Doomed Confessionary: Dan, Phoenix & Tereza (Opia)
Photo credits: Konstantina Frasia Photography
Opia is a gothic doom metal band that straddles the line between atmospheric beauty and crushing heaviness. Formed between the UK and Spain, the band combines the brooding weight of death/doom with haunting, ethereal melodies, creating a sound that is as introspective as it is powerful. Opia are Tereza Rohelova (vocals), Daniel Tregenna (guitar), Phoenix Griffiths (guitar), Richard Rees (bass), Jorge Afonso (keyboards), and Sam Heffernan (drums).
Their upcoming debut album »I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep«, scheduled for release on April 25th, 2025 via Hammerheart Records, is marking the emergence of a new force within the doom metal scene. The band’s debut album explores themes of mortality, despair, depression and grief. It is a deeply atmospheric record, where slow, crushing tempos intertwine with ethereal melodies to create an experience that lingers long after the music fades.
Through its intricate songwriting and evocative mood, Opia’s debut offers a glimpse into the bleakest aspects of the mind, capturing the melancholic beauty in the acceptance of the inevitable.
With »I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep«, Opia is set to carve a unique place for themselves within the doom metal landscape, offering a fresh yet timeless take on the genre that draws on their shared history within the black metal scene. Their blend of gothic atmosphere and heavy, sorrowful doom promises to leave a lasting mark, one that will resonate with listeners for years to come.
Can you say a few words about your band?
Dan: Opia are a gothic doom metal band based across the UK and Spain. We play music that fans of bands like My Dying Bride, Swallow The Sun, Draconian or Sentenced would likely appreciate. We formed in 2022 and are set to release our debut album »I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep« on April 25th 2025. Most of the songs deal with subjects of personal loss and grief, history or Victorian spiritualism. Many of these lyrics are rooted in our personal experiences.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Dan: perhaps the fact that most of us are based in the United Kingdom. In addition to things like Brexit which make things logistically difficult at times, it’s also not a country that’s always particularly fertile ground for the kind of music we play. Although based on the attendance for our last few tours I think that attitude is changing.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Tereza: I’m proud of how we work as a band, we can tell each other to “fuck off” if we don’t like something without it being “nasty” (laughs). We’re also very proud of the music. I love the vibe and aesthetic that we created with Opia, everything is carefully considered to fit as part of the whole to make sure it represents us properly. Also, we experienced that a few of our songs have really touched people on a personal level, and after we got off stage people have come up to us afterwards and said they were so touched by the music that we made them cry. It’s not about the fact we made people cry exactly, but the fact that they understand on a deep level what the song was about and could connect with it on an emotional level . It’s important to us that the songs are genuine, and that what we create is not simply pretty music with no real depth behind it. For us our music has to have a deeper meaning and it’s wonderful that people can pick it up and identify with the emotions that drove the song’s creation.
What was your biggest regret?
Dan: I don’t think we have any regrets, we’ve achieved a lot of what we set out to do so far. Even if something didn’t work out as planned it would just be something to learn from.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Tereza: I don’t think I can say anything we’ve done has been better or worse, within our community there is way more support between the musicians and it’s always nice to meet up with likeminded people. And i think we really enjoying every single show, we’re spread out across 5 cities in multiple countries so for us it’s a very special occasion to be together and we enjoy that social aspect a lot. Even with the other bands we’ve really enjoyed being on the road with our dear friends in The Drowning, Godthrymm, Denali and Scandelion. As well as playing with such fantastic musicians, we’ve made a lot of friends for life in all of those bands.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Dan: Well we all came from different bands currently playing in the UK black metal scene, there are some good bands and good people involved there, but there’s a sense of competitiveness and ego that I don’t think we’ve really felt in the doom scene. Since day 1 our peers in this scene have been fully on board with supporting us and wanting to see us succeed and that feeling is mutual. So that sense of camaraderie is not really something I personally was expecting in the doom metal scene.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Tereza: Crypt Sermon from the USA, My Silent Wake, Unto Others, The Drowning, Forest Of Shadows, Ruins Of Beverast. And Blut Aus Nord, always.
Dan: Mostly I’ve been enjoying the new albums from The Halo Effect, Patriarkh, Octoploid and Counting Hours. As well as some older releases by bands like Saturnus, Amorphis and Tiamat. Sentenced never really leaves my playlists either.
Phoenix: Fleshgod Apocalypse, Fellowship, Poets Of The Fall.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Phoenix: To get a 7-string guitar.
Dan: The best places to play a show are very often the places you don’t expect. Some of the best shows I played were to 30 people in peripheral cities nobody thinks will be successful.
Tereza: Get in ear monitors….and I still haven’t bought them yet….haha
What are your guilty pleasures?
Tereza: I don’t really have a “guilty” pleasure, I don’t feel ashamed of anything I listen to but outside of metal I like to listen to Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Tears For Fears, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, as well as country and folk music from my home country (the Czech Republic).
Can you say something more about the current music scene in the UK?
Dan: This is kinda tricky since we’re all very spread out (even across countries) but I think as the band practices and records in Cardiff it’s perhaps the closest thing to a “home town” for the band generally. I would suggest that the South Wales/Bristol/Gloucestershire area all represents one doom metal scene in the UK. In that region you have some phenomenal bands like The Drowning, My Silent Wake, Pantheïst, Edenfall, Thrakian, Inver, Root Zero. There are also some atmospheric/melodic black metal bands there like Ofnus and Cistvaen who in all honesty probably have far more in common with us and the others I mentioned above than they do with the majority of the UK black metal scene.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
Dan: We’ve just played four dates in the UK last week with our good friends in the melodic death metal bands Countless Skies, as well as As The Sun Falls from Finland.
We’ll have more dates to come but when and where is still something we’re working on.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Phoenix: We’re aiming to play outside of the UK and are hoping it will be this year. We’ve also started working on our second album.
How can people best support your band?
Dan: Pre-order our new album »I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep« (opiadoom.lnk.to/iwelcomethee), come see us live when we’re in town, buy a t-shirt while we’re there. That’d certainly help.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Dan: We hope you enjoy the album, we put a lot of our personal pain and grief into its creation and if that provides some degree of comfort to the listeners when they need it most, the way bands like Sentenced or My Dying Bride did for us in the past then there’s no greater compliment or higher value.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well