Review OPHIS ‘Spew Forth Odium’

The first time I heard of Ophis was in July this year and I not just heard of Ophis, I heard Ophis. The band played a 30 minutes gig at ‘Revolt! goes Planten Un Blomen, Hamburg – July 16th, 2021‘ and they rocked the foundations of the music pavilion. I think that if the quartet would have played a few more minutes, the flowers in the park would have changed from many colors to just black.

Ophis is known for their funeral doom metal, manifested on four longplayers that Hamburg-based band unleashed already. With ‘Spew Forth Odium’, the next longplayer is waiting in line to be released and a first taste of the new record was provided during the mentioned live show, when Ophis unboxed ‘The Stygian Descent’. The song follows the opener ‘Default Empty’, two songs with steamroller power and the ability to waltz down everything that crosses the way. Brutal riffs and Philipp Kruppa’s brutal grows open the portal to the underworld, where Mephisto is in command.

A twist is what kicks off the next track. With shifted gears and a thrash-laden spirit ’Conflagration Eternal’ proves that Ophis also can add a bit more tempo to their sound. Siren-like guitars and a hard-hitting rhythm section, both are key elements of this massive wall of sounds.

The calm beginning of ‘The Perennial Wound’ finds an end, the moment, the first riff challenges the amplifier. The tune continues with melancholy and sadness, pushing dark clouds in front of sun and soul. Ophis, Hamburg’s finest riff grinders, have with ‘The Stagnant Room’ one more song on the album, being the grand finale. The epic with 13 minutes running time is a showcasing the dark beauty of funeral doom and as mentioned in the beginning, these songs have the potential to make colorful flowers bloom in black.

Heaviness and graveyard-mood, together with harsh riffing and brutal vocals, is what Ophis new album offers. Listening to these songs means, there is no light in sight and exactly this is the enlightening moment of ‘Spew Forth Odium’. Hamburg, that’s more than harbor and the colorful neon lights of St. Pauli. This city reflects all shades you could think of and Ophis manifests the blackened one in musical brilliance.