Interview Voidchaser

In this interview, Voidchaser discusses their re-release of "Tyrant," the song's thematic depth, and their unique blend of progressive metal influences.

1. Congratulations on the re-release of "Tyrant" along with the captivating lyric video. What inspired the decision to revisit and enhance this particular track from your debut EP, "Odyssey"?

The decision came from being in contact with Jason Poulin, the engineer behind the re-release. Jason showed interest in the band and after a few back and forths between him and Jici the decision had been made to do a remix of “Tyrant” as a sort of “Test Drive” for the collaboration between Jason and the band. We liked his work so much that we decided to go ahead and re-release it as is own thing, and go all-in with the lyric video and marketing push as we feel like it is a short and sweet representation of the sound, energy and story of Voidchaser.

2. "Tyrant" explores themes of autocracy and resistance against oppressive forces, set against a sci-fi backdrop. Can you delve deeper into the narrative behind the song and how it reflects your artistic vision as a band?

“Tyrant” for us really serves as an introduction to both “Odyssey” but also to the bigger narrative of Voidchaser. The idea for us is that everything we write and put out musically is all sort of interconnected. “Tyrant” in our narrative is the introduction to the first of many villain in this narrative that our current and future protagonists will encounter. The song itself sets the stage for this oppressive dictator that rules his part of this universe with an iron fist. We wanted to introduce a character that bought their way into power and is abusing that power for their own benefit. That being said, we also see this character as the “Face” of a much darker evil in this particular storyline.

3. The lyric video for "Tyrant" showcases striking visuals that complement the song's thematic depth. How did you approach the creation of the video, and what were some key elements you aimed to convey visually?

We got in touch with Andrea Mantelli who does this kind of stuff. We we’re really impressed with his portfolio and asked him if he was interested in doing “Tyrant” to which he agreed. We basically just sent him the Photoshop files for the “Odyssey” and “Tyrant” artwork and let him run with it. We’re super happy with the result and highly recommend him.

4. Since its re-release, "Tyrant " has garnered significant attention and praise from the global metal community. How do you feel about the response to the revamped version of the song, and what do you think sets it apart from the original?

We’re just happy people enjoy the song as much as we do and are still processing the amount of attention “Tyrant” is getting. I don’t think we thought it would be popping off so much but we all really like it and chose it as our featured single for a reason. I think what sets it apart is that it sounds much better for starters. We are also pushing it harder due to the nature of it being a single and easier to push. It’s just a little surreal that something we didn’t think much of initially has gotten and is continuing to get all this attention.

5. Voidchaser has been described as pushing the boundaries of the progressive metal genre. How do you incorporate diverse influences from bands like Opeth, Dream Theater, Between the Buried and Me, and Haken into your sound while still maintaining your unique identity as a band? 

I think we like each of those bands for very different reasons and a lot of their influences can be heard in our music for sure but the best way to incorporate them into our sound is to not think about it and just write music. Once the song, riff, or idea, has its own shape that's when we take a step back and kind of go like “Oh! That’s very Dethklok.” We never try to emulate the style or sound of another band we just write music that we want to listen to for people who like that kind of music.

6. The upcoming "Ashes of the Void Tour" sees Voidchaser co-headlining with Ashbreather, alongside other local bands. What can fans expect from your live performances, and how do you plan to elevate the concert experience on this tour?

First of all, we are huge fans of Ashbreather and we recommend seeing one of their shows to anyone as its quite an experience. We try to book shows with bands that we enjoy listening to and want to see perform and there are some hard hitters on the bills. The Aphelion and PYRES to name a few are bands that we are legitimate fans of. But for our particular portion of that experience you can expect some new material material from an upcoming album, the songs off of “Odyssey” among some other music, as well as the usual Chad shenanigans, which may or may not involve a kilt and some t-shirts. We don’t get to do this as much as we want since Chad moved to Stockholm so we are definitely looking to make a very memorable experience for the audience as well as our selves.

7. With Chad Bernatchez on vocals and rhythm guitar, Jeffrey Lehberg on lead guitar, Jici LG on bass, and André Ouellette on drums, Voidchaser boasts a diverse lineup. How does each member contribute to the band's creative process, and what dynamics define your collaborative approach to songwriting? 

Most of the bases ideas tend to come from Chad and this can vary from a riff idea to a whole 15 minute long composition. Usually what comes after that is MIDI files being shared to Jici through Dropbox where he will tweak arrangements and layer some stuff. Jeff will usually write some riff variations, guitar flourishes an solos either before or during the recording and the same goes with Andre regarding the drums of the songs. We like to all be present during recording sessions to just throw ideas at each other. We have a “there are no bad ideas” approach and aren’t afraid to change things around for the benefit of the song.

8. "Tyrant " marks a bold new direction for Voidchaser. How do you envision this release shaping your trajectory as a band, both musically and in terms of your presence in the contemporary metal scene?

Musically we see Tyrant more like a new chapter of the same direction but in terms of the quality and the production we 100% agree. We see “Tyrant” as the new standard we want to hold ourselves to when making content for our listeners and I think this release is important to us because it makes us feel like we have something that people resonate with and inspires us to really go as big as we can for everything we do. The listeners deserve as much and we don’t have any intention on delivering less to them. “Tyrant” is really our impetus and our candidature for the prog metal audience. We don’t plan on stopping any time soon.

9. In addition to the revamped version of "Tyrant," what other projects or releases can fans look forward to from Voidchaser in the near future?

At the risk of sounding incredibly cliche, we have a lot of big things coming. We will be launching a brand new single just before the “Ashes of the Void Tour”, and are planning to do a music video for that. We are also currently wrapping up recording our next album that we are very excited to share with the audience. We have other concrete plans as well that we are not ready to talk about in too much detail yet but these include some video content, another tour, and another single to close out 2024. We are also have some plans scheduled well into 2025 that aren’t as concrete but are still in the works that we will not be sharing but fans can absolutely expect more from us.

10. Finally, how would you describe the overall journey and evolution of Voidchaser since your inception in 2023, and what do you hope listeners take away from your music and performances? 

I think the best way to describe the evolution is how we started looking at the band  musically, conceptually and pragmatically. At the start, Voidchaser was suppose to only be Chads live band. The goal was to do a show a month, Chad would release self produced music whenever he felt like it and that was that. Once we got to jamming together it instantly became more than that and we decided to “rebrand” as Voidchaser and release some music under that banner. Then when we got in front of an audience and saw that people enjoyed what we were doing and started looking a things more seriously and the idea of our narrative was born a few months later. Once Jici came on board the idea of recording an album started to become concrete and when Chad announced he was moving to Sweden we decided to do an EP and really went with a pragmatic approach of schedules, deadlines and iterations. Probably the defining moment for us was being able to record and produce “Odyssey” in such a short time frame. We kind of decided from there that we need to keep hitting the anvil while its hot. All we really hope for in the end is that listeners get as much enjoyment out of listening to our songs and seeing us perform as much as we enjoy doing it. We all wake up in the morning and say “I’m a part of Voidchaser” and we love what we do and we truly hope that the audience sees that and feels that.

voidchaser | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree