When bands forge creative unions, it's always a joy to behold. In the South Wales scene Ofnus and Pantheïst have become two bands who will perform with each other whenever they can no matter the venue or the region. Usually promoted a Co-Headline shows with the reverence towards each other being that high, this one in Clwb Ifor Bach was a bit more special than previous shows.
Coinciding, coincidentally with the 14th anniversary of Musipedia Of Metal, this was a gig to celebrate 25 years of Pantheïst, a band who have been going from strength to strength since being reactivated by founder/vocalist/keyboardist Kostas Panagiotou in 2022 with a new South Wales based line up consisting of drummer Fanel Lefterache, guitarist Atanas Kyurkchiev and bassist Matt Strangis. Almost permeant touring has seen them add soprano Linda Dumitru to their ranks which has given the band whole new scale to their already impressive Atmospheric/Gothic Doom.
They have new material in the work but tonight was a celebration, a chance for anyone who has followed Pantheïst at any point of their journey to celebrate in the most maudlin and introspective way by slow headbanging and shuffling along to some cavernous doom. Splitting their set with two new gargantuan songs, the titles suggesting that the new record is perhaps based on Homer's Odyssey.
The tracks balance the traditional blackened snarls/sonorous baritone and with the newly acquired soaring soprano, while the psychedelic atmospheres swirl through a gothic malaise of synths and organs. The heaviness of the the rhythm section as muscular as any current doom band while the guitars crank out riffs and glorious harmony solos.
If Aphrodite's Child got wrapped up listening to Sabbath's Vol.4 and Deep Purple's Concerto for Group And Orchestra, were joined by Maria Callas in her early career but did all of it with an enormous sense of introspection under the guise of the 90's European extreme metal scene, then you'd come across something that could describe Pantheïst's approach to music, the Linda driven version of Be Here making the room fall silent. It's expertly composed classical doom metal and long may it continue.
Before we were transported to historical realms, before catharsis could be achieved we had to experience grief, heart breaking, soul shattering grief, the entirety of the grief cycle laid out before us, channelled through catastrophically visceral, cinematically atmospheric black metal from the awesome force that is Ofnus.
The collective of vocalist William Philpott, drummer Ethan Spargo, guitarists Alyn Hunter and James Ponsford and bassist Richard Rees, have made their mark across the UK since they first formed from various other bands in the South Wales scene. They arrived fully formed, focussed and ferociously driven towards becoming one of South Wales, nee the UK's best exponents of complex extreme metal.
Their debut album was pretty much a perfect starting point but they were already deep into writing album two when that arrived. Earlier this year they finally released Valediction and it is the gripping newest chapter to Ofnus' bourgeoning legacy along with being one of my albums of the year. At this show they were playing the entirety of the record in full, in order, giving those in attendance and extremely special performance, as they finally got to showcase the full grandeur of this new album on the familiar grounding of a live stage.
The Intro built, creating the atmosphere of the room darkened, there was an anticipation not just from us but from the band as well, taking such a risk as playing one album completely is usually only undertaken by bands with veteran status but Valediction is an album that needs to be heard in full and with the intro subsiding the tremolo picking, blast beats and snarling vocals kicking in for The Shattering. This beginning this conceptual record around the grief cycle, we stood awestruck as the sheer force of Ofnus was unleashed from moment one.
Nearly nine minutes flew by, the front of the stage a sea of photographers and videographers (who recorded the entire evening) as The Shattering creating the event that leads to the unnamed protagonist's mental journey through the cycle. Reflections Of Delusion's piano driven beginning and synthy shift through denial trades explosivity for despondency, the atmosphere thick and cloying as anger boils over on the shortest song of the night Throes Of Agony.
Soon it was time for the immensely affecting middle part of the record where Proteus adds death doom and strings as you bargain for some semblance of normality again and Zenith Dolour's take on unmitigated depression hits hardest of all, with emotional cascades that swell into a explosive final section. Still as effective as the first time I heard these songs, they resonate even more so with repeated plays. With acceptance coming on the title track the main bulk of the record has again entranced Clwb Ifor Bach but Ofnus leave us with their alternative dialogue Alazia, the raging, frothing finale for those who cannot find solace but forever stay in this state of grief.
Breath-taking music from two bands who are assets to the South Wales music scene, both veterans in their own way. This was magical night in the company of friends, comrades and fellow disciples of all things heavy. 10/10
Their debut album was pretty much a perfect starting point but they were already deep into writing album two when that arrived. Earlier this year they finally released Valediction and it is the gripping newest chapter to Ofnus' bourgeoning legacy along with being one of my albums of the year. At this show they were playing the entirety of the record in full, in order, giving those in attendance and extremely special performance, as they finally got to showcase the full grandeur of this new album on the familiar grounding of a live stage.
The Intro built, creating the atmosphere of the room darkened, there was an anticipation not just from us but from the band as well, taking such a risk as playing one album completely is usually only undertaken by bands with veteran status but Valediction is an album that needs to be heard in full and with the intro subsiding the tremolo picking, blast beats and snarling vocals kicking in for The Shattering. This beginning this conceptual record around the grief cycle, we stood awestruck as the sheer force of Ofnus was unleashed from moment one.
Nearly nine minutes flew by, the front of the stage a sea of photographers and videographers (who recorded the entire evening) as The Shattering creating the event that leads to the unnamed protagonist's mental journey through the cycle. Reflections Of Delusion's piano driven beginning and synthy shift through denial trades explosivity for despondency, the atmosphere thick and cloying as anger boils over on the shortest song of the night Throes Of Agony.
Soon it was time for the immensely affecting middle part of the record where Proteus adds death doom and strings as you bargain for some semblance of normality again and Zenith Dolour's take on unmitigated depression hits hardest of all, with emotional cascades that swell into a explosive final section. Still as effective as the first time I heard these songs, they resonate even more so with repeated plays. With acceptance coming on the title track the main bulk of the record has again entranced Clwb Ifor Bach but Ofnus leave us with their alternative dialogue Alazia, the raging, frothing finale for those who cannot find solace but forever stay in this state of grief.
Breath-taking music from two bands who are assets to the South Wales music scene, both veterans in their own way. This was magical night in the company of friends, comrades and fellow disciples of all things heavy. 10/10
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