Onirophagus - Revelations From The Void

Onirophagus is a death/doom metal band from Spain, who formed in 2011.  Their latest release, “Revelations From The Void,” is their third full-length album.  

I received the promo for this album months ago and I have listened to it very consistently—it has stayed with me and provided a lot of quality listens.  This was actually the first doom metal album for 2025 that I heard.  I’ve listened to, and reviewed, several more since then but this one is still near the top for among the best releases SO FAR this year.  

This is dark, deep music with bottomless depth.  Much like the title suggests, this is music that sounds like it is being vomited forth from some hellish realm of skinless, blood-soaked nightmares.  Deeply rooted in extreme metal, this is an often slow, cavernous album that is even heavier than expected. 

It’s also very well-written and engaging.  Yes, the songs bring me to the edge of the abyss but they also make me want to stay there.  To stare into the darkness and have such high quality doom metal returned is truly something special.

But doom doesn’t have to mean plodding.  The album presents many moments of outright speedy induced carnage when the band embraces their death metal tendencies.  It all sounds natural and the transitions smooth.  The band’s ability to switch from somber, moody death/doom to profound extremity is impressive, to say the least. 

Although it is certainly atmospheric, it is also riff based and there is always the metallica edge of riff nearby.  I like this because the band doesn’t get lost in itself with long passages that lead to nowhere.  Every passage here, long or short, has a purpose.

The pacing and length is perfect—five songs and still under 50 minutes of playtime.  The flow is helped immensely by the impeccably placed track listing.  The album is capped on either end with the two longest songs, with the three in the middle being shorter but each of the three being longer than the last.  Simply put, the album rolls along quite smoothly despite its style and constant punishment it casts out.  I will say a little something about each song since there are “just” five, highlight my favorite parts of each. 

The opening song, “Hollow Valley,” sets the mood of the album right off the bat.  It’s immediate in the beginning, very quickly hammering out slow riffs that are highlighted by surprisingly melodic and emotional guitar leads.  The death growls have the right amount of echo on them but the vocal variety as a whole is nice, with shouts and screams right alongside the growls.

The middle portion transitions to massive, stalking riffs that rip up the musical ground. The rhythm section is very complimentary of the overall sound—the drums and bass are fantastic throughout. Near the end a wonderful solo that is more soulful than most doom this extreme can produce makes the ending of the song a great pay off for the patience to make it this far. 

“Landsickness,” is the shortest of the five songs, at just under six minutes. It uses the time well–the opening moments are just how death/doom should be: slow, sweltering, and hellish.  The atmosphere across the song is particularly ghastly, nearly disgusting in places.  I love it.  The song speeds up later with riffs that are far more catchy than they have a right to be.   The final half of the song alternates between mid and fast tempos, throwing out concrete riffs through dismal, sulphuric winds.

Ah yes, “The Tome.”  This is such a great song, one of my favorites.  The beginning is build upon subtle melodies that incorporate a Gothic atmosphere.  The melancholic leads are perfect and build up to raw death growls that offer an abrasive contrast to the Gothic passages. 

Of course, around the halfway point, the band injects blackened speed with shouting clean vocals that push the song into another direction.  This is an intense passage that, although it differs greatly from the somber opening, makes sense in the grand scheme of the song. 

“Black Brew,” is disturbing from the very first second.  Something about this song is just profane, like witnessing the end of the world.  The bass and drums tear it up, thick blankets of their own world of never ending darkness. The slow, crunchy riffs around the three minute mark are both head banging and destitute.  This is probably the bleakest song on the album, especially in the later half with the clean vocals that sort of chant above the melodic riffs.

The final song is the opus “Stargazing Into The Void.”  Imagine looking up at the stars on a warm night, transfixed by the ancient and mysterious beacons that burn brightly against the night sky.  Suddenly, you find yourself rising higher and higher as the air grows thinner and colder.  By the time you realize you’re in the void of space, your fate is sealed.  At this point death is imminent but still your soul is transfixed by the cold beauty even as your body dies.    That’s what I thought about when I listened to this song.  What will it do to you?  I don’t know but even if it doesn’t make you conjure any images, the atmosphere of the song and its using of extremity against the backdrop of liminal spaces will still enthrall you. 

Onirophagus’ “Revelations From The Void,” is an album that I got lost in.  Among the void of death and dimmly lit caverns, I still found my way through an adventurous doom metal album that has gripped me tight since I first heard it—and still hasn’t let me go.