Having achieved a seeming peak professional standard and sublime fusion of their greater intent on their previous album L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia-based death/doom metal quintet ONIROPHAGUS return six years later with a third full-length album which takes a full step into the unknown, welcoming a profound paradigm shift within their sound. Always a band to center themselves with classic death metal grooves and doomed flourish ‘Revelations From the Void‘ is not a hook-laden trip through sorrowful melodic doom so much as it offers a new stab into darker, heavily atmospheric realms beyond the immediate dramatism they’re half-known for. Acting as a darker-shouted salve upon uncertainty and dismay this record’s declarative voice and bevvy of guitar-driven arrangements carries each of its milling-and-writhing pieces from chasmic brutality toward ornate doom-stained restlessness.

Onirophagus formed as a core trio throughout 2011 between guitarist/bassist Moregod, vocalist Paingrinder (ex-Decapitated Christ), and drummer Uretra who you might recognize from session work on the two latest Barbarian Swords records. Their intent was clear enough from the first release (‘Defiler of Hope‘, 2012) where a thornier version of early 90’s death/doom metal was developed without any outright gothic elements, bearing key characteristics of the hidden Svensk order of melodic death/doom metal (see: Internal Decay, Infernal Gates) but generally splitting the difference between popular melodeath strides (see: “Defiler of Hope”) and early Katatonia, at least from my point of view. It was a decent EP with some admirable melodic intent but I wouldn’t say that the band were yet well-known outside of their sphere even after the release of their debut (‘Prehuman‘, 2013) on Xtreem Music. At that point I’d found the effect of thier work surreal but choppy per its blend of wobbly grooves and melodic half-arcs, eventually building a brutal moodiness that would often take flight in strangely jaunty steps, almost swinging grooves.

It was for the sake of being familiar with Onirophagus‘ earliest work that I’d approached their second LP (‘Endarkenment (Illumination through Putrefaction)‘, 2019) hesitant to invest time into its details but the choice to focus on longer pieces and fewer of them made for a focused pillar to return to. A more patient dynamic centered around riffs that reflected traditional and extreme doom metal in a most clear sense, generally landing closer to my own taste. I’d been impressed enough to write a short review for it with a generous enough score, finding their sense of atmosphere had come alive enough to create triply profound, or at least far more apropos, melodramatic death/doom metal moments. In terms of what expectations that second album created for the third the result is essentially what you’d expect in terms of more longform pieces (~10 minutes on average) centered around a distinctly 90’s form of death/doom metal which takes care to generate points of dramatic atmospheric fixation. With this in mind one could consider ‘Revelations from the Void‘ an insightful paradigm shift and positive iteration.

Another set of line-up changes and about six years later album number three is mountainous beyond its cavernous but prettied predecessor, not only in terms of its riffcraft centering itself around classic death and doom metal grooves but for the array of vocal techniques that characterize certain pieces with a more declarative excitation, not unlike Jade in a few cases. Opener “Hollow Valley” is a cathedral roof agape, a chasm opened by dismayed oratorial outbursts amidst the collective wailing dread of possession and they bring this collective horror to the ear with an ear-worming riff worthy of the early days of Finndeath and… by shouted command? The echoic call of Paingrinder‘s vocals feels like a huge leap made to expand the narrative qualities of Onirophagus‘ sound while still logically building upon the melodic voice of the previous LP. For a nearly twelve minute opening piece and overall introduction it is a manageable deluge, something immediately different but not unheard of which sets the tone for where this album ultimately goes.

“Landsickness”, which features guest vocals from Kari Kankaanpää (Sepulchral Curse, ex-Solothus), shifts gears changing their tune to a more abstract, atmospheric ride in before bigger grooves mesh with a few ‘old school’ death inspired riffs here and there. “The Tome” otherwise appears as an excitation of both old and new traits from Onirophagus a balance of how those shouted, declarative vocals and swells of riffs meet up with slow-burning melodic death/doom movements. Each of the three shorter pieces in the centre of the full listen are distinct, use this broader vocal palette to create surreal dramatism effectively, and add another level of detail which feels like a step beyond ‘Endarkenment…‘; The darker gnarl of “Black Brew” and the Krypts-esque step of a few riffs on the ~17 minute closer “Stargazing Into the Void” essentially -make- the album and sell the experience on my part as these are the songs that make the best use of strings, the wall of noise provided by the multi-guitarist layout, and finally gives the band enough space to breathe beyond “Hollow Valley”.

If we look back on the earliest intent of the band and that original fusion of melodic death and doom metal forms we find a very different beast in ‘Revelations From the Void‘ per the overall ride taken but that core inspiration still carries on in the same spirit, or, tonal intent. Though Onirophagus could’ve been described as sophisticated in bursts on their previous LP this one bears so many moving parts, and moves so freely between its many years-developed functions that it only appears chimeric ’til the full listen has time to sink in, linger in mind. Of course production values help the beast to settle in its DNA as Orgone Studios/Moontower Studios create a vessel which provides the right balance between rich atmospheric death-toned space and a few differently angled rhythmic tangents while also allowing for nods to their muse in rusted-out 90’s melodic death/doom metal. In this sense I’d felt that this third LP from the band is a step beyond the fully realized self, an extra push through a new portal in an attempt to continue their expansion and evolution away from single-lane thinking. It makes for a most entertaining death metal record, their best yet, and a work which consistently refuses to go through the motions. A high recommendation.

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