Interview with doom death metal band from Spain - ONIROPHAGUS.
Answered Eduardo Jiménez Castro (Paingrinder - vocals), thank you!
Recenze/review - ONIROPHAGUS - Revelations From the Void (2025):
Ave ONIROPHAGUS! Hello to the Catalan underground. I hope all is well with you. It should be, you have the third long-playing great album of your career this year. I have to admit, it literally drove me up the wall. It's dark, it's energetic, it cuts with a knife edge. It's very telling that you've done a great job and a great deal of talent too. How do you feel about the new record in relation to your debut? Where did you want to go and how do you think the recordings are different?
Hi Jakub. First of all, thank you very much for the interview. We have been following your webzine for years. We are glad you liked our latest work. A lot has happened since Defiler Of Hope, our first EP, and I think that with the passing of time you can notice a certain evolution in our compositions. We remain faithful to our style, but it is true that we have been incorporating new elements and the songs are much more complex than in our beginnings. This is partly due to the fact that the band is completely reformed. The three founders are still in it, but Obszen (Guitar), Sir Bellum (Guitar) and Chaos Reaver (Bass) have been incorporated and much of Revelations from the void is thanks to them.
RFTV is a return to our roots, much more Death Metal than Endarkenment, but at the same time something fresh and new. In the vocals I have experimented with several new registers that give more life to the album. We have also squeezed the three guitars to the maximum and then the mastering by Jaime Gómez Arellano.
"Revelations From the Void" contains all the attributes of good death and doom metal. For me personally, it is a record that I love to come back to. How was it made? How do you compose new material ONIROPHAGUS?
We compose on a rhythmic base and little by little we form the song. Sometimes we improvise on that base in the rehearsal room and interesting things come out.
What we always have clear is that the last song of the album has to be long, containing absolutely everything and above all an epic ending that keeps the listener in suspense. That's the best way for an album to be remembered!
Another idea that we had clear in the composition of the album, is that it should go from less to more. It is a concept album that tells a story, and as in the movies, the pace should be accelerated until it reaches its climax.
Who is signed for recording and mastering? I have to confirm that the sound literally kills. It still makes me turn up the volume on the hi-fi tower. You have a sound that is harsh, raw and at the same time dark and animalistic. How was it working with you? What studio did you record in and how did everything go?
The recording was done at Moontower Studios by Javi Félez, an old friend who is responsible for all our recordings.
But this time the mastering was by Jaime Gómez Arellano, a real beast in charge of mastering bands like Behemoth, Grave Miasma, Primordial and many more.
Javi has known us for many years and knew how a Death Doom album should sound. At first he was going to master it himself, but Javi advised us to talk to Jaime for the mastering.
The result is explosive, we have never sounded so fucking good.
An integral part and kind of an extra bonus for fans today is the CD. You released it on the Personal Records label and it comes with a demonic cover. The author is Paolo Ricardi. How did you choose the motif and how does it relate to the music on the release?
Paolo is one of our favorite artists and we wanted to work with him for our latest work.
We wanted him to paint our vision of the Onirophagus, that cosmic beast that feeds on our dreams. Our idea of the Onirophagus was perfect for him, as he tends to use a lot of vortexes with eyes and teeth.
He asked us a couple of questions about the sketch and the paint color, and little by little he was sending us pictures of the process.
We are very happy to have worked with him. One of the best artists of our time and a really cool Heavy Metal fan.
I've been roaming the underworld for over thirty years and I actually go to Spain for music just in case. I think we have similar moods and tastes when it comes to metal. I like your bands a lot (DECAPITATED CHRIST, GRAVEYARD are great!) and I follow your scene very closely. Maybe I'm even a bit envious of you, we only have a few death metal bands in our country that are worth it. What do you explain that death metal is so successful in your country? How do you perceive your scene, fans, labels?
It's funny that you name Decapitated Christ, because I'm the former singer of the band, since I recorded four albums with them, haha.
The Spanish underground is in great health these days, for example bands like Balmog, Lóstregos, Estertor (my other Thrash Death band), Nuclear Revenge, Osserp, Jade, etc. Here in Spain there is a lot of fanaticism for extreme metal, but only at underground level, since the big festivals in our country are more focused on traditional Metal.
