OK so as I write this I have succumbed to the plague. Covid has caught me in its putrefying clutches and I am quarantined and feeling like poop in a scoop. What is needed? Well, the rulebooks say plenty of fluids, rest and vitamin D and Zinc. Fuck those rules! I was always too cool for them anyhoo. What is needed is an Irish duo blasting the Rona out of my system with harsh blackened noise.

Bit of luck Doctor Woods prescription pad was at the ready.

“I have seen the Light, and it was repulsive” is Sermon of Flames debut full length and those harbingers of nastiness I,Voidhanger are to blame , serving up this main course to 2019’s “Heralds of the Untruth” demo.

The band appear to have an identity crisis of sorts – in the accompanying press release they are known as M. and D. whereas Encyclopedia Metallum has them as Faltanas and V//T// – must be a nightmare to call them in for their tea.  Joshing aside the music here is certainly no laughing matter.

Sermon of Flames mix up harsh noise, death, industrial and black metal for a dozen tracks of brutality.

Now looking at the above sentence may send some folk screaming for the exit – with just as many baying for more running towards the cacophony. For the first group I would say – come dip your toe in, the noise is dark dank and scratchy but it soothes the soul.  For every harsh noise headfuck – opener (which has a lovely tranquil synth intro I must add) “To Behead One’s Desire” or “Hymn of Apotheosis” there is the powerviolence of “Cauldrons of Boiling Piss” and the crushing, yet compellingly groovy dissonance of “I_H_D_O_D_E_SI_W_A_C,” which sent my head one way and my ears another in an early Nathrakh way.

“G.O.D. sees industrial meet tribalism – bit Godflesh, bit Nailbomb but very lo-fi and a much needed breather before “Vacuous Disjointed” drops with a hefty dash of discordant decadence followed by “Seething Radiance” which is Ronseal.

All of a sudden, I am floating on air with a mix of blackgaze and harsh nasty electronics. “Mephitic Seraph” is like attending a basement Drone show whilst under the influence of anaesthesia – pink fluffy clouds being popped by hard iron spikes and strangled by ¼ inch tape. Whatever was in that jab it appears to have propelled me downwards and back in time to some medievil hellscape for “Vehemence” which is as filled with drama and bombast as it is with chaotic deathened black metal (I am making that a thing OK?).

By the time “Dancer of the 6 Agonies” has faded from my speakers I am reaching to hit repeat. Sermon of Flames have created a filthy swirling crockpot of nastiness filled with all the hate and bile of mankind but tempered with some candyfloss moments to help the medicine go down.

I can feel the filthy plague retreating from my DNA in fear with every listen.

(8/10 Matt Mason)

https://i-voidhangerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/i-have-seen-the-light-and-it-was-repulsive