On January 16th, blackened deathcore quintet Ov Sulfur will release their sophomore album, “Endless”, via Century Media Records. Propelled by the vocalizations of frontman Ricky Hoover, Ov Sulfur pushes the boundaries of their deathcore origins on this upcoming record, simultaneously embracing black metal while exploring a surprising degree of melody that never dilutes their genre-decimating approach. Watch the video for the new single ‘Evermore‘ now here.
Vocalist Ricky Hoover comments:
When coming up with the theme for ‘Endless’, which is basically endless suffering and the various ways that could rear its ugly head, we questioned what it would be like to have endless life. This kind of allows it to be a bridge to our earlier anti-organised-religion material, as eternal life is a major tenet of many religions. In THEORY, living forever sounds incredible, but stop and think about what would come along with it: the death of your loved ones, the world around you gets worse (politically and physically), and no doubt eventual insanity from the eternally stacking heart break. ‘Evermore’ encapsulates these thoughts, building as the character reaches the point of insanity. Fortunately, it mirrors the build of the song, too. We knew it had to be our album launch single.
Guitarist/vocalist Chase Wilson adds:
When I finished recording it, I kind of laughed at the whole thing. It was fun to write. We have a really fast melodic riff to start the thing off, go into a beefed-up chorus, and then top it all off with a slam-style breakdown to shake things up. It’s kind of all over the place in the best way possible, because as different as these parts are, they work together.
Pre-order “Endless” in various formats now here, and listen to the previously released single, ‘Seed‘, here.
On their upcoming sophomore album, Ov Sulfur delve deeper into the darkened sonic landscapes that defined the Las Vegas quintet’s 2023 landmark debut, “The Burden Ov Faith”. Catapulted by the return of ex-Suffokate vocalist Ricky Hoover, Ov Sulfur take a more metaphorical approach to the disdain for religion that drove their previous material. What would actually happen if eternal life existed? Eternal doubt, longing, grief, fear and more would drive humans mad. The message comes through loud and clear atop Leviathvn’s pummeling drums, with guitarist/vocalist Chase Wilson’s gravelly singing complementing Hoover; the vocal attack is pushed further live by latest additions bassist Josh Bearden and guitarist Christian Becker, bringing their performance to the next level.
The vocal dynamics and melodic choruses are extended to the max on “Endless”; songs like the hard rocking ‘Wither‘ and ballad ‘Endless//Loveless‘ are a logical extension to the band’s realisation that Ricky could belt with the best of ’em.
I was originally only going to sing a soft intro to ‘Earthen’ on our last album. Once Chase and our vocal producer [for that album] Morgoth heard it, we reworked a bunch of stuff for me to sing more. That’s pushed further here. Chase even taught me to do falsetto in-studio (he actually took a video on his phone where I looked genuinely shocked I hit the notes because it was so new to me).
Ricky Hoover
Wilson expands on the vocal growth:
There is a lot of vocal interplay between the two of us, hinted at on ‘The Burden Ov Faith’s ‘The Inglorious Archetype,’ inspired by Alice In Chains’ Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell. You can hear that on ‘Evermore’, and we practically split ‘Wither’ down the middle; the song is about us both losing grandparents, so it’s super personal.
That dynamism is helped along by vocal features from Johnny Ciardullo (Carcosa), Josh Davies (Ingested) and Alan Grnja (Distant), joining Ov Sulfur’s illustrious guest list that includes Howard Jones (ex-Killswitch Engage, Light the Torch), Alex Terrible (Slaughter to Prevail) and many more.
Having already proved themselves as a formidable live act, touring with the likes of Lorna Shore, Signs of the Swarm, and Nekrogoblikon, Ov Sulfur will be back on the road again this November/December – this time for an extensive North American trek with Ingested, Distant, Cell, and Crucifiction. Find the full list of upcoming dates here.
TRACKLISTING
1. Endless//Godless
2. Seed
3. Forlorn
4. Vast Eternal
5. Wither
6. Evermore
7. Dread (feat. Josh Davies of Ingested)
8. Bleak (feat. Johnny Ciardullo of Carcosa)
9. A World Away (feat. Alan Grjna of Distant)
10. Endless//Loveless
BAND MEMBERS
Ricky Hoover – vocals
Chase Wilson – guitars, vocals
Leviathvn – drums
Josh Bearden – bass
Christian Becker – guitars
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source chaoszine.net ’
