Whilst embracing these ‘Hymns Of Reverse Darkness’ I went looking for further illumination on these whipped angels assuming as they were on Hellthrasher Productions that they were Polish. Wrong straight away as it would appear that Flagellated Seraph come from Sweden and although very little information or even official web domains can be found they share kindred with other acts such as Infuneral and Putrifiied via sole member (in all but backing vocals) A. Death aka AsO. Lack of information makes an act all the more intriguing at times especially in this age where everything down to the minutest detail on the internet.  Involvement on mixing and mastering the disc comes from Magnus Devo Andersson and indeed there is an air of the Mardukian about the artwork. As far as the music is concerned apart from the fact that the music is unholy black metal any similarities really end there.

Organ shows in Reminiscence Of The Serpent and there is a slow and austere build up before the intro piece is dashed against the wall by the fury of ‘He Who Bears The Mark.’ The vocals stand out as AsO has a very forceful and gruff bark, like an angered bear a bit and the delivery of things is literally hollered out. The pace is fast and to say this goes like the clappers with the hounds of hell at its heels would be quite an apt description. It is not afraid to suddenly shift into a heavy as lead mid-paced rapture though with strongly defined guitar weaves and melody at the forefront. Tightly constructed and with a real groove about it ‘Beyond Salvation’ is a stand out number and a fairly accessible track to bang your head to. It would certainly make a good number on one of those pesky magazine cover mount discs and the guitar barbs that flail out the speakers really do cut and flagellate you; a nut cracking number no less.

Everything about this is damn catchy, it is to do with the memorable guitar cadences which sharply stick out over numbers such as ‘I Am The Flame’ making them really rather memorable but it does this without losing any sense of dark intent or orthodoxy and it is both a serious and enjoyable listen at the same time. All the songs are well constructed and last long enough for you to really get into them the one complaint is that with one just 1 intro piece and 5 hymns there could be a couple more of them as the album is done at just over the half hour mark. That aside this is a very solid debut from an act worth keeping a look at in the future. Check out a couple of tracks at the link below.

 (7/10 Pete Woods) 

http://hellthrasherproductions.bandcamp.com/album/beyond-salvation