Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer

I was introduced to this band by a friend of mine giving me this album to check out. I now owe him the credit of introducing me to what is, in my opinion, one of the best extreme metal albums ever recorded. Indeed it does not seem accurate to call it extreme metal as it goes so much further than that. This album is in my opinion a masterpiece and I don’t say that lightly, there are less than a handful of recordings I have heard that I would score above 95%, I also know the impact that first impressions can have and I can honestly say that I have listened to this album close to a hundred times over the last year and a half so that it would not play a factor in my score.

I'll point out first that 'The Ruins of Beverast' is the creation of sole member Alexander Von Melienwald. It amazes me that one man can create something so much more impressive than a band with four or five members can. He is a true songwriting genius. The sound of this album could fit into 'atmospheric blackened doom-death' but, as I said before, this recording goes far beyond labels and titles. The use of choir-like backing vocals and church organ sounding passages makes this seem more like a religious sermon than an album. A representation of the church not as it is portrayed in the media or by Christians themselves, but as it really is, a repressive and resoundingly dark and evil congregation under the control of the preacher's voice.

Alexander's powerful vocals are preached to the listener. They have a definite similarity in their delivery to the sermons of religious leaders, they impose themselves over the listener (without the brain-washing intentions of real sermons). The echo-like effect that has been used on the vocals throughout make it easily believable that the vocals themselves were recorded in some massive cathedral. Alexander's vocals have a predominantly guttural approach even though they are more spoken than actually sung. There are moments where he lapses into classic black metal screams (listen to 'Daemon' at about six minutes in) and even beautifully sung moments like the intro to 'Malefica'.

Production wise everything sounds perfect. There are similarities to black metal production techniques here though everything sounds fresh and unique in that respect. Imagine a very clear version of black metal production with no static. There is a thick reverb/echo effect over everything here and, as I said before, it serves to increase the deep atmosphere of the songs. Alexander's guitar has two main sounds, a low rumble on the fast tremolo/chugging sections and a beautifully light, heavily reverbed tone on the slower arpeggio-like sections. The keyboard/organ sections add emotion instead of coming across as cheesy. The drumming on this album however deserves real credit. Alexander proves that slow/mid paced drumming came be as evil as the constant blast beats that most black-death metal bands rely on. Each drum has been recorded perfectly and the cymbals sound fantastic (honorable mentions to Gnarl for his engineering/mixing). And at last! A black metal recording were you can actually hear the bass! The bass sounds thick and nasty with each pluck fading off with a shudder. It does not just copy what the guitar is doing at any one moment ether, but goes off on its own. His bass playing is much slower and more widely spaced than anything else so it really hits home when it’s used. The only problem I have with the sound of the album is the alarm clock like beeping during the end of the last song ('Monument') that, just like an alarm should, breaks the sweet dream like atmospheric haze and brings you back to reality. This can be avoided by playing the album though only one speaker channel (mono instead of stereo) but that is not what it's creators intended, so with their intentions in mind I just ignore it. If it were not for this it would be an absolutely flawless listen.

The atmosphere of this music is so thick and absolute that it summons images into the listener’s mind. When I listen to this album I envision a cathedral made of black marble with deep blue stained glass windows. Alexander stands hooded at the head of the deeply shadowed hall preaching his lyrics. Such is his ability to create a very real atmosphere that the listener can create their own world from it. This is strengthened by the fantastic cover art by Axel Hermann which perfectly captures the mood of the album.

I really can’t sum up in words how good this album is. Even with the length of this review I don’t feel I’ve touched the sides, I'd have to write a book to do it justice. I would recommend it to lovers of dark, atmospheric black/death metal. However I believe this is an album any true music fan should listen to. I love this album as a whole but if I had to pick two songs to check out I wound say 'Malefica' and 'Spires, The Wailing City' as they show a good variety of the styles used. I do believe this album deserves classic status. It’s the kind of album we can look back on and see what true excellence really is. Absolutely fantastic!

This is the album I've been the most hyped about in 2013. After scouring The Ruins of Beverast's first three full-lengths and basically playing Rain Upon the Impure to death, I was ready for more. Finally Alexander von Meilenwald, one of the best black metal musicians in Germany, released Blood Vaults. There's always been album each year that's made me hyped up to the max, and in 2013 it was Blood Vaults.

That sums up my thoughts as I was about to listen to this album for the first time. I'm going to say now though that I'm disappointed in the outcome. Even on the first listen, I was underwhelmed. I wasn't expecting Alex to top Rain Upon the Impure, but I was hoping for something that sounded like a step up from Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite; I didn't even get that. In the months leading up to the release, "Malefica" and "Daemon" were released as teasers and I listened to them almost every day because both those songs are awesome. Unfortunately, they're the best songs on they album, a fact made worse by the fact that they're also right at the beginning of the album; there's still 60 minutes of music left that can't compare to these two tracks.

One of the things Alex got right...again...was the atmosphere though; I'm sure now he can't get it wrong no matter what. It's dark and brooding once again. If you've been following the band you're going to be used to that by now. This time however I listen to this album and think of some radical Ordo Malleus Inquisitor from Warhammer 40k, a daemon hunter scouring forbidden texts for a way to fight the otherworldly monsters. Given the lyrical content and overall theme of the album, I find this setting extremely appropriate. The keyboards and choral effects really bring out this feeling as they do sound really church-like especially with the pipe organ. Alex's harsh vocals also add to this atmosphere. Though his tone hasn't changed much from Foulest..., the delivery on this album makes him sound more narrative like he is indeed reading from the Inquisitor's journal or directly from the forbidden text.

The music as a whole is most clean sounding Ruins album yet, which is fine by me. All the better to hear that menacing guitar tone that I love hearing from the band. There are some really great riff passages here that benefit from the cleaner production, especially in "Daemon" and "Malefica". However, the production doesn't save some of the more lackluster moments of the the album where the fault is indeed songwriting. Following the first two songs, most of the material on the album is doom metal and it isn't interesting doom metal either for the most part, it's the kind that just turns into a drag to listen to. I know Alex has done doom metal on Ruins in the past and some of his best songs are in this style such as "Soliloquy of a Stigmatized Shepard", "I Raise this Stone as a Ghastly Memorial", and "Arcane Pharmakon Messiah". "Ornaments on Malice", "Spires", and "A Failed Exorcism" aren't bad but they aren't nearly as interesting as those past songs. I feel that some of these songs go on longer than they should, especially "Monument" which is easily the weakest link here which is a pity because it's the closing song and I get disappointed by weak closing tracks.

I can't even listen to this album from beginning to end anymore. I go up through "Malefica" and then stop. Sometimes I'll go into "Ornaments on Malice" as well but rarely further. I could listen to the other tracks if I just picked them out and just listened to just the track, but I really don't want to. What's the point? I feel that if Blood Vaults threw more fast moments into these songs, they'd be better. "A Failed Exorcism" does have a fast section, but the riff is so weak and it exists so briefly that it's not even worth it. As much as I hate to say so, I have to say that Blood Vaults is the weakest Ruins of Beverast album yet. I hope Alex continues to evolve as a musician though. He's come a long way and I can see him going even further.

It's been almost a year since its release now. If you're a fan of the band and haven't listened to this yet, don't go with high expectations. If you're totally new, I suggest you check out Alex's earlier material first.

Each of the 4 albums Alexander von Meilenwald has released over the past decade under the banner of The Ruins Of Beverast has seen some stylistic shift. With Unlock The Shrine he continued on from his Black Metal past in Nagelfar, growing more chaotic and textural with Rain Upon The Impure and more Doom-influenced with 2009's Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite. If you have heard any of the chatter around this latest cut then you will probably be aware that the Doom side of von Meilenwald's musical alchemy has overtaken his Black Metal heritage, but this album defies any lazy genre categorisations. In fact, with tracks like “Ornaments On Malice” the sonic makeup of Kramer's gospel seems to draw as much on the dissonant style of Death Metal pioneered by Incantation as anything from the Doom realm. Inevitably by the fact this album sees the biggest change in the band's sound so far it feels less focused than its predecessors. Side by side comparisons between such vastly different albums would be illogical, but in some respects this album might be seen by long term fans as inferior because of its lessened focus, and von Meilenwald seems to still be finding his feet when it comes to certain elements like his demonic voiceovers.

But you know what? This is still of a high enough quality to be counted amongst the top extreme Metal albums of the year. When it comes to the keyboard passages and the dark psychedelic effects this is all recognisably The Ruins Of Beverast but there is also the aforementioned vast and towering dissonant Death Metal riffs, and a huge dose of early My Dying Bride that manifests not only musically but also in how this music has a transformative quality that mentally transports the listener to a darker medieval time. Key to this is how fully von Meilenwald embodies the character of Kramer, the writer of the 1486 treatise on witchcraft Malleus Maleficarum. Injecting a unifying theme over artwork and lyrics is one thing, and matching this with Gregorian chants and overall hauntingly Catholic feel to the music is another, but the mark of this being a true concept album is the characterisation. The speaking in tongues on “Daemon” is an early showing of this but it reaches its peak with the demented ramblings on the cinematic “Trial.”

In spite of the denseness of the theme and the avant-garde nature of some of the music, for example the almost danceable rhythms that mix intoxicatingly with the Encoffination-like crawling riffs of “Spires, The Wailing City”, what is most surprising about this album is how pleasing a listen it is. At nearly an hour and 20 minutes in length the power of this album to hold the listeners' attention for nearly the entire duration is incredible. Black Metal, Funeral Doom, Avant-Garde... whatever you want to label this album as it will not fit. Musically, artistically, lyrical this is a s unique as it gets in the Metal underground. In a league of its own. [9/10]

From WAR ON ALL FRONTS A.D. 2013 zine- www.facebook.com/waronallfronts

Only in regards to a band of monumental calibre like The Ruins of Beverast could I call its latest album arguably the weakest of the four so far, and simultaneously laud it as one of the year’s strongest musical contenders. The Ruins of Beverast have long been black metal’s best kept secret, and since the gloriously psychotic Unlock the Shrine, the one-man act- a longtime creative outlet of former Nagelfar drummer Alexander Von Meilenwald- he’s been releasing music that’s consistently blown me away for its ambitious scope and atmosphere. Of the three albums The Ruins of Beverast have already released, I have, upon different occasions, thought of each one as potentially being the greatest black metal album ever made. I’ll try to keep background introductions brief, but if you haven’t yet heard Unlock the Shrine, Rain Upon the Impure, or Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite, you have yet to hear some of the most impressive and atmospheric metal ever pressed to vinyl. Now completing a transition towards doom metal that began with the last album, Blood Vaults is another expectedly excellent achievement, an hour-plus of music that’s as haunting and crushing as anything I’ve heard in the metal sphere this year. Incredibly high expectations aside, The Ruins of Beverast have delivered another masterpiece of atmosphere and intensity, with enough stylistic innovation to distinguish it from past work. This is blackened doom metal of ferocious quality.

The sound of The Ruins of Beverast has evolved beautifully over the course of four albums. Although Von Meilenwald was performing something more along the lines of psychotic black metal in 2004 with Unlock the Shrine, each album has reinvented the project as something new. Rain Upon the Impure took the black metal to arrogant extremes of atmosphere and composition, verging on a degree of ambition rivalled by Western classical tradition. 2009’s Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite was another necessary reinvention; now that one summit had been topped, Von Meilenwald began infusing his brand of black metal with doom metal and psychedelia. To summarize, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone that The Ruins of Beverast have drifted this far away from black metal conventions; even if TROB retains the same malefic atmosphere in the music, the means to getting there have certainly changed.

The Ruins of Beverast’s familiar blend of choral sampling, chaotic production and cinematic vigour are made anew with a crushing heaviness and funereal pacing. Disregarding the fury and aggression inherent in the music’s execution, Von Meilenwald has taken a relatively reserved approach in writing the music this time around. Especially when compared to the sporadic rapture of Rain Upon the Impure, the pacing is kept fairly conservative, offering more vested concentration and fewer surprise turns. Although part of me misses the pleasantly mild shock of hearing something unpredictable, the songwriting enjoys a new maturity through its focus. A stunning example of this can be found in the pristine “Malefica”, a dirge-like piece that meticulously erupts with equal parts dread and melancholy. Latin choirs and pipe organ are used brilliantly as a sonic contrast with the thundering metal instrumentation. Orthodox instrumentation is a painfully common trope in black metal, but it’s rare that it ever functions so well as this.

In addition to “Malefica”, “Daemon”, “A Failed Exorcism”, and the unsettling interlude “Trial” all stand out as highlights of the album, and some of the most memorable pieces Von Meilenwald has ever composed. Unfortunately (and this is a first for my experience with a TROB album) I don’t find myself as consistently amazed by each of the tracks. I’m not immune to the fact that a doomier approach entails with it a slower pace and behests a different kind of listening attitude than that of Beverast albums past, but a few of the ideas on Blood Vaults feel less profound and engaging than I’d expect from the band. For instance, “Spires, The Wailing City” and “Monument” are both crafted with excellent ingredients, but feel somewhat overdrawn past their due; the ideas themselves are almost homogeneously superb, but even the strongest structures wither given time. While Von Meilenwald is no stranger to long compositions- Rain Upon the Impure had even longer average track times than this- the sometimes plodding pace of the compositions can make some of the musical ideas feel less awe-inspiring than they actually are. I felt that Von Meilenwald struck a sublime balance between black metal and doom with the last album, a middle ground between crushing heaviness and exciting dynamics. Blood Vaults only sees The Ruins of Beverast tread deeper into doom territory, and while the devastating atmosphere and progressive scope are still here in full, I don’t find myself quite as blown away by this stylistic shift as I have been with his past work. Then again, comparing a pristine mortal vintage to the ambrosia of the gods has never been a fair deal, has it?

Although Blood Vaults represents a markedly more reserved take on composition for Von Meilenwald, his execution sounds heavier than ever. I strain myself to think of another guitar tone that has sounded this heavy and crushing. Even though most one-man acts feel fittingly one-sided in their delivery, Blood Vaults feels remarkably well-rounded. The orthodox instrumentation is integrated to a haunting effect, and the drums- Von Meilenwald’s flagship instrument- are as intensely performed as ever. As it is made clear from the opening incantation “Apologia”, Von Meilenwald’s vocals take a hideous life of their own. Laden with echoes and a viciously malevolent tone, his growls are plenty evocative and fit the album’s sinister atmosphere and malefic interpretation of Christian theology. His clean vocals- when used- are deep and ominous, and mirror the Latin choirs nicely. Compared to past albums however, it feels like his vocal delivery offers a little less range however, focusing on the low, echoed growls and dismissing much of his higher shrieks. It’s an understandable transformation however; Von Meilenwald understands the implications of this stylistic shift, and The Ruins of Beverast reflects that.

As difficult as it is for me, I feel the only fair way to approach this album is to do one’s best to dissociate it from TROB albums past. Clearly, it’s much harder said than done, but to compare Blood Vaults against its predecessors would reveal this as the least vital of the four. With that in mind, I do not mean or hope to say that The Ruins of Beverast has broken its streak of relative perfection; this is a marvelous work, and I have no doubt that Von Meilenwald will continue to release masterful work in his own time.
To put it simply, the album is devastating.

The first three Ruins of Beverast albums are masterworks in scope and ambition in metal. Not even just black metal – they are triumphs of metal as a whole. They work with huge amounts of experimentation and a singular idea in each one, and yet they are always engrossing. While such serious music is difficult to listen to on a daily basis, especially when the albums all scrape the 80 minute mark, they are nevertheless some of the finer examples of what metal can do as an art form when really pushed.

This new album Blood Vaults shows sole composer and performer Meilenwald going in a bit of a different direction. Instead of a sort of long, spacious journey like previous albums, which took the listener to unimaginable hells and to the depths of human madness and misery, Blood Vaults is a circular album, a ritual of sorts to cast its unholy spell. It works because each song uses similar or in some cases the same motifs and themes, creating a very unified feel – the first three real songs after the opener have this somber, pounding melody, the same in each song but expanded a little and used in a slightly different context. Further songs work on less dynamics than previous albums, preferring to sort of drone on in a funeral doom-ish manner, except with a more death metal aesthetic to the rumbling guitars and intoned vocals than you normally get with funeral doom. The songs are built more on repetition than on the vast, expansive journey-like feel of previous albums. I preferred the old method, but this new style is still effective in its own way.

