is anyone into this band? it seems i havnt met 1 metal head yet that loves them like i do! where are all the Ophthalamia fans and any merch?

I just listened to the songs on the myspace and I must say that these guys are really damn good. Thanks for opening my eyes to another good band. Many kudos.

Their music is quite boring and inferior to the rest of It's projects, especially Vondur. I mean, they have a few okay riffs here and there but the songs drag on ad infinitum and then all momentum is lost.

I recall seeing an Ophthalamia patch on Abyss Records recently.

For what's it worth, Ophthalmia seems to be wider received than Vondur. So to call them inferior to Vondur seems to be some sort of falsehood, when, to me, it seems that Vondur is the inferior band.

Since when does popularity indicate quality?

I've loved Ophthalamia ever since I heard Via Dolorosa. I love how the riffs just melt together and the song lengths are not a bother to me. I just love it.

According to a reliable source, IT might be putting together a new Ophthalamia album.

I love the Opthalamia cover of "Deathcrush" when contributing to the tribute to Euronymous [A Nordic Tribute...], and that inspired me to get "A Journey In Darkness"... wonderful album!! Such riffing and atmosphere that portrays a beautiful.. *ahem* journey in darkness.

Any other albums I should check out?

Via Dolorosa, most definitely. Compared to that one their other albums all look fairly 'ordinary.' Via Dolorosa is unique, great 'live' sounding production, lengthy, meandering, hypnotic songs that follow the same formula (or lack of a formula), you keep wanting to hear what riff comes next. Fairly subdued atmosphere for such an extremely melodic album, the relaxed pace of the songs probably helps. Even the standard black metal vocals don't seem particularly grating in this context.

This is true. I spoke to IT on myspace a while ago and he even posted a blog about it on his official page. There may be another War album too.

I never once stated that popularity made something good. I was saying the overall consensus for the two bands showed that Ophthalmia to be the more accepted band of the two.

You make it sound very much like because more people like Opthalmia, that they are a better band. That is really irrelevant, since quality is subjective.

Well in your first post in this thread, you stated that this was the first time that you had heard them and of them, so that says you know shit about them.

Secondly, if you are going by the reviews on this site, the reviews for the Ophthalamia releases are written by people who generally give out 100s like they are whores transmitting STDs. The reviews for the Vondur releases are from more experienced reviewers, who, besides writing plenty of reviews, give out more scores than just 100s and 0s.

Thirdly, you made the same statement twice using different wording. The fact of the matter is that sheer volume of audience in favor of something does not clearly indicate quality. Just look at all of the rabid fans of folk metal, Darkspace, CoF, Cynic, etc.

Or Christianity

A Journey In Darkness is fucking great, especially due to the vocal performance.