ALBUM REVIEW: I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep – Opia
With members hailing from both the UK and Spain, OPIA is a gothic metal doom sextet inspired by bands such as MY DYING BRIDE, SWALLOW THE SUN and AMORPHIS. On this, their debut album, they show these influences in abundance, while still finding new ground to conquer and explore with their mix of hauntingly bleak melodies and savagely heavy metal. With three of the OPIA’s members having previously featured in Welsh black metal band AGRONA, that crushing heaviness probably comes as no surprise to those familiar with their previous work. However, it’s what the band does in between those moments that really makes I WELCOME THEE, ETERNAL SLEEP stand out as something to take notice of.
Gothic and funeral doom albums would be nothing without a suitably bleak and moody opening soundscape and OPIA duly oblige with the haunting These Pristine Memories but as soon as second track On Death’s Door Part I kicks in with crashing power chords and vocalist Tereza Rohelova’s bowel-shaking screams it’s immediately clear that this is a debut to get excited about. The contrast in her vocal delivery between the verses and choruses couldn’t be greater though, showing real range and power in shifting from those brutal death metal grunts to the ethereal and dreamy cleans, which are accompanied by space in the instrumentation to allow her talent to breathe. The keyboard work of Jorge Alfonso only adds to the atmosphere here and it’s a real highlight, not only on this song but on the rest of the album too. Lyrically, the band explore themes of loss, grief and despair and you really feel that when Rohelova shrieks “Will you remember me, not as I am, but that which I once was? Promise you won’t forget!”
Despite numerous nods to the classics of the more gothic end of the doom metal genre, OPIA aren’t simply regurgitating old ideas. While the opening passage of Man Proposes, God Disposes might sound more than a little like PARADISE LOST, the verse veers off in an altogether more melodic, albeit equally miserable, direction. The epic guitar work of Phoenix Griffiths and Daniel Treganna really takes the lead on this slow and mournful epic, the rest of the band supporting an effective loud/quiet dynamic that is as oppressive as it is beautiful, particularly in its more peaceful sections which again provide the listener with the space needed to real feel the atmosphere of the music. Playwright Harold Pinter always said that real drama is in the silences between words. OPIA seems to have taken a leaf out of his book.
Given the genre and the presence of soulful female vocals, it would be too easy to draw comparisons with earlier OCEANS OF SLUMBER and while there are similarities between the two bands, the dynamic range, and particularly the restraint, on display here is if anything even more impressive. Days Gone By in particular shows this, picking up the tempo with chugging mid-paced riffs accompanied by grand piano-style keyboard parts. It’s crushingly heavy and bleak but also strangely catchy at the same time, making it something unique in a genre dominated by desolation.
Album closer On Death’s Door Part II sounds almost like a symphonic black metal piece as it begins, Sam Hefferman’s impressive double kick drums underpinning the brutal, synth-drenched riffs, before the fading coda injects soaring leads into the mix, briefly shedding a glimmer of light onto the darkness that has gone before.
I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep is an incredibly powerful debut album that demands multiple listens. When you peel away the familiar skin of the record, you discover a band with an innovative and unique take on a genre that too often sounds overly familiar. As brutal and horrifying as it is haunting and heartbreaking, this is one that every self-respecting death, doom and gothic metal fan needs to hear.
Rating: 8/10
I Welcome Thee, Eternal Sleep is out now via Hammerheart Records.
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