Alexander von Meilenwald’s career over the past decade as the creator of and solo performer in The Ruins of Beverast, while varied in tone and sonic direction, has been nothing short of exemplary. From the lo-fi catacombs of Rain Upon the Impure to the doom-laden heaviness of Blood Vaults, each release has painted consistently mesmerizing portraits of death, suffering, and mysticism through a unique amalgamation of black and doom metal. While each release by the band has been unique in comparison to its predecessors, it’s been four years since The Ruins of Beverast released a full-length, and 2016’s puzzling EP Takitum Tootem! was a sonic curveball of epic proportions. Equally championed and reviled by fans, the EP not only added confusion as to which sonic direction the band would take with its latest record, Exuvia, but trepidation in some as to whether it would be any good. If you were worried that The Ruins of Beverast is losing its edge, may your fears be assuaged. This is some premium metal.
Exuvia feels like the culmination of a decade-long journey for the band toward new sonic and thematic territory, hinted at most clearly in last year’s EP release, which delved into musical and philosophical concepts behind mankind’s loss of its ascendant status in the biological world. While albums such as Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite showed glimmers of the mythic, shamanistic sounds that the band is capable of conjuring, few works in the band’s discography could mentally prepare listeners for the raw, psychedelia-infused tribal nightmare that bleeds through every inch of this record. Airy and ethereal chants, pounding and spacey drums, and ethereal guitar effects all combine to create an almost trancelike musical narrative that sucks you in from the album’s opening seconds and genuinely grips the listener throughout. This is atmospheric, blackened doom metal at its most mythical and truly epic. Few bands are making music like this, especially at this caliber or scale.
Exuvia is a vessel of constipated lethal bacteria, loading an atonic fluid, a venomous substance of colours, a marsh of florescence. It is a fortress against a siege machine of spiritless organisms and so much a yell to nature's cleansing spirits. EXUVIA features 6 psychoabyssal downward spirals in TROBesque paintwork. Production and mixing was processed with Michael Zech.
Exuvia is an incredibly dense album. It is also a thoroughly rewarding listen. Fifteen-minute songs breeze by in a fiery squall of sound that never once veers south of interesting. It is intricately plotted, expertly performed, and engaging from start to finish. Listeners who like their doom and black metal drenched in atmosphere and organic, tribal overtones will have found one of their favorite albums of all time.
All told, this is an incredibly complex album that is difficult to digest, especially the first time around. However, its complexity and difficulty is part of what makes it so outstanding. There are so many elements present on this album and though the Native American percussion may be off-putting to some, it fits beautifully with the rest of the soundscape that The Ruins of Beverast have created on Exuvia. You can feel every bit of emotion present in these songs as the album really benefits from being recorded in a professional studio. For all who enjoy good metal, look no further than Exuvia for an hour of incredible music. Strongly recommended.
Media Praise
"Journey is the appropriate word here. This album is a trip and a half. The layering of instruments and sounds is exceptional, and could keep the active listener busy for hours on end trying to parse out and dissect each individual component. This is some premium metal." - Heavy Blog Is Heavy
"The more I listen to Exuvia the more it works. Its content warrants its length; it needs the time and space to root its unique tendrils into the brain. This is exactly the album I wanted The Ruins of Beverast to release: diverse, experimental, and unsettling. An album that inhales, exhales and moves with fluency and togetherness. But most importantly its sound is anchored by rage-filled black-death-doom that hearkens back to the wonders of The Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite. " - Angry Metal Guy (Rating: 4.5/5).
Formed In: 2003
Status: Active
Years Active: 2003-Present
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Alexander von Meilenwald - Everything
Country of Origin: Germany
Location: Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia
Genre: Atmospheric Black/Doom Metal
Current Label: Ván Records
Bandcamp: https://theruinsofbeverast.bandcamp.com
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/artist/The_Ruins_of_Beverast?id=Aoj7ypeqh7kkjdzz7yb3yryu4pa
Exuvia (Full-Length Album - 2017)
Released May 5, 2017
Production and mixing was processed with Michael Zech.
Pre-orders:
Ván Records Webshop: http://www.van-records.de/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=3248
