Ruins of Beverast, The – Rain Upon the Impure
To be honest, I was initially taken aback by the blatant lo-fi nature of this album, especially after coming off the nicely produced and conceptually artistic nature of “Unlock the Shrine”. Once the shock had subsided, the wicked nature of “Rain Upon the Impure” unveiled itself upon a dark and gruesome landscape of uncompromising blackness. The drum sound strikes me as very thin, almost synthetic sounding, but I think it was done that way to allow the very troubled and murky guitar tone to dig in with it’s suffocating presence. I’m a huge fan of Nagelfar (members of that godly German entity went on to pour their blood into this project) but this album has really defined Beverast as a much more open minded and fundamentally evil expression of its member’s sinister creativity. The guitars are so down-tuned and gloomy on here, the sound further pollutes the riff work into an ugly creation that thrives in the shadows and plagues ones dreams. The Ruins of Beverast have elevated themselves onto a lofty plane of horror, similar to that of Blut Aus Nord, yet sound nothing like that band. The guitar riffs moan and churn as if tilling all the things you dread up from the surface of your psyche to so seamlessly flow between inspired tremolo harmonies and emotive/haunted mid-paced progressions that become even more empowered and possessed by this bands expert use of keyboards. The synth lines are ever so subtle and the sounds selected suit the dark nature of this music perfectly. The skillful inclusion of this instrument doesn’t detract your fears away from the guitar lines, rather the synth tones fortify the malevolence within the music to enrich the overall experience. From out of this seemingly impenetrable darkness, the vocalist screams an agonizing tale of dismay through reverb soaked effects… always varying his approach to mirror the nightmare being so beautifully sculpted by the music this band has unleashed. From full on blasting insanity, to quiet moments of music that makes you feel like your being watched, or something is creeping up behind you, the dynamics of “Rain Upon the Impure” are astounding and offer a 3 dimensional sound canvas for The Ruins of Beverast to combine years of their own musical development, with what feels like so many elements from other styles of dark music to arrive at pure artistic creativity. This is quite a feat taking into consideration just how bleak the production is on this album. “Rain Upon the Impure” is one of those albums that you are not going to get after 2 or 3 listens, for the magic of this release is based upon a challenging outpouring of layered sound, meant to fill the listener with woe and maybe even a hint of madness as you stumble into one of the darkest of mental dreamscapes through music, that I have personally experienced in a very long time. Amazing. It is mandatory to listen to this album on headphones. – Marty
VAN
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