A JOURNEY INTO THE VOID

NOTHING, NOWHERE. GOES DEEP ON THE PRIMAL DRIVE BEHIND HIS VICIOUS AND VISCERAL FIFTH ALBUM, VOID ETERNAL.

For nothing, nowhere. (aka Joseph Mulherin), it only made sense that his just-released fifth album, Void Eternal, would see him leap boldly into the unknown. His schtick has long been this entrancing blend of trap and post-hardcore (he was a big player in the “emo rap” boom of the mid-2010s and indeed cut his teeth on SoundCloud, but he stood out musically from its other heavyweights) but this time around, he leans into more aggressive, in-yourface territory: the moody rock riffs are subbed out for thick, guttural breakdowns, laden with screams steeped in raw human emotion; the rapped bars are reserved for Mulherin’s most bloodthirsty barbs.

Void Eternal is heavily inspired by the nu-metal greats of ‘90s and ‘00s – “I want to be what bands like Linkin Park were to me,” Mulherin declared when he announced it – but it doesn’t lean on any of their tropes, instead pulling technical cues for the heavy music subculture that came into the spotlight just as nu-metal left it: metalcore. Reflecting that is the record’s roster of guests: Will Ramos of Lorna Shore pops up on ‘TRAD3DY’, as does Buddy Neilsen of Senses Fail on ‘M1SEY_SYNDROME’, while ‘THIRST4VIOLENCE’ and ‘VEN0M’ were respectively minted with all members of Silverstein and Underoath. In addition to being his heaviest record sonically,

Void Eternal is Mulherin’s darkest thematically, featuring some of his most gut-wrenchingly intense lyrics. But that’s exactly why his fans are so fervently drawn to the music: Mulherin bears every wart, bruise and scar of his soul through his songwriting, and the end result are songs that feel explosively cathartic. Sitting down with Australian Guitar, he made himself an open book, diving deep into both the musical and mental sides of Void Eternal.

How satisfying was it to really dive into that heavy world?

Oh man, it was insane. I mean, my passion is heavy music. It’s my entire life. It’s what got me into guitar – hell, it’s what got me into music. I was in these little hardcore bands growing up, but never anything serious. And now that I have a platform, and I’ve established myself as an artist, I feel like I can kind of move around a bit more freely. I’m just so excited to be able to play some heavier stuff, because you just can’t beat a sick breakdown and some heavy screaming. I don’t know, I just can’t seem to escape my influences from when I was, like, 12.

So do you feel like this is the kind of album you only could have made now, with all the knowledge you’ve gathered over the past eight years?

Yeah, I think so. I think this album is a culmination of everything I’ve learned, and all the connections and friendships that I’ve made. Everyone on the record, you know, they’re really just friends that I’ve made over the years – and they’re artists that I’ve looked up to my whole life, so it’s really special. I’ve always wanted to do it, but I was waiting for the right time… And this feels like the right time.

‘Psycho Psychiatry’ gives me such a huge Linkin Park vibe.

Oh my God, absolutely. I mean, I’m not afraid to wear my influences on my sleeve. Hybrid Theory was one of the first records I ever bought. I want to pay homage to bands like that throughout all my work, and kind of put my own spin on it – try to offer people a new perspective on the classics, you know?

Do you find it creatively fulfilling to really push those boundaries, genre-wise, getting heavier with the riffs but also going harder with the rap, while still making it all sound cohesive and authentic?

I love challenging myself and trying to push the envelope. I don’t ever want to feel comfortable when I’m making a song. I feel like every song I worked on for Void Eternal, I was like, “Does this work? Is this too weird?” An, that’s exactly where I like to be. I like to be in those in-between spaces where I have to question myself, because then I know I’m doing something unique.

That’s the spirit of nothing, nowhere. right? Just constantly exploring the unknown.

That was kind of what started the entire project. When I started making music under that name, I made it clear from the start that every project was going to sound different. I mean, it’s in the name – it’s called nothing, nowhere. because there’s no genre, there’s nowhere to place it. I’d like to think that when you go through my discography, you can see that it’s extremely versatile, and it’s kind of all over the place. But it keeps me sane, you know? It keeps the music fresh and it keeps me excited.

Lyrically, you really poured your heart and soul into these songs. Did that factor into the direction you took? A heavy sound to reflect some heavy feelings?

Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think a lot of people that know what I do, they know that I’m like, the “emo lyric guy”. I just use music as an outlet when I’m not feeling good – I just try to put my emotions into the music instead of self-sabotaging. And this past year, when I was writing Void Eternal, I felt a lot of anger. For the first time in my life, I was just really angry with myself.

I looked back at where I came from and where I’m at now, and I felt like I had lost so many years of my life due to mental illness. I had that sort of “why me?” mentality for a while, and I had to snap out of it. I had to take that anger and put it into something. And it felt like these particular emotions wouldn’t have fit on a classic nothing, nowhere. record – we had to turn the volume up and put some gas on the fire, you know?