very natural. The fragments, riffs and sections I already had just worked together. So in the end we just put a few breaks here and there and changed or transposed a few chords to make them fit within the key of a certain song. A very easy and natural process really.” Indestructible “was more like a mid-1980s speed metal song at first but after we changed the tuning and the tempo it morphed into a dirty and grim anthem I think.
Your lyrics often explore dark and intense themes. What drives your lyrical content and how do you approach songwriting?
I think when you base your lyrical themes or stories on a specific concept like we did in this case it’s only natural that the intensity, the bleakness, the brutality and the despair transfers into the overall feeling of the music material. Now about my songwriting approach. It is always different to be honest and always depends on what kind of music it is. I’m a full time musician, session bass player, composer, guitar/bass tech, studied music and bass and give lessons sometimes too. So my approach really depends on what I’m working on. If it’s instrumental prog rock or death metal or fusion jazz, I would approach it differently every time than with the material of Void Born.
Sometimes the foundation can be a single riff, sometimes a chord progression, sometimes the lyrics come first and the music follows after and sometimes everything starts with a melody in my head or maybe even a particular scale like Phrygian or Locrian for example. I never had just one way to approach my own songwriting in that regard. My approach with Void Born was more like a trip down memory lane. This time I started it the way like I would have tried to create songs when I first started out playing in bands. I threw all music theory out the window and just used and played what felt right. Very organic and basic if you will.
Changing the topic, a bit. As musicians who have been part of the underground scene since the late 1980s, how do you see the evolution of the metal scene over the years? What changes have been most significant?
That’s a very big topic of course but a very interesting question as well at the same time. Now I can obviously only speak for myself. I think music in general and metal is no exception is in a constant change. Trends come and go and sometimes things will repeat but always in a different look or sound. So what I’ve personally seen or heard since I first started listening to metal and shortly after started to play in metal bands is that the foundation for everything was laid very early on. All the extremes like speed, slowness, brutality, theatrical looks, harmonies, melodies and different tunings has been done.
Since the early or mid-2000s there was a trend to go back to the 1980s especially with some of the looks from back then. Tight jeans, moustaches, leather jackets, spikes, bullet belts, long manes and so on. Sometimes I feel that the image or the looks of a band seems more important than the actual music. Plus, there’s really nothing I haven’t heard before. Most of the metal music nowadays is a repetition of styles, riffs and arrangements that have been done before many times. Now in fairness there are some bands that are trying to go new paths of course and there will always be the ones that try to break out of a specific genre or style and I can admire that of course.
Another thing I sometimes lament is the importance of visualization in comparison to the real artistic content. Certain gimmicks like clothing, masks, swords, iron gloves etc. seems to be overly represented. I personally think if you take all of that away, the visuals, the make-up, the leather, the spikes etc. there’s very often not really much left I feel. Now I’m aware that I may be come across like an old grumpy fart of course. But I’m not saying that everything was better back in the 1980s. It was just original and new of course and I understand if younger musician admires that or fall in love with that. We did so too (fall in love with it) but we grew up with it and/or sometimes were part of the creation in the first place. It’s only natural as a creative person to emulate your influential favorites at first when you start out making music. I just feel that metal nowadays in 2025 has often become a simple repetition of things that have been done many times before and therefore it’s not really original or unique anymore. Hell even Void Born is not original of course. These elements have been used before but at least we made it our own.
Now in general metal is alive and healthy and there will always be new and interesting bands of course. Especially in the black metal underground I can see new and interesting developments that are very creative and sometimes even very unique but a lot nowadays is metal music with elements I have heard before a thousand times and that’s ok too of course. To each their own. I’m not a judgmental person at all but I don’t hesitate to express my personal opinions and beliefs if someone asks. So in that regard listening to music that I heard many times before is just not something I’m interested in. If I want to hear Thrash Metal or Death Metal or any other genre I always listen to the originators from when I was young. It’s a very special and incomparable feeling when you listen to these old albums that I (and many of our generation) bought just on the day when they came out or that I got on a mix tape back when tape trading was still a thing all over the world.
