2023 was a good year for South Wales Black Metal outfit Ofnus. Not only did they release their strong debut album, Time Held Me Grey And Dying, but they managed to do something that not many bands have done – pack out the New Blood Stage at Bloodstock Festival at 10:30 am on a Sunday morning.
Move forward to February 2025 and the band are on the verge of even greater things. Their new album Valediction is about to be released, the band head out for some selected dates as guests of Scottish legends Saor, and they get to open the Friday morning at a sold-out Bloodstock 2025, but this time on the Sophie Lancaster stage.
It seems that Bloodstock is in the blood. As we noted in our last interview with Ofnus founder member, guitarist and main songwriter Alyn Hunter, there was already Bloodstock Alumni in the band before they played in 2023. As I catch up with Alyn again, it seems the obvious place to pick up the band’s story.
Prior to their 2023 show, we discussed the options for songs for a 30-minute slot. Given that Ofnus have a penchant for lengthy opuses, that proved a challenge then. With another hour’s worth of material to add to the mix, 2025’s set will prove just as difficult to select.
“The easier thing with the first album is that there are songs which are four minutes in length” he laughs, “but now, realistically, the shortest song we have will be five minutes and the rest, well…”
We return to the setlist later. Although Alyn had played Bloodstock twice with his former band Agrona, there was still vindication with that Sunday morning show. Not quite the debut of the band, but they had only played a handful of shows before it. “You’ve done your best,” he says, “and it did feel like vindication more than anything else. Having a tent filled on a Sunday about half ten is always a challenge.”
“It was probably made easier by Richard [Rees – bassist] running around the campsite for the three days prior handing out Bandcamp codes, stickers and patches and saying, ‘if you like Black Metal, come to this’, to anyone with a patch jacket. But we packed out that tent and sold pretty much all the merch that we brought.
“It felt good getting off the stage. We knew we did well. You don’t tend to spend too much time staring at the crowd, but when you kind of get the raw statistics afterwards, and you see the pictures that people have taken, you can see the crowd, you kind of go, oh wait, we did that?”
Reading back on those 2023 interviews, I mention that Rich was identified as the most excited for the day. Ofnus embrace misery in their songwriting, so being excited and smiling is very much against the overall image of the band and their music. It is difficult, Alyn explains, “because if you see people resonating with the music, particularly if they’ve got their eyes closed and are spacing out or whatnot, it’s difficult to not kind of smile. You know, it’s nice to have that effect on people, but it can be difficult to hold character.”
Time Held Me Grey And Dying was rightly lauded in many places as a fine debut. It was on the verge of release when we last spoke. Since then, the band has shifted close to 500 physical copies, which is a great achievement. Alyn’s keen to run a fresh print if the demand is piqued after Valediction is released, although those of us with the track listing in the wrong order will be able to hold onto that collector’s item safe in the knowledge that any repress will be in the right order.
“We are looking at maybe doing some represses in future with the tracks in the right order. If you have the first edition, it’s just gonna be exclusively collected and eventually will end up being on Discogs for a much higher rated fee” he laughs before explaining that the hope is to attract a newer fan base who may want to have access to the first CD as well as accessing it on different formats including cassette.
What about vinyl? Ah, yes, the old request for a vinyl version raises its head, not for the first time. “Maybe further down the line on vinyl,” Alyn says, “but it is difficult because we write long songs. That doesn’t necessarily make it easy to put onto vinyl.”
He goes on to explain that perhaps unsurprisingly, vinyl remains the most requested medium. “It’s the practicality, and that’s a problem that we’ve created. If we, perhaps, were a little bit more intelligent about how we wrote music and more considerably writing the music in terms of how it will be applied to vinyl, then it would be easier to do. But because we’re not writing in terms of four-minute songs. When we’re writing, we’re writing with the music first. We’re not writing with how we can sell this in mind. We’re writing in terms of what sounds good.”
Time Held Me Grey And Dying received some excellent reviews. It wasn’t just the UK who covered the debut, though, with a widespread audience across the globe. Alyn tells me about reviews from Europe including Belgium, Germany and a memorable one from Italy.
“That one was hilarious,” Alyn laughs. “It was a mixed bag in the sense that they likened us to a collection of different Italian dishes, and all the dishes were wonderful, except they didn’t like the mix of them together, which is fine. It was an opinion, and not everyone’s going to like everything, and perhaps you shouldn’t mix tiramisu and spaghetti!” There were also reviews from the USA and one from Metal-Roos in Australia who recommended it.
It appears, perhaps unsurprisingly, that some of the band’s most vocal fans come from the USA. Having fans wanting you to tour the other side of the world is possibly the biggest accolade you can have, although realising such a dream for these dreaming men is astonishingly expensive.
“You would need stupid money to do it. Even just thinking about the business is frightening.” And this is before we consider the current situation and the current incumbent in the White House. Maybe Ofnus can wait a bit after all.
