Onirophagus - Revelations From the Void (2025)^{Release ID: 57184}

I really need to be listening to more death doom. This is what I had determined to be missing from my happy and altogether positive existence of late. Some bone crushingly heavy death metal, played at slug pace to genuinely make me question if time itself is faltering is exactly what I need as winter starts to throw its death throes and we get double figure temperatures here in England. Luckily enough, The Fallen gods are pleased with me and have offered up the latest release from Spanish band Onirophagus, in the shape of Revelations from the Void.

Instantly recognisable as having more than a nod in the direction of My Dying Bride and Paradise Lost, from the off I can determine that these boys come from good stock. They were unknown to me until this release, but a quick check of the history to them shows they have been around since 2011. With two albums already under their belt, it is fair to assume that album number three should be a pretty solid and mature sounding affair and that is exactly what I get. The cleaner vocal sections (if they can be referred to as that) did catch me off guard initially and I do still prefer the more monolithic version of the vocals (see Landsickness – my standout track) in all honesty. Yet Onirophagus do still present a fantastic sense of spiralling misery across their sound, adding the real sense of oppressive and looming atmosphere to the listening experience as a result.

Each track does sound like a revelation from some fathomless void. The cavernous reverb is there on the drums, successfully adding much power to the sound as those melancholic riffs carve out fissures of absolute despondency. Also in the mix though is this sense of cosmic horror. It is the promise of something truly terrifying. Something way more horrific than Paolo Girardi’s artwork suggests on the cover. After just a couple of listens I found myself immersed in proceedings, eagerly anticipating each track as it pulled me under its turgid tide.

In terms of a consistently pleasing experience, Revelations from the Void ticks all the boxes here. Whilst it is an album from a particularly staid sub-genre, it makes no apology for doing death doom exactly how it should be done and manages to hold my interest from start to finish with tracks that overall, well written and oozing maturity. The closing track that clocks in at nearly sixteen minutes does lose me a little, even with its violin addition that really does separate the track from the previous six. However, after a long gap of not having listened to any death doom for what feels like an age, Onirophagus have rekindled my interest nicely.