[Cover photo by Zach Johnson]

For a number of years, Oceans of Slumber have included a cover song on all of their albums. Since they tend to reject conventional genres, the list of covers spans far beyond Metal, ranging from Goth to Blues Rock, Pop and Folk.

While they always planned on ending their upcoming eighth album with another cover, a last-minute change of heart led Oceans of Slumber to revisit Chris Isaak’s signature hit. By stripping the song down to its core, the band has turned “Wicked Game” into what they describe as “the dark and doomy end credits score” to their album Where Gods Fear to Speak.

Oceans of Slumber originally intended to work with Grammy nominee Joel Hamilton to record a cover of “Crying” by Roy Orbison, a fellow Texan but went for something more unexpected.

In the end, they tracked the cover live, finishing the final take within their very last hour of studio time.   

Dobber Beverly concludes:

We’ve taken the raw and heavier direction of our last two albums and elevated it to the scale of a blockbuster IMAX movie. Our cover of ‘Wicked Game’ is the song that plays over the end credits.