For one, the production helps – this sort of wraps around you like a cocoon, with a huge and immersive sound that doesn’t let go. I really think every Ruins album has a perfect production for what it’s going for – the sheer warhammer assault of Unlock the Shrine, the impenetrable density of Rain Upon the Impure and the blackened sludgy steel of Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite. And now the slow, rolling waves of Blood Vaults.

The songs here will crush you with repetition and the sheer density on display. The songwriting is dark and alchemical, and as a whole this is a very complete-feeling album, largely due to the repetition of melodies and ideas. The build-up of “Malefica” and the incredible “A Failed Exorcism” comes out to something taxing to listen to but also rewarding. The songs are never particularly eventful, preferring to ride out one or two chief ideas for a while and let the impact settle in your bones like a hard rain. Meilenwald is good at this as he’s always been, though I don’t think the idea is as perfectly executed here as it could be.

The downside is that I just don’t think there’s as much dynamic here as before – that was not what Blood Vaults was going for, but I do think Meilenwald set his sights a little short here and tried to stretch himself in directions he hadn’t gone yet – perhaps with too much haste. The constant slow tempo and the droning oppressive songwriting simply doesn’t seem to have the level of pure soul-sucking engagement that previous works did – I don’t want to say I’d really change anything on this, as that would compromise the singular vision at hand, but I think the lack of faster bits is sorely missed. If Meilenwald didn’t want to add them, that is fine, but I think the ethos of them should have been here – even without fast parts, the slower bits need more dynamic and flow to them.

As is, we have an album exploring a bit of a new direction in that it takes the idea of the last album and condenses it into a black, evil gel from which there is no return, once the listener is enveloped by it. The sheer density of the songwriting is somewhat offset by an uneven feel and at times it’s not as exciting as it could be. Maybe some songs could be shorter by a minute or two and the album would be more cohesive for it. But even with its flaws, this is still a powerful piece of work by a very relevant band. Even though it isn’t perfect, it still manages to have an effect on the listener, so for that I like it. I hope it doesn’t take another four years for Meilenwald to crank out another one. I for one will be eagerly awaiting a follow-up.

First and foremost, I am personally a massive fan of The Ruins of Beverast. I began listening to them (or I should say, him) when a friend linked me to "Rain upon the Impure". It is easily my favorite black metal album of all time, and I've been listening ever since. I own every album, with an exception to "The Furious Waves of Damnation" demo and the two splits. However, this review will not be a single-minded praising of everything Meilenwald. I have some criticisms which some fans would crucify me for making, but they must be said.

This album is an impressive cacophony of twisted, demonic choruses and majestic, infernal melodies. With that said, it took me a few listens for some of the tracks to grow on me. It is tempting to compare this release with that of its predecessor, "Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite", and it is a temptation that I am inevitably forced to give into. I can claim in utmost confidence that "Blood Vaults" is far darker; however, whereas "Foulest..." could, in some circles, still be considered a black metal album with a pervasive doom influence, this cannot be said for "Blood Vaults": all vestiges of black metal have firmly moved into the funeral doom category. It might be fair to call it something like, 'blackened funeral doom'; it isn't fair, however, to still call it black metal. Far be it from being a negative, I would call it a positive; it is the evolution of Von Meilenwald as a musician.

The album's production is vastly improved over its predecessor's and the drumming and guitar rifting is crystal clear. Some who hearken back to the days of "Rain upon the Impure" may be disappointed by this, but I wish to impress upon them that the poor production of "Rain..." was done so thoroughly on purpose for that album. The flow of "Blood Vaults" seems, on first listen, to be a lot slower than any release prior, but this suspicion dissipates as one delves deeper into the album: it's just as fast in some parts as "Foulest...", and in many ways, is much faster and heavier. Tracks such as, 'Ornaments On Malice', 'Spires, The Wailing City', and 'A Failed Exorcism', are deceptively slow at their beginnings but turn into malicious, wailing kicks which don't fail at exorcising the balls of comfort.