Luckily lately there are some underground extreme metal associations that organize extreme metal festivals like Black Templar, Blood Covenant, Necesse Mori or Fortalessa and also annual Extreme Metal Fairs.
But as I say, it is more at the underground level, where I think it should stay. Let's be few but good.
You play doom death metal influenced by the old school. Nowadays a band can't really avoid comparisons, but I would like to know how the idea to start ONIROPHAGUS came about, who was and is your role model and where you want to take your band? Are you tempted by big festivals abroad, for example, are you willing to go on tour with a more famous pack?
Onirophagus was born in 2011 with the idea of doing a tribute to bands like old My Dying Bride, Anathema, Paradise Lost, etc. Something new but without losing that old school essence.
The old influences are always there, but we are a band that loves to buy new music and discover new bands. From those bands we also learn and see possibilities to incorporate current stuff into our compositions. For example the darkness of Venenum in their evil riffs, Krypts, Chaotian, also inspire our music.
We would love to play some big festival, but we are more comfortable in an underground circuit or festivals like Party San. But we never rule out an offer to tour with some cool band.
When I started my site seven years ago, I had a vision of trying to support bands that I thought weren't as visible. Let the world know about them. I think I've been pretty successful, at least by the response. How do you approach promotion? Do you leave it up to the label or do you send out CDs yourself for various reviews? I buy albums that I really enjoy, for example. How are you? Are you also a fan who likes to support your colleagues often? Do you go to concerts? Do you party?
We have been following Deadly Storm for years, and we love what you do and the support you give us for underground metal!
Personal Records is doing a great job of promotion and we are reaching media outlets all over the world, but unfortunately promotions don't reach everywhere and we always try on our own to send out cds to try to reach other places. That also helps the band and the label, the further you go the more exposure you get.
I am a big buyer of music, both vinyl and CD. Every month I buy a lot of records, both underground bands and more mainstream bands. The last vinyls I bought were Cancer's Death Shall Rise, Therion's Of Darkness and Blood Incantation's latest album.
Of course, we go to concerts a lot. Luckily in Barcelona every week you can find an Underground concert of any style, that's why we know a lot of people, because we are always partying.
On the one hand, bands today have a lot of opportunities to make their presence known, but on the other hand, there are a huge number of bands and fans get lost in them. A lot of people just download mp3s from the internet and instead of going to a gig they spit venomous spittle on Facebook. How does modern technology affect you as ONIROPHAGUS? What do you think about downloading music, google metal, streaming music etc.?
Unfortunately not everybody is like us. People who support bands and buy material.
Social networks are a double-edged sword. If you don't have networks, you don't exist, you are nobody, but nevertheless anyone can download your music and do with it what they want.
I don't see bad that they download our album, but if you really like what you hear, buy it later, support the band and go to a fucking concert!
I like to ask musicians what death/doom metal means to them. How would they define it, is it more of a philosophy and lifestyle for them or "just" relaxation. What does it mean to you? How do you perceive and experience it?
For me Death/Doom is a liberation. Something that unties you from reality and conveys many kinds of feelings.
It's a music where you can express pain, despair but also beauty.
That's why I consider it a liberation, because thanks to Onirophagus I can express all the darkness we have inside and turn it into music.
Finally, a classic but important question. What are ONIROPHAGUS planning in the coming months? Where can we see you in concert and when will you visit the Czech Republic?
Next January 25th we will present the album in an underground festival, the Kanya. And we intend to do a mini tour in Spain.
I would love to play in Czech Republic as it is a country I love. I've been 5 times in Praha and of course in Kutna Hora.
If you know of any promoter, recommend them to take us there so we can have some beers and Goulash!
Thank you very much for the interview. I wish not only the new album a lot of success and may the ranks of your fans expand as much as possible. I'll be looking forward to seeing you live somewhere and may you do well both musically and on a personal level. I'm gonna go shove "Revelations From the Void" in my head again!
Thank you very much Jakub, for your unconditional support to the underground and for your words with our new work.
I hope that in the not too distant future we can meet and have those beers.
Recenze/review - ONIROPHAGUS - Revelations From the Void (2025):
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