Prelude Press
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Novulent is cracking the sky open with “sacrifice,” a stormy but cathartic new single and the fourth piece from their forthcoming album VOL. 3. As dark as it sounds, the shoegazing alt-metal song finds the Texas-bred artist shedding a negative association on the path toward bettering themself. Listen to “sacrifice,” released by Capitol Records and watch the eerie official music video now below.
The new music arrives on the heels of Novulent’s headlining BEFORE VOL. 3 TOUR, Furnace Fest appearance, and earlier run opening for VIOLENT VIRA’s North American tour. On November 29, Novulent is launching the first annual NOVMAS FEST in Dallas, with a Halloween theme and special guests including Kwasi Kao, Dead Butterflies, Bleeding Truth, and Rosasharin. Find more info HERE.
Produced by grayskies (Wisp, VIOLENT VIRA, ThxSoMch), “sacrifice” feels like clouds gathering, roiling, bursting, and — ultimately — parting as Novulent comes to terms with the need to cut someone loose. As a wall of guitar shimmers and bends, they hiss like steam: “Before you, I had to choose / To ruin myself or save your life / This isn’t my choice / Don’t look at me with those cursed eyes / ’Cause your fate’s been drawn.”
Directed by Left4soul and edited by Novulent, the “sacrifice” music video finds the artist approaching a carousel at night wearing gnarled wire wings and dragging heavy cables keeping them tethered to something offscreen. As overlaid text urges viewers to shed the past, they drop the cables and go for a ride.
“‘sacrifice’ is about that stage in your life where you start questioning your own decisions,” says Novulent. “You wonder why, exactly, you put yourself through all this pain for something that you made up or inflated in your head — like a promise or a relationship. So you get selfish, but not in a bad way. You sacrifice the broken connection even though you know it’s hard, because that’s the only way to heal and improve yourself.”
Novas (as Novulent’s fans are called) have already been treated to three VOL. 3 singles. The most recent was “evil eye,” an enthralling swirl of shoegaze, darkwave, and atmosphere that embodies the overwhelming influence of love and lust. Before that came “rip,” a dynamic fuzz-bomb with velvety vocals that weighs the possibilities of new romance against the pull of the past. And then there was the lead single, “new low,” a bittersweet dream-pop confection that landed on Alternative Press’ “A-sides: 10 songs you need to hear” while inspiring some kind words from Pop Cultr: “Novulent blends hard rock, shoegaze, and emo influences seamlessly in ‘new low,’ drawing inspiration from their personal experiences with heartbreak and emotional turmoil.”
The third and final piece in a trilogy, VOL.3 tells the story of a powerful romance as it evolves over time. Drawing inspiration from early 2000s films like Thirteen and All About Lily Chou-Chou — which explore dark themes against a coming-of-age backdrop — the forthcoming set is the latest in a series of reflective LPs. VOL.1 found Novulent processing back-to-back breakups that completely shattered their worldview — it also contained the breakout cut “scars,” which has amassed over 167 million streams on Spotify alone. Last year brought VOL.2, a cathartic one-on-one talk between Novulent and their past self that launched the hit “soul ties,” which has over 2.3 million streams globally and rakes in a consistent 20k U.S. streams per week.
Only 21 years old and on the verge of not only releasing their major label debut LP, but also launching their own festival, Novulent is dreaming up a world even bigger than their sound. Watch and listen as they build.