Ruins of Beverast, The - Unlock the Shrine (2004)^{Release ID: 2784}

I want to rate this higher, but the long run time and the mediocre to bad songs don't outweigh the interesting bits. I want to say that I was disappointed to only find a low quality version on youtube to listen to this but after a bit it seemed like that it probably wasn't meant for HD quality sound, but what black metal is. I did listen to this on youtube and tried following the song titles and time stamps but that was a pain so i gave up.  There was some very innovative bits even with a bit of a lullaby in one of the songs and the tones of "God Sent No Sign", industrial bits of Procession of Pawns. The atmosphere is very well done and immersive, if not just a bit too long at times. The really good songs go on just a bit too long.  Then the shorter songs on this feel either a bit too short or just straight up unnecessary filler. Most atmospheric black metal albums don't sound like this and usually have a theme, whether it has a cold wintery vibe, space, or something else this does feel a bit disjointed but that doesn't change how well the songs are written. 

I have come to the conclusion that I don't have enough Ruins of Beverast in my life.  I have the brilliant Exuvia in my collection but until now had not ventured further back into the discography to explore what had come before.  Although by no means perfect, the debut album offers plenty of promise for what is to come from the rest of the back catalogue that follows it (one assumes - again basing this entirely on their last offering).

The album plays like a soundtrack to the most obscure and dark nightmares in the heads of most beasts.  Full of atmospheric passages and crashing and bashing industrial resonance it is easy to get a bit lost in trying to understand the overall direction of the album.  As such I don't think it has a particular set direction to follow.  For all the haunting and harrowing sounds present here they don't always marry well with the overall aesthetic; sometimes this is to good effect and you end up with an almost juxtaposed death rock feel to tracks whereas on more than one occasion things just come off as being a bit confused and meandering.

There's a distinct sense of insanity to the flow of the record that sort of ensures you are captivated as you are most certainly always kept on your toes, wondering what is coming next and for the main part this works superbly.  It does however stray into the territory of limited memory (a sort of demented induced dementia if you like) of tracks on the album, with only snippets standing out as opposed to whole tracks.

Still, this is a good debut that is made by an artist not afraid to mold the most complex of forms and let the emotion of the struggle of it's existence be released in a full frontal exposure of the bare, tortured soul beneath.  For where it sits in the discography it is a very respectable effort to begin with such an archaic style of music that doesn't follow much of the extreme norm of the genre.