The Ruins Of Beverast are a 1 man band from Germany that plays an atmospheric form of black metal with elements of doom and this is a review of their 2013 album "Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum – Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris)" which was released by Van Records.
"Apologia" starts off with some dark sound effects and demonic vocals setting up as a perfect intro for the rest of the album and also adding in synths and Gregorian chanting as well as percussion.
"Daemon" starts off with some synths and melodic guitars as well as demonic chanting which leads to the heavy guitar riffs and growls which take the music into a funeral doom direction for a bit before speeding up and adding in blast beats which makes the song have more of a black metal feeling as well as utilizing some primitive elements before going into a more death/doom direction while adding in some high pitched black metal screams while keeping the growls as well as the return of synths but remaining heavy as the song moves on the choirs return and whispers make their presence known in the music as well as some dark sounding melodies as well as switching back and forth between fast and slow sections.
"Malefica" starts off with clean guitar playing and morbid voices which leads to a melodic sounding guitar solo which also sets up the pace for the drums and clean singing for a few seconds before going into a slow and heavy guitar riff and dark synths which utilize a variety of many different keys while also not forgetting about the heavier elements which lead to the growls making their presence known on this track and shortly afterwords the song gets faster with some blast beats as well as a small use of grim screams before going into a softer and darker direction where the growling starts mixing in with the atmosphere before returning to the heavier and doomy roots as well as the faster sections which lead to more atmospheric sounds with the darkness of the riffs.
"Ornaments Of Malice" starts off with psychedelic elements and demonic vocals before going into the heavy doom guitar riffs and drums and a few moments later the death growls come in as well as some atmospheric parts which also set up the pace for some dark sounding melodies and black metal screams, after awhile the song moves into more guitar distortion and ambient types of sound along with the drums returning shortly afterwords which sets up the pace for powerful bass guitars and evil choirs before returning to the heavy elements.
"Spires, The Wailing City" starts off with clean distorted guitar playing which leads to some weird style of spoken word parts, after awhile a heavy guitar riff makes its way into the song which in return sets up the mood for the drums to kick in for a few moments before going into a doom metal direction with growls and synths as well as mixing in black metal screams after a few seconds, as the song moves in the drumming starts adding in tribal elements while also retaining the heavy and atmospheric elements as well as mixing in some melody.
"A Failed Exorcism" starts off with clean guitar playing before going into heavy guitar riffing and drums which sets up the mood for the blackened death metal growls while also adding in doom metal melodies, as the song moves on the clean parts mix in with the heavy elements as well as adding in some powerful bass guitar along with tribal drums kicking in a minute later as well as some melodic chanting and clean singing which sets up the pace for the music to go into a faster black metal direction and blast beats while also mixing in the death metal influences before going into a softer, cleaner and darker direction before getting heavy again while also being atmospheric at the same time and switching back and forth between the heavy and soft parts.
"Trial" starts off with Gregorian chanting and avant garde sound effects before the choirs kick in as well as some deep death metal growls before going into a slow and heavy guitar riffs and drums which also use tribal elements before returning the heavy parts and adding in grim sounding black metal screams and spoken word parts.
"Ordeal" starts off with a distorted lead and clean vocals before kicking into the fast guitar riffs, blast beats and growls as well as mixing in both black and death metal elements along with some spoken word parts and you can hear some synths in the background and after awhile you can hear black metal elements in the vocals while still remaining mostly death metal which leads to melodies making their way into the guitars.
"Monument" starts off with clean guitar playing and death metal growls which leads to some bass guitars and drums along with weird melodic chanting, after a few minutes slow and heavy guitar riffs make their presence known and then the music switches back and forth between the slow and heavy parts as well as mixing in some melody to the song, as the song moves there there is a brief use of a melodic guitar solo which sets up the pace for some clean singing and the song closes with spoken word parts and psychedelic elements.
Song lyrics are a concept album about witchcraft, occultsim, and witch burning's, while the production has a very strong, powerful, heavy and dark sound where you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on the album with the songs being very long and epic in length.
In my opinion The Ruins Of Beverast are a very great sounding atmospheric black/doom metal project and if you are a fan of the musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Daemon" "A Failed Exorcism" and "Ordeal". RECOMMENDED BUY.
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