Of course, by the time the debut was out, Ofnus were already moving on and Alyn already had much of Valediction written in some shape or form. Like many bands, the creative urge is strong and they are not content to sit on their laurels. “Some bands are probably quite happy to do that,” Alyn says, “and I think this is one of the reasons why Ofnus works and why we kind of carried on that way.
“All of us have been in bands where we’ve written, and then we’ve sat on what we’ve got rather than moving on to the next thing as soon as possible. So, the reason this will work is because we’ve actually taken that as a lesson learned and continued writing and moved on to the next thing without dwelling too much.
“Of course, we do need to sit on Valediction for a while,” he smiles before continuing. “We need to make sure we can play it live to a bunch of new agencies and visit places we’ve seen before and new places for me, for them, but, equally, we need to think about what our next step is going to be. And if that’s going to be in a third album, then fine, we’ll have that material ready. And yeah, it’s already worked on.”
It’s clear from listening to Valediction that Ofnus have upped their game. Alyn had written All of Time Held Me Grey And Dying before the band even came together, but for Valediction, the others were more involved.
Alyn explains that his programmed drums would be dismissed by drummer Ethan Spargo, who would listen, say, “This is stupid. I’m gonna change this up. Yeah, I can’t play this, I’m gonna play something different”.
Appreciating the expertise available within the band is a skill which Alyn possesses in spades. “As a drummer, he is the expert in his field, and he said this just works better, and he will address it rather than just consult me on doing it. I give him a certain amount of trust to say just butcher it and do what you think is there. And then, if I think that’s also weird or incorrect, we discuss.
“We went to the studio. I hadn’t really heard his version. He would just start recording it. Then if I came to a point where I thought now, he’s changed his stuff, I don’t like what amendments he has made, I suggest saying different, and we just record it in that setting.”
Of course, having a good producer who can offer the same insights is hugely beneficial. In Tim Vincent, Ofnus have that man, offering the same kind of insight, making suggestions and fixing and improving. The same principles apply to lead guitarist James Ponsford and bassist Rich.
“It’ll come to the point where they’re getting it down,” Alyn says, “so they’re practising it but working it as well, you know. They’ll practice their new version of it. They’ll take it to the golden process. Okay, listen to this. Yeah. And 90% of the time, they’re right.”
Establishing that level of trust doesn’t always come easy, but on Valediction, Ofnus is now very much the sum of its parts. Listening to Time Held Me Grey and Valediction back-to-back is an interesting exercise, with a clear demarcation between the two. That’s not to detract from the debut, but Valediction does step up a level on many counts.
As the nominal patriarch of the band, Alyn notes the progression with some pride. He describes the occasion during the recording of Zenith Dolour, where Ethan suggests adding a four-bar fill. “We had no idea what he was planning. Yeah. Fine, crack on, I said, if you think it works then we’ll give it a bash.
“Then he plays the fill, and, I think James was in the studio with me, along with Tim, who is recording the drums, and we just looked at each other and went, what the hell is that? Can you do that again?
“I think one of the things that has made this kind of move forward is that a lot of Time Held Me Grey And Dying was written before we put the band together, so we were getting musicians together to play the parts.
“Now we have a better idea of what people can do, we can like those abilities better. And that’s Will [Philpott – vocals] too.”
It was Will who shouldered some of the criticism about his vocals on the first album, and they have improved in an organic way on Valediction. However, there was no pressure on him this time round, and Alyn explains that there was the opportunity for him to test his range and style.
“He’s tried an awful lot of different techniques, and I think based upon some of the criticism we did have, he’s really taken it on board in a positive way and just ran with it. In terms of how we interpret it, we’ll just let them know if we think it works”.
Valediction is a concept album which follows the cycle of grief. Subject matter covered by other artists, although Alyn is keen to point out that they did not focus on who else had done so. “We didn’t really think about who else had done it, thinking more along the lines of something which fits generally the Ofnus optic.
“Something that would allow us to approach music in a flexible but flowing way in the sense that each cycle has a very clear theme that you can write in a slightly different style, which allows you to be quite malleable. You can retain the same traits of sound.
“As an example with acceptance, it’s a bit more of a major vibe to it, whereas with depression you can go a bit more down post-atmospheric music. But equally, because it’s a cycle, and things move from one stage to another, it allows you to kind of work it out. How am I going to plan? Moving from track A to track B, to track C. From that basis, it was just nice to almost project manage an album in a week. It allows us to have that element of drama, allows us to have an element of human interaction.”
Despite the duration of the songs that Ofnus compose, Alyn is focused on some elements of the length of the album, normally keeping the album in total to under an hour. Not that this appeases all reviewers, as Alyn tells me, who criticise them for being too long in both album and song length. “
“You’ve got that in the back your mind,” he says, “but we try not to care too much about what perspective we use. Because they need to think about what fits the music, the writing. And ultimately, I mean, perhaps that’s just what we’re good at and what we need to aim for. It is a problem we are encountering right now.”
