Endless lands as a crushing, blackened deathcore statement that prioritizes sheer mass and suffocating atmosphere above all else, even if it occasionally stumbles when stepping outside its comfort zone. Coming off the momentum of 2023’s The Burden Ov Faith, Ov Sulfer clearly aren’t interested in softening their approach or chasing reinvention. Instead, they double down—hard—on what they already do well: fusing cavernous deathcore brutality with streaks of black metal bleakness. The result is an album that feels oppressive by design, one that doesn’t so much invite the listener in as it pins them to the floor and dares them to endure it. While Endless doesn’t radically reshape the genre, it firmly establishes Ov Sulfer as one of the more physically imposing and atmospherically committed bands operating in modern extreme metal.

That intent is made clear immediately, as the album opens with a relentless surge of low-end violence and precision drumming that sets the tone for everything that follows. The guitars stay tuned low and hostile, favoring blunt-force grooves over technical flash, while Ricky Hoover’s vocals loom like a constant threat—gutturals swelling and collapsing under their own weight. There’s an effectiveness to the band’s simplicity here; when they lock into a groove, the impact is undeniable. That said, some of the more exaggerated vocal embellishments, particularly the animalistic textures, feel unnecessary, pushing certain moments past intimidation and into excess. The same goes for the album’s lengthier compositions, which occasionally overstay their welcome despite strong core ideas.

Where Endless thrives most is in its larger, more ominous movements. Songs like “Seed” and “Forlorn” lean into a sense of scale that feels genuinely imposing, pairing dense, distorted riffing with unrelenting drum work that never lets the tension fully dissipate. “Seed” in particular carries a cinematic weight, its blast beats and sweeping guitar lines creating an almost monolithic sense of dread. “Forlorn,” meanwhile, experiments more openly with pacing, shifting between punishing intensity and slower, moodier passages. Those transitions can be effective, but the introduction of clean vocals is hit-or-miss—initially jarring, later more confident, yet never fully convincing.

The album regains its footing when Ov Sulfer lean into their groove-driven instincts. Tracks like “Vast Eternal” and “Evermore” pulse with a sinister momentum, driven by tight, unhinged riffs, relentless double-kick patterns, and a bass tone that refuses to disappear beneath the mix. The contrast between piercing high screams and subterranean gutturals keeps these sections engaging, while breakdowns land with a satisfying sense of inevitability rather than cheap shock value. This is where the band sounds most assured, channeling aggression without overcomplicating the formula.

Not all experimentation fares as well. Slower, more melodic moments—particularly those built around acoustic textures and clean vocals—show ambition but lack the emotional weight needed to make them truly resonate. Pieces like “Wither” and the closing “Endless//Loveless” aim for sorrow and introspection, yet the delivery often feels tentative, flattening what could have been some of the album’s most memorable contrasts. The arrangements themselves are solid, but the performances don’t always sell the mood.

Guest appearances scattered throughout the record add some welcome variation, especially in vocal textures, though they can’t fully mask occasional production issues that render certain instrumental passages a bit generic. “Dread” benefits from layered guitar leads and dynamic interplay, while “Bleak” leans into symphonic flourishes that recall early 2010s deathcore grandeur. These moments hint at broader possibilities for the band, even if they don’t always hit with the same force as Ov Sulfer’s core sound.

In the end, Endless stands as a testament to Ov Sulfer’s command of extreme metal brutality. It’s consistently heavy, technically capable, and steeped in a dark, oppressive atmosphere that fans of blackened deathcore will appreciate. Its shortcomings—particularly in melodic and clean-vocal experimentation—feel less like failures and more like growing pains. For listeners craving an unrelenting, nasty experience, Endless delivers in spades; for those hoping for bold innovation or fully realized softer dynamics, it remains a promising but unfinished evolution.