OVLO
Allentown, Pennsylvania, United States | SELF
Music
Press
"These guys are an awesome band and if your into bands like System of a Down, Mastodon, Tool, bloodsimple, Breaking Benjamin and bands along that line of metal you will love these guys! Excellent riffs and arrangements and an awesome live show
with tons of energy and fun make these guys a band well worth checking out! Check these guys out and look for them at a club near you...Ovlo will never disappoint...and well worth a listen!!!" - Shawn Scarano
I love rock music, how it can be aggressive and sexy all at the same time. But the heavier, faster and harder the sound, the more my interest wanes. Throw in vocals that are a mix between yelling, screaming and growling, and you‘ve totally lost me. However, for the past week, I’ve spent my 40-minute commute to and from work listening to Ovlo’s new EP, That, and I’ve got to admit, I honestly like it.
For fans of Ovlo and the hardcore genre in general, all of the players (Joe, Jamey, Matt, Chris and Cody) rock heavy and hard. But there’s something a bit more human that makes That appealing to me. Each song - “That”, “Bebop”, “Rocksteady” - offers up more of the less-intense rock music that I’m a fan of without compromising what Ovlo is.
The single “That” is catchy from the very beginning; I wouldn’t be surprised to turn on the radio and hear that now-familiar guitar riff playing on my favorite rock station. Ovlo yo-yos between a playful metal sound with spoken lyrics and a heavy hardcore sound with screams that shove you back in your seat. Then out of nowhere comes the coda[?], with an eerily melodic shift that leaves you thinking for a split second a new song has begun. It’s something different and I like it.
A sultry female voice opens “Bebop”, a three-and-a-half-minute reaction to seeing an ex-girlfriend in an adult film. As the band swells into each verse, female cries of pleasure accompany a cleverly orchestrated melody that emulates the real thing. Whether it was Ovlo’s intentions or not, the song is a musical metaphor for sex; every time I heard it, I was left feeling … ahem. Moving on …
“Rocksteady” is another shining example of Ovlo’s blend of a more melodic rock with their hardcore roots. Vocally, Jamey alternates singing and screaming line for line. Musically, the sound is hardcore but in a way that I can imagine it appealing to fans of a less-intense rock genre.
The only downside I see to the EP is the order in which the songs are presented. While “Bebop” and “Rocksteady” are solid songs, neither compare to the complexity or the power of “That”. Leading off with a song as strong as “That”, the EP seemed to climax before it could really get started. - Jenny Poust
Discography
Davey Goes To Carolina (Demo) - 03/04/06
Sala Ma Sond (Demo) - 04/04/08
Annuit Coeptis (Single) - 03/26/10
That EP - 10/30/10
The Difference Between Excuse And Reason - 10/22/11
Photos
Bio
An Ovlo is the proper name of a band of people.
Ovlo is a band located in (The Queen City) Allentown, PA. Just like the Billy Joel song...you know, "where the factories are all closing down."
Music arrives to your ears in sound waves. Those sound waves then vibrate your ear drum. Your ear sends the vibrations to your brain. Your brain turns the vibrations into music. It's this truly physical interaction that the people in Ovlo enjoy with one another.
From the music makers to the fans and from the fans to the music makers. The connection is the stuff of passion. Art in its purest form.
Citing such musical influences as System of a Down, Tool, Taproot, Metallica, Faith No More and Lamb of God; they effectively bridge the gap between Alt-Metal and contemporary, radio-friendly Hard Rock.
"Something we have always considered a strong point in this band, has been our ability to draw people that dont normally listen to metal to our music." says Joey Nova, one of the bands guitarists.
And that is definitely the truth. After releasing numerous demos, Ovlo continually toured locally and regionally while releasing "Davey goes to Carolina" in 2006, and then "Sala-Ma-Sond" in 2008. 2010 saw the release of "That EP" and in the fall of 2011 Ovlo released their first full length album "The Difference Between Excuse And Reason".
They have successfully captured and retained an audience that continually grows daily. Their songs are laden with heavy yet melodic riffs, peppered with unusually placed break downs and clean catchy segments.
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