The chaotic times of 2020 presented many challenges. How did you navigate these times as a band, and what impact did it have on your music and creative process?
Well for one I couldn’t work at the time and the regulations here in Ireland were very strict in the beginning. We were only allowed to move within a 5k radius around our house and later within the county. There were road blocks and the police would ask you where you were going even when you were only driving to the next town to buy food. Crazy when you think about it in hindsight. Anyway like mentioned before it was a time when we all had so much time to waste and we then decided to start Void Born to keep sane. Creating new music always had a very positive effect on myself. It shifts the focus from your environment towards yourself and your own creative being. So in that regard starting this new band was and still is a very positive result of that. The topics and stories that we used in these songs were also a way to just blow off steam. To get rid of all the frustration and anger and all these feelings everybody had at the time. It was very cleansing in a way I guess.
Can you share some memorable moments or experiences you’ve had as a band, whether on stage, in the studio, or on the road?
Look Void Born is not your typical metal band. We have a very strong do-it-yourself attitude. So the recordings, mix and master all took place in my house, in my studio. Besides in 2020 there wouldn’t have been any other way to do it anyway. We have never been on the road and have never played live so far. Maybe we will never play live. Who knows. Void Born has had a very clear purpose when we started. To create and enjoy music in a very organic and natural way. It is not a band like most other bands that strive for acknowledgement or fame or international touring. We do not care about these things. That’s also why we never share our real names or advertise Void Born with the band names of our other longtime bands we play in. It also wouldn’t matter anyway but it was a conscious decision to keep our real names and our other bands out of it. We refuse to play the social media game that is rigged by algorithms anyway. So there are only the experiences we have from when the songs were created and the release now.
Now of course if people like these songs we are very grateful and would appreciate it but at the end of the day we started Void Born just for us. It’s a band that gives us the maximum freedom possible. We are not bound by social media or driven trying to get gigs or trying to get a record label deal or all these things that most other bands do all the time. We all play in bands for 40 years and we’ve seen and experienced a lot over the course of these decades so that’s why Void Born is totally different. We don’t need to play along to the unwritten rules of the metal or music scene and we certainly won’t beg for gigs or the attention of anyone. If that means that the EP “In Throes of Rage” will be overlooked and forgotten in the annals of time, then so be it. It is not important to the world or the grand scheme of things. We already got everything out of it that we personally wanted as individuals and creative people. If for some unexplainable reason the EP should take off, then sure we would appreciate it and maybe would even consider playing gigs maybe. But if that’s not going happen then it’s perfectly fine too.
Back to the band. What’s next for Void Born after the release of “In Throes of Rage”?
Not much to be honest. We will see if people like the music or not. It remains to be seen when we might write new songs or release something again. Like I said before Void Born is not your typical goal- or fame “driven band. We do not care about these things at all.
Are there any upcoming tours, collaborations, or projects that your fans should look forward to?
There are no gigs or tours planned at all. At least at the moment. Like mentioned before if for some unexplainable reason our music should take off (which is probably unlikely) then we might consider playing a few gigs here and there. Or if some festivals would invite us we would absolutely consider it of course. We’d be honored and appreciative. But in fairness with our combined experience I’d say that that is most likely not going to happen. Naturally we talked about it but realistically it is what it is now. Collaborations or projects will happen with our other bands of course. But that’s not important for Void Born now. Band names and our names are not important at all like mentioned before. What’s important is creative freedom and the music itself. So we will see what happens next.
Well Void Born, that’s all. Thank you for your time and wishing you success in your career. Before we finish, is there anything you would like to say?
Thank you very much for these interesting questions. I hope that it might give you an insight into our world and mindset. The only thing we might add is that we really are grateful for everybody that bought, downloaded or streamed the EP so far. We hope of course that our music gives you something positive for your own lives. We appreciate it. Stay healthy, mind yourselves. Thanks a million. ¡To the end!
Links:
https://www.instagram.com/voidbornmetal
