Vespera Release Video for “Paradise,” Featuring Periphery’s Spencer Sotelo, for Mental Health Awareness

2017 brought to light many issues which have resided in the dark for far too long — two of these issues being depression and suicide. Obviously, this was due largely to the deaths of Chris Cornell and Chester Bennington. They weren’t the first musicians to deliberately end their own lives, but they were two of the most prominent, they were friends, and their deaths happened very close together. The only silver lining to their tragic ends is that it got people to discuss these extremely common, extremely important feelings that otherwise may have continued to go unaddressed.

Vespera’s new single, “Paradise,” will hopefully further that conversation. Don’t let the track’s title fool you: featuring autobiographical lyrics from frontman Jonathan Wolfe, the song wrestles with such happy-go-lucky topics as addiction, depression, and suicidal feelings. Clearly, Wolfe and the rest of the band are hoping that “Paradise” inspires anyone struggling with similar feelings to reach out and get help: not only was the clip was produced in conjunction with The Jed Foundation, which “exists to protect emotional health and prevent suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults, but Wolfe trained with the organization so that he could best discuss these issues with fans and loved ones. “Paradise,” then, is more than just your average melodic prog-metal song; it has the kind of heft that comes only from life experience.

Oh, and as icing on the cake, it features a guest appearance by Periphery singer Spencer Sotelo.

Check out the “Paradise” video below, courtesy of AP. If you head over there, you can also read a very powerful essay by Wolfe in which he further discusses depression and suicidal feelings.

“Paradise” will appear on Vespera’s full-length debut,The Thoughts That Plague You, which will be out later this year. The record was produced by Taylor Larson (Periphery, Darkest Hour).