Album number three is already well on the way, and Alyn tells me that of the five songs completed so far, three are eight minutes long with another over seven minutes. “Maybe we just need to accept that we are a long song band,” he says. I point out that a certain Swedish band, a favourite of both of ours who headlined Bloodstock in 2024, are rather good at long songs.
One area where Ofnus have a keen eye is merchandise. They regularly sell out at shows. As they gear up for the pre-orders for Valediction, they have a new shirt coming out via their label (it looks great!), and the band are likely to join in with that for the UK specific orders at least. “The label is based in Europe, so, the shipping costs can be a little bit more expensive. If people want to order from us for an alternate option, we’ll present a slightly cheaper alternative.”
In addition to the bespoke shirt, there will be additional patches as well as CDs, and there will be A5 limited editions as well, with the promise of cassettes being a distinct possibility.
It is all arriving very fast, with the pre-order from 7 February 2025 and Valediction released at the end of the month. Two music videos are also promised, the second is out 18 February 2025. It promises to be a busy month with some heavyweight Black Metal releases from former labelmates Grima and Derby’s Abduction. And, of course, the latest album by Saor, who Ofnus are providing support to over a handful of dates, including the Scots album launch in Glasgow tonight. This is followed by shows in Bristol Birmingham and York, scene of the first ever Ofnus show.
Saor are well respected on the UK Black Metal scene, although they are more active in Europe. How did Ofnus get on board with the Scots? “I think Ethan got to know them in Glasgow a couple years back and has been chatting to them since. I think once we had Valediction to a mastering stage, Ethan contacted their manager, and I think they might have forwarded it on to Andy Marshall who is the mastermind behind Saor.
“He’s got a great reputation for supporting underground bands. There is also the Irish Post Black Metal / Shoegaze band Domhain on the bill and Andy took the same view with them. We’re just really grateful that it’s come out with a band that we’ve got some kind of links with.” And, as I point out, also incredibly timely.
There was some exciting news earlier in 2025 when Ofnus confirmed that they had been accepted to the BBC initiative Horizons Cymru. The first Heavy Metal band, certainly the first Welsh Metal band to receive it, Alyn tells us a bit more about it.
“So, we’ve been aware of Horizons for a while. It’s a BBC initiative to provide funding to get Welsh music out there, have a larger stage and help with unassigned Welsh bands or acts. It’s not really genre-specific. We did notice that nobody really had had any luck from an extreme side, and that, I want to say, just put us off. But it made us think that if we were going to apply, we needed to be serious and make a proposition that they would have difficulty turning down.
“We kept an eye on when the applications came out and then applied. I knew that we had the album coming out in February, so I put together an application that said we have got this and that some things that had not been announced to that point.
“I put together a business plan saying that this is what we do, this is what we need. This is how we would like support. Sure enough, the different things that I said were going to be announced were. I guess they were able to see, and by listening to the album as well, that this was a band who meant business. We were clear about what and when we were doing things and keeping those promises. And we secured some funding. This is money predominantly for the video and a bit of PR.”
It seemed reasonable to conclude where we started, which is Bloodstock. And Alyn has more than a little involvement in the wider aspects of the festival.
On a personal level, he is the main promoter of the South Wales Metal 2 The Masses competition. You may recall our coverage of the Day of Wreckoning last July. 2025’s heats are all in place, and Alyn seems happy with how it’s looking.
“I certainly can’t complain because it’s difficult every single year,” he says. “There’s a certain degree of bands who will play it year after year, no matter what the outcome, and there’s a certain number who will look at that and they will try again. This year, only one of last year’s finalists has applied, which is unusual. A lot of time, you get finalists who might think that was so close, I’ll try again.
“We’ve got an awful lot of new blood and new talent coming through, some of which is very eclectic. There’s some bands I’ve never seen before. For example, I really want to see Adfelion from Swansea. I really want to find out what they’re about. I think it just speaks towards how well Swansea’s has it in their music scene now.”
And finally, Ofnus return to Bloodstock. Friday, 8th August at 10:30 am on the Sophie Lancaster Stage. Are they already planning? “We are already. I think we’ve got some PR in mind for it. We are already in talks with photographers and media to try and make sure that we’ve got coverage for it because it could be our biggest gig.
“We don’t know. There may not be big ones after that, there may be bigger ones after that, but we want to make sure that we are getting that kind of coverage. We’re already considering what we’re doing in terms of setlist, which is our biggest conundrum because, again, half an hour, what do we do with that?
“We can do a medley. Do we do shortened versions of songs, radio edits, that kind of thing? But how do you radio edit what we do? So, it’s not a simple task.
“We are considering what we’re doing on stage, whether we need to consider choreographing what we do as well. But I mean, ultimately, it’s mostly just making sure that people wake up for us. That’s the challenge!
“We haven’t got three days to wander around the festival. No stickers, flyers, etc. We’ve got a very limited amount of time. We want people to see us, and we want to try again as far as possible.”
Valediction is released on 28 February via Naturmacht Productions.
Ofnus play Bloodstock on Friday 8th August.