I believe I only have one major criticism of this album, but to be fair, this is only a personal preference which some of you may not agree with. My criticism is Von Meilenwald's utter lack of screaming. In "Foulest...", the high-pitch screaming which is so iconic of black metal is minimal but alive and well in a few tracks ('God's Ensanguined Bestiaries' and 'Mount Sinai Moloch' to name a few); this gave "Foulest..." a crucial element of black metal which made it possible to categorize it as such. In "Blood Vaults", it seems like Von Meilenwald's voice has gotten deeper to the point of no return. I might even make the heretical claim that his voice has deteriorated with every subsequent release; or perhaps this is merely a methodical, artistic evolution which Von Meilenwald has chosen to champion.

All in all, I was very impressed by this release. I give it a 92 out of 100, due to two reasons: I feel like the last track, 'Monument', does not do the album's finale justice. I cannot rightly compare it to finale's like, 'Arcane Pharmakon Messiah' or 'The Mine', as it simply doesn't stack up with these mind-blowing and memorable tracks. The second reason was mentioned in the previous paragraph: Von Meilenwald's lack of screaming, and I should add, lack of untarnished clean vocals (which is a shame - he has such a haunting, entrancing voice). Coming from a die-hard fan of The Ruins of Beverast with an obvious bias in favor of the band, I found reviewing this album difficult but necessary. I recommend you pick this one up - you will not regret purchasing this dark masterpiece; I guarantee that it will seduce you just as it has seduced me.

Alexander von Meilenwald, sole originator, songwriter and performer of all instruments for The Ruins of Beverast is the most creative artist in black metal today. Before examining his latest work, a brief overview of his history is in order. His official musical career in heavy metal began when he was just a teenager, as he and Sveinn von Hackelnberg pounded their way out of obscurity in Nordrhein-Westfallen. Fast-forward about twenty years -- Meilenwald's Nagelfar, for which he obliterated the skins, bowed out proudly and successfully after its release of Virus West. Hackelnberg is now the proud owner of Ván Records, and together they have been directly involved with the likes of Verdunkeln, Urfaust, Truppensturm, Graupel, and the highly underrated Kermania, just to name a few. Reads like a list of who's who for that part of the world, doesn't it? Eventually, though, many true artists reach a point at which their only collaborators are the frightening realities that exist in the darkest and least explored corridors of their minds. Drilling that far into the mind and excavating whatever nightmares we have either suppressed, or have simply let grow on their own, is something that many of us will never do. Alexander von Meilenwald not only does this, but he transforms them into pure art by carefully crafting notes, words and dissonance that ensnares his listeners inside a maelstrom of his own ideas and then violently carries them away. Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer is more than just his latest album -- It's one more piece that leads us further to understanding the whole. Thus, in order to fully grasp this next piece, it is important to become acquainted with the The Ruins of Beverast's previous works as well.

Unlock the Shrine, the first full-length and also the first release for Ván Records (what a way to start, eh?), was disturbingly claustrophobic, leaving listeners baffled by the way it released such intense feelings of paranoid schizophrenia from their minds. The album plays like a tangible nightmare in the mind of one who is utterly left in darkness just before there is no air left to breathe and the walls of their insanity come crashing down around them. As one of my favorite writers stated in his review of said album, "Not only does this one-man project push the black metal envelope, he finds out where the envelope lives, follows it home, and torments it until it grievously hangs itself in the bathroom. This is the type of album that could swoop down on your sunny afternoon picnic and turn it into an apocalyptic hallucination featuring schizophrenic mumbling, weeping choirs, frenzied crowds, and burning, toppled buildings." Part of the power of The Ruins of Beverast comes from the fact that is a true one-man operation, and further backs up the argument that self-indulgence is mandatory when 100% pure creativity is to be expressed. Perhaps the most accurate summation of Alexander von Meilenwald's first effort can be summed up by an Ed Wood audio sample that is featured in the album's title track and comes right before Unlock the Shrine's central riff, "One is always considered mad, when one discovers something that others cannot grasp." Another unique aspect of this entirely-too-fucked-up-to-fully-comprehend black metal project is that it's so self-defecating. It makes the expression "inner-turmoil" seem like a blissful walk through nature. And yet, it brilliantly prepares us for the work that came immediately thereafter.

