Someone should have warned God to keep his enemies close because Ricky Hoover’s been biding his time and sharpening his blades. The former Suffokate vocalist swapped his mic for a straight razor, tour life for family life and, yes, those huge stretched ears for comparably large muscles. In short, Hoover is ready for war, and the Oblivion EP is his plan of attack.

And a decade is a long time to hone any mission. Pandemic boredom brought to life the long-dormant desire to create music. The music would surely be deadly, but tech death desires faded as he began writing with guitarist Chase Wilson. Hoover floated the idea of blackening their deathcore but was met with indecision.

The Devil would have his day, though, as the genre made its way to the group’s Instagram bio. Hype for the sinister sound grew, and so they dove in. Johnny Ciardullo (Carcosa/Angelmaker) would help with orchestrations for lead single “Behind the Hand of God,” with the band taking the reins for “Bathe in the Flame,” “Oblivion” (featuring Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying) and beyond. The result is a sound that’s equal parts hellfire and the haunting souls that swirl around it, with Hoover’s bellow personifying the mouth of Hell like never before.

It’s a duty he carries out with pride, weaponizing his fury against religion. “Oblivion” chronicles a fictional but all-too-plausible apocalypse, not as told by the Bible but inspired by those who expect that outcome. There’s a cruel irony in religious zealots militarizing their faith to bring about the very fate they fear.

“Bathe in the Flame” encourages embracing your natural evil side, rather than the impossibly deluded holy ambitions of Christianity.  “Behind the Hand of God” is an opposition to those who justify their ill actions by cowering behind their deity, like a child hiding behind their parent.

There’s nowhere to hide anymore.