Forming in 2013 one has to wonder how on earth it has taken this three-piece German / Greek entity a whole seven years to release their debut EP. Maybe perfectionism has hindered it all, maybe they have been busy exalting the Ophidian ways of the pneuma, which apparently was the goal of setting up the group (whatever that is) but finally here we have two lengthy tracks from the band made up of past, present and live members of Herald, In Glorious March, Mosaic, Ysengrin, Empirium and The Vision Bleak.

Weighing in at over 10 minutes each we start with the raging screams and rampaging blackness of The Perilous Flesh And The Devouring Light. Tumult and trauma strike as the main modus operandi here as this swaggering number blasts away with a driving but forceful sense of menace and melody. Marching in triumphant and imperious fashion one cannot ignore the at times gibbering with madness vocals of Valkenstijn, peppering his parts with demented laughter as the musicianship blazes around them they strike as being very much on the edge of lunacy. Clean cries and roars leap out the recording as he seemingly gazes into the void of The Devouring Light and is turned into a crazed and deranged messiah by what he has seen there. Whatever it is, it has done the job of unleashing its plague and misery in musical form and the results are pretty much devastating and cataclysmic, there is certainly no denying this opening statement of seething malignance.

After tempering down the last track into sombre chants and fade-out we whiplash back into Flagellation Litanies and one can imagine our narrator being tied up in a straightjacket and having the demons that have invaded him beaten out in an unholy exorcism. The cries and myriad voices illustrate their possession and the track suddenly peaks with raging violence and hoary yells; it really creates quite an impact. Despite this, the 11-minute track allows plenty of space and allows the musicians to inject some grandiosity into things, there’s also a section of ambient noise which emphasises the lashing of the flagellant who is crying and screaming in the torture of it all. Is the mark of the devil driven out? Well with things raging and the tempo manifested into plunging darkened fury it sounds like the whole torture dungeon is being ripped apart by the forced of evil. As for our players, well let’s hope they can throw off these shackles of imprisonment in both mind and body and get recording again quickly as I certainly want more. A very impressive debut!

(8/10 Pete Woods)

https://www.facebook.com/Kosmovorous

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/glorification-sermons