The band's sophomore release took the same nightmare and gave it a sense of purpose. Where Unlock the Shrine seemed it was written by a soul about to reach its end, Rain upon the Impure was purifying, edifying and spiritually awakening, while still dispalying equal if not greater amounts of schizophrenia. Where the former is dense and jam-packed with horrifying emotions that assault the listener from all directions, the latter is expansive, and gives the listener's mind a sense of purpose and understanding by, if only for an instant, allowing them to comprehend infinity. Where Shrine was deafeningly loud, Rain makes its listeners stretch their eardrums as much as humanly possible in order to grasp the unsuspected noises and haunting melodies that ooze out of every second of the album. Unfortunately, some fans simply have never been able to get over the album's production values -- A quality that others have grown to accept as Rain upon the Impure's most brilliant attribute -- It's a true double-edged sword. The chorus of "Soil of the Incestuous" sums up the overall central theme of this piece of the puzzle: "The path of the mind's eye shall never bifurcate." Whatever part of Alexander von Meilenwald that wrote Unlock the Shrine depicted a tormented soul that was wounded and set to self-destruct at any moment. Rain upon the Impure, however, gave that same being a spiritual awakening and sense of self-acceptance. Personally, comprehending what I consider to be his Meisterwerk is no less daunting than pontificating on the mysteries the universe, or on the fallacies of time and space. It is the most cumbersome piece of art I have ever attempted to grasp, yet never have I been so rewarded by such a challenge.

So what was left Alexander von Meilenwald to do now that his project has become self-actualized? Destroy Christianity, that's what! Isn't that what all black metal musicians do best? Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite was the definitive breakthrough album for the German one-man project. And would you just look at that album cover!? Fuck the corpse paint and church burnings, let's draw a picture of Noah's Ark and summarize Judeo-Christian historical figures into the album title, which I will not apologize for saying twice: Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite. Aside from bringing a much more accessible, cleaned-up production and direct, doom metal passages to the table, Alexander von Meilenwald proved on his third album that he is just as much a master of language as he is a master of songwriting and musical instrumentation. Foulest Semen is filled with very deep biblical themes (not to mention Latin), mainly centered around the Old Testament. He doesn't just blasphemy Judeo-Christianity (or should I say, the movement's history, as opposed to its teachings that have actually never been followed by the movement itself), he intellectually rips it to shreds and exposes it as the epicenter for human hypocrisy that it has always been. Songs such as "God's Ensanguined Bestiaries," "Kain's Countenance Fell," and Arcane Pharmakon Messiah" keep this central theme in heavily in mind throughout the entire album.

If I had to flatter one of my favorite colleagues in the world of musical penmanship, I would have to say there's not a more accurate description of Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite than this quote, before giving the album a perfect score and rating it best album of the year back in 2009: "...Black metal at it’s absolute peak. Majestic, sophisticated, revolting. As beautiful as it is deadly... metal has never sounded so nihilistically gorgeous. Supreme." Since the release of Foulest, the enigmatic Alexander von Meilenwald decided to turn The Ruins of Beverast into a live performing act (playing guitar and singing alongside Secrets of the Moon's Arioch), and if the name of the project alone wasn't enough to convince listener's of Alexander von Meilenwald's loyalty to paganism ("Beverast" is von Meilenwald's own derivation of the word "Bifröst" influenced by the old Norse term for the bridge between Midgard and Asgard), perhaps the adornment of Mjölnir around his neck at every live concert is. When keeping these things in mind, it should be no surprise that Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite was indeed the most sophisticated example of blasphemy against paganism's most notorious enemy. Perhaps the overall attitude of the album can best be brought to summation by the recital of the closing lyrics of the song "Blood Vaults II:" "O majestic ironhand of doom, have you received our immolation? Let our deeds bequeath a martial dogma to our descendants: Our despots cleanse(d) the Levant!"

