Blackened deathcore group Ov Sulfur are on the last leg of their Beyond The Eternal tour which they are co-headlining alongside Mental Cruelty. This full-scale tour has spanned all across the U.S with some pit stops in Canada as well. With several sell-out shows along the way, Ov Sulfur are seeing huge turnouts in every city and could not be more excited about the support they have received on what is their first-ever headlining tour.
The band’s new single “Hivemind” featuring Lukas Nicolai, vocalist for Mental Cruelty, was released as a precursor to the tour. The song was initially recorded for their 2023 debut album “The Burden Ov Faith” but did not end up making the final production cut. After the album received enormous traction across streaming platforms, “Hivemind” was inevitably resurrected.
Lead vocalist Ricky Hoover is well regarded amongst the hardcore community, having previously been the front man of deathcore band Suffokate. After stepping away from his previous band in 2012, he had no intention of returning to music and started a successful barbering career. However, nearly a decade later, circumstances led him to return to the mic and he’s come back with a vengeance.
With a repertoire of headbanging riffs, symphonic turbulence, and blasphemous lyricism, Ov Sulfur are a force to be reckoned with. This group of heathen musicians use their platform to challenge the millennia old inception of organized religion. They have become known for their anti-religious motifs, which continue to resonate with growing populations of people who dispel theocratic ideation.
Ricky Hoover and Chase Wilson, guitarist and vocals, took some time during tour to discuss what the last month on the road has been like, the making of their music, and their personal convictions as artists.
What inspires the anti-religious motifs that you have now become so associated with?
Ricky: The name Ov Sulfur basically means ‘Of Hell,’ aka fire and brimstone. Our symbol is essentially two other symbols put together (one being the leviathan cross). As for everything behind the songs, it is all very anti-religious belief systems and about the negative impact religious persecution has had around the world since its existence. I did not grow up in a religious household but attended church later in my teens and witnessed some pretty horrible things and was treated pretty badly through it. So, all of that is what I use to write lyrics and come up with the names, etc.
Tell me about the making of “The Burden Ov Faith” because even the name has those themes you just described embedded into it.
Ricky: If you research far back into any kind of religion, you’ll see how much crappy stuff was going on and then if you delve deep enough you realize how much of that still goes on today. So that’s what I like to write about and will always incorporate some form of blasphemy in my music. There’s also some elements taken from a more personal context within the songs, reasons on why I am anti-religious or why I’m an atheist.
The album, as well as the new single “Hivemind,” has received incredible responses and the band has also amassed a huge following since coming together in 2021. What do you attribute that to?
Ricky: We have more atheists in the world right now than ever before and lot of people come up to me to tell me how much they love our lyrics, I think that’s one reason they can resonate with them. Along with that, our music genre is really blowing up right now. So, there’s probably a combination of different things that has kind of led to the perfect storm and helped us get to this point. I think that the current state of music is one that’s not close-minded anymore and open to genre-blending which is something we try to do, we don’t want to have boundaries or limits when it comes to the creative writing process.
Chase: I always joke that Ov Sulfur is a metalcore band in disguise as a deathcore band, and we kind of embrace it because that’s what I grew up listening to; that’s what Ricky grew up listening to and what started my love for the genre. Why have rules within a genre or in music in general if you’re just doing it for you, you want to make music that you love and hope that other people resonate with it, which it seems that they have.
As mentioned, you all think of yourselves as rule breakers in a sense. What would you say to those few critics who are not used to clean vocals being incorporated in deathcore?
Chase: I’ve wanted to incorporate singing into this band from the beginning, which we have. Originally I wasn’t sure if Ricky would want to do it or not, but he was down as far as letting me incorporate singing. He didn’t want to sing, but we had all been pushing for it since we began writing the EP. Eventually, he let it happen for “The Burden Ov Faith” which has been awesome because he has a great voice, and I feel like both our voices mesh well. Why not utilize the tools and talents we have as opposed to not just because somebody says you can’t do that. If it works, it works and if it doesn’t, then you learn from it and move on.
Ricky: It’s funny because I went into the studio and into writing this album wanting to have way less singing, to be completely honest. We were in the studio one day and I wanted to sing one part thinking maybe this will be funny. I go and I try it and the producer’s like “what was that,” and I’m like, “Oh just something I heard in my head.” Then he asked me to redo it a little differently, I do it, and afterwards get a message from everyone at the label telling me how it’s going to be a game changer for the band and wanting to incorporate it a lot more.
At the end of the day, I’m not going to lose sleep over people who don’t like the music I make because I make it for the fans, but ultimately I need to fulfill my passion and artistic drive. I want to make music I enjoy because if I don’t like it, I’m not going to want to get up and perform it night after night. Singing is not the enemy, but there’s always going to be people who don’t like anything you do. You can’t please everybody and I don’t think you should even try.
Ricky, after taking such a long hiatus from music and performing, how has it been reintegrating yourself?
Ricky: I’m a lot happier with this music than stuff I’ve done in the past, not that I wasn’t happy with that music then, but I think what I’m doing now is a lot more mature for me, and I’m having a lot more fun performing these kinds of songs.
How has the experience on tour been with the lineup of bands you are traveling with, which includes Extermination Dismemberment, Ghost Bath, and Mental Cruelty?
Ricky: Back in the day, you didn’t see a lot of these metal or hardcore bands blending together, and usually if they did, it didn’t have a very good outcome. But now, we have people coming to shows who like every kind of music, and it’s one other reason this tour is doing so well. We have a slam band; we have symphonic blackened deathcore bands; we have a depressive black metal band, and what I’m seeing at shows is that everybody there wants to enjoy all forms of music. That’s kind of where the genre is going right now as far as metal in general.
As this tour comes to a close, can you give any insight into what’s next for the band?
Chase: Without giving too much away, we are working on new music currently and have plans to be in the studio later this year. We will also be touring later in the year, can’t say exactly when yet, but we will definitely be touring more. We also want to thank everyone who has shown up and made these shows amazing.
Ricky: I would also like to say that I am looking forward to the rest of these shows because meeting everyone has been awesome but I’m also very much looking forward to going home, seeing my kids and spending time with my family after the tour.
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