Having dropped two EPs in fairly rapid succession, their self-titled EP in 2022 and the two-track EP Enshroud in 2023, Glasgow’s Sludge/Post-Metal six-piece Void Of Light are back with their debut full-length, Asymmetries. Five tracks spanning a hefty forty-five minutes, this is a powerful work of brutal beauty that grabs your attention and pulls you into its midst.
Void Of Light – Asymmetries
Release Date: 3 April 2026
Word: Jools Green
With Asymmetries, Void Of Light explore themes of “perspective, reflection, and internal conflict, charting a journey of reconciliation between the masks of the past and the truths of the present,” making it a very emotive listen.
You are eased into the album with The Passing Hours, a distantly reflective piece to open. The fuzzy sludgy groove builds in stages, the vocals raw and protracted, and there is a gentle ebb, build and engaging twist and turn to the music as the vocals tear brutally across the top.
I love the contrast that comes from the swathes of piano work that emerge across the piece and the semi-spoken/semi-sung clean element in the second half, particularly the way the subtle vocal layering develops and the haunting, repeating closing riffs build towards one final brutal vocal delivery. A superbly constructed piece.
Straightforward but again beautifully constructed, Silver Mask unleashes crushing rhythms melded with tremolo picking. Raw lead vocals balance against haunting cleans, which together make a great combination with the mid-point melody pulling all the elements together.
The pace drops back after the midpoint to haunting rhythms and clean, restrained vocals, with the raw vocals returning as the pace builds again in a wave of haunting tremolo picking alongside more powerful cleans and a sharp but haunting melody.
A little more up-tempo to open, Ends delivers a very broad range of pace and intensity. With driving building rhythms alongside acidic raw vocals, the haunting melodic swathes become even more so as the pace drops to an almost doom delivery, easing back approaching the midpoint.
This turns reflective with superbly expressive, haunting, clean vocals that are set back and hauntingly distant. The pace suddenly rebuilds after a wave of sharp riffing, and the returning raw vocals are delivered initially with impressive rapidity before levelling out towards the close. An engagingly varied piece.
There is so much to love about Still The Night Skies. It is such an excellent piece. I love the haunting bass line as it opens, which goes on to form a backbone for much of the piece, giving a strong presence without dominating. This forms the perfect foundation for the haunting melody.
I love the clean vocals, as they are hugely powerful and reflective. Then there is the subtle and gradual build and ebb, which at its zenith is almost crushing and at its lower point hauntingly reflective. When the raw vocals arrive at the mid-point of the track, they add a superbly brutal slant to the piece, making the ensuing drop to sparse clean notes, clean quiet vocals and sparse haunting repeat and tremolo picking all the more dramatic.
Final piece Mirrorings is a powerful album closer that packs a lot into its ten-minute time frame. Encompassing sludgy doom-rich elements with a subtle blackened undercurrent and raw, powerful vocals as it opens, this then pairs back to a reflective swathe. I like how here growls become distant.
The overall rhythm and haunting leadwork are engagingly hypnotic, and the deep cleans add a subtle esoteric mood, the higher cleans an emotive atmosphere. The close is drawn out, reflective and contemplative, but cleverly pulls you back into reality with one final burst of raw vocals.
Asymmetries is a wonderful album to lose yourself within. It is very easy to glide along with the music, and the forty-five-minute duration seems to pass far too quickly, such is the engulfing nature of this album.
Void Of Light release Asymmetries on 3 April 2026 via Ripcord Records. It will be available as a CD or digital download and should be of interest to fans of bands like Cult Of Luna. For more details and pre-orders, visit the band at BandCamp.