The year was 1486. Catholic persecution had long-since unleashed itself all-throughout the world, but perhaps one of the most horrifying events was its persecution of "witches" prior to the thirty-years war. Heinrich Kramer, a Catholic clergyman of the Dominican Order and appointed inquisitor, decided to publish what I consider to be one of the most embarrassing and downright evil books the great "Church" had ever associated with its name, the Malleus Maleficarum, or "Hammer of the Witches." It's purpose? To reverse scientific findings stating that witchcraft was merely a pagan practice and superstition, to claim that witches were more often women than men (who were required to have sex with Satan in order to bring their witching abilities into fruition), and to create a list of procedures that could discover them and sentence them to death. Now, knowing full-well the Catholic church has always done anything in its power to eliminate the competition (Christian persecution of pagans specifically actually pre-dates this by one thousand years or so), the real question is whether the original writing was an enormous undertaking to get the public further involved in the tribal notion that anyone who wasn't Catholic is somehow "evil," or whether it's simply the work of a fucking madman. Since don't really know, let's assume both.

The Malleus Maleficarum states that three elements must be prevalent for witchcraft to exist (the evil-intentioned witch, the help of the devil, and the permission of God), and is consequently divided into three sections. To be brief, the first discusses the existence of the devil, and how he is most powerful when it comes to matters of sexual enticement. According to Malleus, "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable." The second section discusses witches and their recruitment strategies. The concluding section discusses legal matters and how witches could be prosecuted. The whole thing sounds both superstitious and obviously misogynous, but the strange thing is that many Catholic women took place in these prosecutions as well. Regardless of whatever the hell was going through the minds of all of these people involved, the historical facts are as follows: Heinrich Kramer went so far as to suggest both male and female witches practiced infanticide, cannibalism, and... had the ability to steal penises. As a result of this painfully illogical craze, over twelve thousand people were killed during the witch hunts that began with Kramer and ended a few hundred years later.

The latest from The Ruins of Beverast, Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer, is the project's second true concept album, and understanding its music is no less important than understanding the historicity behind it. Despite the disgusting history that took place around said themes, the album basically plays like a blasphemous celebration of the mind of a religious fanatic and complete madman. Not coincidentally, Blood Vaults is split into three parts, all of which sound like they could only come from the mind of Alexander von Meilenwald himself. Opening track "Daemon" destroys the listener's eardrums with the same style of ferocity and orgasmic carnage that was displayed on the debut album track "Euphoria when the Bombs Fell." Then comes the first departure... "Malefica" adds extended, independently-existing organ passages into von Meilenwald's repertoire. Initially, it makes the overall experience slower, calming and melancholic (especially when the central theme is kept in mind). Latin passages and chants are even more prevalent on Blood Vaults than they were on Foulest Semen, as are the elongated, doom-influenced guitar riffs and marching drums (the conclusion of "Spires, the Wailing City" is damn near trance-inducing). Stylistically, the various styles featured on each track are not necessarily congruent with the album's three "sections." Thematically, however, the sections are meant to mirror the attitudes on each chapter of the Malleus Maleficarum, as if the music itself is actually coming from Heinrich Kramer and the listener is trapped inside his warped, fucked-up state of mind. The only other outside voice featured is that of a woman as she is about to be put to death at the album's ferocious yet painful conclusion: "I leave to the superior to judge if I am good, And I would break myself before my tormentor would. My silence is not fragile, I shall not shed a tear. Inflamed by my Daemon, no ordeal shall I fear."

The Ruins of Beverast is one of the most fascinating bands to ever break the surface of the underground, and there's no telling where Alexander von Meilenwald will go from here. Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer continues a very rich theme of the anti-Christian sentiments and blasphemy in glorious fashion. As it stands, all four full-lengths are masterpieces in their own right. Where the first two cause the listener's mind to turn inward on itself and reflect on its own horrors, the latter two bring very vivid, powerful concepts to light. If the project is a new discovery for you, Blood Vaults is as good a starting point as any, and will no doubt grow after each listen. And so, ladies and gentlemen, prepare yourselves to become further obsessed with, and possessed by one of the most amazing, and most beautiful minds the world of music has ever known.

-Originally written for http://lastrit.es