Void of Light – Asymmetries
Release Date: 3rd April 2026
Label: Ripcord Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Post-Metal
FFO: Isis, Neurosis, Cult of Luna, The Ocean, Russian Circles.
Review By: Pete Wall
It’s no secret that the UK heavy music scene is in fine form right now, with the bar being pushed ever higher across disparate cities and subgenres. Within the wider picture, it’s hard to miss the quality coming out of Scotland with the likes of Codespeaker, Kakihara, and Mrs. Frighthouse blazing their own trails.
Glasgow six-piece Void of Light first emerged from the shadows with their self-titled EP in 2022 followed by a further EP release, both acting as tantalising forerunners to their debut full-length Asymmetries, a towering five-track showcase for a formidable sound comprising a three-guitar attack, imposing bass, pummelling technical drumming, and vocals that run the gamut from excoriating to positively soothing.
Post-metal is such a broad church, and a frequently reductive descriptor for a vast array of bands, yet there are progenitors of the genre that will always loom large. As much as touchstones can be instructive, they can also pull towards distraction. On opening track The Passing Hours, there’s a staccato guitar motif that, along with the layering and vastness of the sound, is undoubtedly reminiscent of early-career Isis, but the fact that this doesn’t override the track’s unique progression towards its destination is testament to Void of Light’s craft. With guitar lines intertwining and the track swelling with furious intent, there’s a graceful glide into a baritone vocal refrain over delicately plucked notes and meditative drumming that will have the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end.
The beauty and brutality of Void of Light in full flow reaches fresh heights on Silver Mask which rests on the same loud-quiet-loud structure but climbs to ecstatic levels of post-metal glory in its closing section as an epic guitar lead flies skywards over a bed off absurdly tight drumming and a low, haunting vocal, with the compound effect hitting like a shot of pure adrenaline.
It’s perhaps damning with faint praise to say that Ends and Still the Night Skies are strong tracks despite their positioning after what feels like the highest point on the record. The former comes out of the gate with gnashing teeth as Ali Lauder’s ferocious proclamations kick in from the first note, but his switch-up to a rapid black metal delivery after a contemplative mid-section is a big swing that doesn’t quite connect. There’s a fluidity to the latter of the two tracks that washes away any sense of inertia as its overlapping elements arrive at a place of blissful reflection. The aptly titled Mirrorings closes out the record with both muscularity and tenderness, and acts as a fitting summation of a project that announces Void of Light as a considerable force within a scene that is going from strength to strength.
(4 / 5)
