Doomed Confessionary: Paingrinder (Onirophagus)
Photos by Eduard Tuset
Hailing from Barcelona, Spain, Onirophagus saw the light in 2011 when Uretra and Moregod decided to create a project to revive the old sound of ’90s doom-death metal. They then contacted Paingrinder (ex-Decapitated Christ) and later that year the trio self-released their first EP, »Defiler Of Hope«, which soon put them in the spotlight of the Catalan underground.
Several lineup changes and two full-length albums later, Onirophagus return with their third studio album, »Revelations From The Void«, released on January 17th, 2025 via Personal Records. »Revelations From The Void« presents an incredibly refined style of doom-death, both honoring and expanding its aesthetic parameters. There of course exists molten riffing, sepulchral vocals, and lumbering tempos aplenty, and while dynamic shifts between crush and clean have become more commonplace for doom-death, Onirophagus here do it better than most.
Onirophagus are Paingrinder (vocals), Moregod (guitar), Obszen (guitar), Sir Bellum (guitar), Chaos Reaver (bass) and Uretra (drums).
Can you say a few words about your band?
Onirophagus is a creature that feeds on the hopes and dreams of humanity. Something Lovecraftian but without belonging to the universe of the master of Providence.
The sound emitted by this creature is a cold and dark death/doom, furious and swampy in equal parts. But the beast is not only focused on those styles, it rides among many other extreme metal sounds regardless of labels.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Still in the underground since 2011, keeping the spirit alive and with the trident that started it all until today. We have reformed the band several times and we are still there, creating the music we like and staying true to our style.
What can you be most proud of so far?
After several breakups we have been constantly reborn, we have never thrown in the towel and we are proud to remain. We live in a time when there are thousands of bands of excellent quality and few labels that are interested in your music, so we have not given up, we have started from scratch and if no one is interested in you, we do it ourselves with our effort. We are proud of our perseverance and fidelity.
What was your biggest regret?
We don’t regret anything, I think all the decisions we have made in the past are the right ones. But if I had to name one thing we might regret, it is trusting people in the underground scene, people who are only there for their own interest and abuse contacts or power in exchange for nothing.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Each and every one of them have been great, but we remember very fondly the presentation of »Prehuman« in Madrid along with Avulsed, Purtenance and Dissect. We were a young band that had just released their first album and that was very big for us. People asking for autographs, that was something new and cool for us.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
I could say hundreds of albums, but if I have to name any current one I would say our friends from Sepulchral Curse’s »Crimson Moon Evocation« and of course Blood Incantation’s »Absolute Elsewhere« which was one of my favorite albums of last year.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
In Onirophagus we have a very wide range of musical tastes, from classic heavy metal to death metal or gothic rock to The Sisters Of Mercy or The Mission. But currently I’m focused on death metal with current bands like Mutagenic Host, Gutless, Sepulchral Curse or the new Havukruunu album.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Never give up. Make your music go far and if it doesn’t, do it for you.
What are your guilty pleasures?
I can’t stand modern metal, metalcore, deathcore, etc, but there’s a band that really tickles my fancy: Electric Callboy. It’s not that I’m passionate about them, but they’re a lot of fun. So you can take away my True Metalhead card.
And as for movies (which I’m passionate about), I love Will Ferrell. A film student will tell you that it’s garbage, that the real cinema is The Godfather, The Seventh Seal or Citizen Cane, but I don’t care, Step Brothers is a masterpiece.
Can you say something more about current music scene in Catalonia?
Catalonia has a lot of good bands and some of them are quite well known like Graveyard, Foscor, Osserp or Jade. We have always enjoyed having a very lively underground scene and fortunately we all get along well with each other. We are all friends or old acquaintances of the scene.
Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
In June we will do the official presentation of the album in Barcelona and we have a few dates to announce in Catalonia and maybe in the UK.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
At the moment we will present »Revelations From The Void« live since we couldn’t do it on the previous album due to the pandemic.
How can people best support your band?
We like to receive feedback from the listeners, we always answer to everyone, but the best way to support Onirophagus is to attend the concerts and buy our music or Merch. As I said before, unfortunately there are very few labels interested in releasing us, especially in a style like death doom and we have had to release the vinyl ourselves, paying for it out of our own pocket. That’s the best way to support an underground band like us.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thank you all for the awesome response to »Revelations From The Void«. If you haven’t listened to it yet, it’s a concept album that explains the story of an individual fed up with staying alive, disgusted with the earth, dizzy in life, who sooner or later reads the pages of an ancient grimoire that was always there but that he could never see, because he didn’t look with the right eyes. That tome explains to him how to prepare a black brew that, by drinking it, will make him enter the most absolute emptiness.
Anti-cosmic death/doom for old school lovers with an amalgam of references to other styles of extreme metal.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well