The Ruins of Beverast - Rain Upon the Impure
Ván - VÁN09 - December 2006
By George Grant
From the ashes of Germany’s Nagelfar, comes the one-man black metal band The Ruins of Beverast. As shown on the previous album, Unlock the Shrine, Alex von Meilenwald can handle all instruments with no difficulty. The style used by The Ruins of Beverast is a combination of raw black metal and doom metal. On top of this, von Meilenwald also adds touches of industrial effects and ambient synth work to add to the experience. The band describes this as “sinister black metal,” and they couldn’t be more right.
At first, I honestly didn’t like the album. Compared to Unlock the Shrine, Rain upon the Impure has a much more muddy production. Drums are hidden in the mix and the master volume is lower than the majority of the albums I own. The low master volume makes it difficult to immerse yourself in the music, but once you do it's a great experience.
Unlike the previous album, Rain upon the Impure offers a more cohesive album. Instead of breaking up the songs with ambient interludes, von Meilenwald has all the songs flow together. This creates a very dark and, as the band described so elegantly, sinister experience. Little room is left to rest. Instead, you as the listener are forced to focus deeply on the music and the atmosphere it’s creating.
The compositional work is another strong point of the album. Riffs are slowly built on top of one another as well as industrial effects that together create an epic and lush sound. As with the previous album, angelic choirs are used, but this time much better. The choirs in Unlock the Shrine didn’t mix well with the music. By themselves they were fine, but when von Meilendwald placed music over them it didn’t work. This was greatly improved upon with this album. The choirs are really suited for the parts they are added to, and with the production and large echo placed on them they really fill the atmosphere. By utilizing many different vocal approaches von Meilenwald never allows the listener to be comfortable in the music. You're always on edge waiting for the next turn in the music to be taken.
As stated before this is not an easy album to get into. It takes multiple listens as well as a willing to be immersed in the music. Only then can the brilliance of this sinister work be revealed.
Official Ruins of Beverast Website
Official Ván Website
Ván - VÁN09 - December 2006
By George Grant
From the ashes of Germany’s Nagelfar, comes the one-man black metal band The Ruins of Beverast. As shown on the previous album, Unlock the Shrine, Alex von Meilenwald can handle all instruments with no difficulty. The style used by The Ruins of Beverast is a combination of raw black metal and doom metal. On top of this, von Meilenwald also adds touches of industrial effects and ambient synth work to add to the experience. The band describes this as “sinister black metal,” and they couldn’t be more right.
At first, I honestly didn’t like the album. Compared to Unlock the Shrine, Rain upon the Impure has a much more muddy production. Drums are hidden in the mix and the master volume is lower than the majority of the albums I own. The low master volume makes it difficult to immerse yourself in the music, but once you do it's a great experience.
Unlike the previous album, Rain upon the Impure offers a more cohesive album. Instead of breaking up the songs with ambient interludes, von Meilenwald has all the songs flow together. This creates a very dark and, as the band described so elegantly, sinister experience. Little room is left to rest. Instead, you as the listener are forced to focus deeply on the music and the atmosphere it’s creating.
The compositional work is another strong point of the album. Riffs are slowly built on top of one another as well as industrial effects that together create an epic and lush sound. As with the previous album, angelic choirs are used, but this time much better. The choirs in Unlock the Shrine didn’t mix well with the music. By themselves they were fine, but when von Meilendwald placed music over them it didn’t work. This was greatly improved upon with this album. The choirs are really suited for the parts they are added to, and with the production and large echo placed on them they really fill the atmosphere. By utilizing many different vocal approaches von Meilenwald never allows the listener to be comfortable in the music. You're always on edge waiting for the next turn in the music to be taken.
As stated before this is not an easy album to get into. It takes multiple listens as well as a willing to be immersed in the music. Only then can the brilliance of this sinister work be revealed.
Official Ruins of Beverast Website
Official Ván Website
...one of my top ten from 2006.
