OV SULFUR

Deathcore is a sub-genre that is one of the very best blends of established pillars of metal that have stood the test of time. By borrowing elements from under an “extreme” umbrella, there has been a resurgence of bands emerging to establish the sound as a whole. Ov Sulfur, hailing from Las Vegas, comes out of the gates swinging, since being established as a band at the turn of the decade. The sophomore album Endless via Century Media pays homage to the very best of this music style, but also separates itself by bringing instrumental flavourings from other extensions of metal while keeping to the band’s themes of tough topics like death and all of its extensions, loss, grief, self-doubt and regret over time lost.

‘Endless//Godless’ – Within no time at all, the atmosphere and tone for the album are set from this intro song. With a slow buildup of synths, we are met with the absolutely brutal and guttural scream of ‘Godless’, complete with heavy breakdowns and “ass beating” riffs, and complete with a “blegh” in the mix. Finishing with a near-countdown cadence of melody, this song is a wonderful warm-up to begin this album. ‘Seed’ – The first single without the album announcement continues with the riffs full force, some symphonic melodies and the intro line “I am total regret”, the drum work and blast beats on this song is not only at it’s peak for this album, but absolutely gave the speakers a good work out, when those beats weren’t full force, the melodic time signatures gave room to the rest of the music playing, there is a quick filter on the vocals on this song, it’s not used in metal music often, but it fits the song perfectly. ‘Forlorn’ – Now we are getting into the body of the album; this is where the sadness begins. “Time Is Like Torture, A Suffering Sound.” The tone is heavy, the guitars are laser-focused, and this song just punches all the way through. Would love to see the pit for this one live.

‘Vast Eternal’ — The most recent single to promote the album, some horns to introduce us to the longest song on the album, almost a signal for the epicness of the track. Absolutely love the soaring guitar work mixed with the space of the vocals and non-vocals; it’s short but tickles the brain a bit. The lyrics come out at a steady pace for most of the song; you would think, stylistically, this is for another genre of music. Even with the absolute display of control in the speeds throughout the song, the gang vocals round it out. It flows so well that it doesn’t feel as long as it is. ‘Wither’ – We are met with a recorded voicemail addressing the vocalist, absolutely pulling on the heartstrings (“I just called to wish you a merry Christmas”). As intense as this recording was, the lyrics are overwhelming in discussing the struggle with loss, grief and regret over not enough time with loved ones until it’s too late. It’s absolutely a relatable song if you have lost someone worth caring about. This is the song where the bass sounds best, and the screaming guitar solo towards the end is also one of the best on the album. There is a recorded message at the end of the song as well, which is absolutely haunting to the bone. The outro is called ‘What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life.’ This song was dedicated in memory to a lot of people, just to add to how emotional the whole song is.

‘Evermore’ — The start of the B-side to the album; for all the vinyl aficionados, the tempo is brought back up to breakneck speed; the single that came with the announcement of the album is a heavy, depressing song focusing on death and being left behind; another wonderful display of vocal mastery, blending the harshest vocals with absolutely the cleanest singing on the album. There are some keyboard melodies that feel like they are in the wrong spot, but keen ears will catch very quick and ardent guitar pick scrapes. ‘Dread’ – One of three songs in a row with guest vocalists, there are some killer moments of string work on this song; with the added depth of layering, it brings a sound that is refreshing to the genre, to say the least. The vocal styles in this song make it hard to distinguish between the two, especially when layering is involved. I do not say this as a negative, as Ricky has established, up to this point, an absolute wall-to-wall range of abilities.

‘Bleak’ – The second of three songs with a guest vocalist, plenty of signature beat down/breakdown riffs in this song with a literal buffet of everything all in one song, towards the end of the song is another screaming guitar solo that is again one of the best on the album, and the operatic voices to finish the song are a perfect ending to this intense song about suffering. ‘A World Away’ – The third and final song with a guest vocalist. The tempo starts slow, but, of course, gets aggressive and rapid-fire very quickly. The song is a journey with the different vocal stylings in tandem. The lyrics of the song carry a lot of weight: endless guilt and being crushed into oblivion over it all. This is the last song for me, with a great solo to point out, again near the end of the song. The rhythm of it, although short, reminds me of my favourite band of all time. Great ending. ‘Endless//Loveless’ – A step back from the intensity with the final song on the album, we are met with acoustic guitar work, very clean singing, and memorable lyrics, a very musically gentle end to an emphatically extreme album filled with powerful and profound lyrics that will pull every single emotion out of you from start to end.