The Ruins of Beverast is a Black/Doom Metal solo project of a German musician Alexander von Meilenwald. Since 2013, he's been performing live with an expanded line-up under the band's name. It's characterized by very long tracks, expansive song structures and dark, extremely dense atmosphere. Six full-length albums have been released as of present.
Full discography:
- The Furious Waves of Damnation (2003, demo)
- Unlock the Shrine (2004)
- Rain upon the Impure (2006)
- Urfaust / The Ruins of Beverast (2007, split)
- Gott in uns (2007, split)
- Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite (2009)
- Enchanted by Gravemould I (2011, compilation)
- Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer (2013)
- Takitum Tootem! (2016, EP)
- King Dude | Caronte | The Ruins of Beverast | (DOLCH) (2017, split)
- Exuvia (2017)
- Don't Walk on the Mass Graves (2020, split)
- The Ruins of Beverast / Almyrkvi (2020, split)
- The Thule Grimoires (2021)
- Maschinenfest Memorial (2022, live album)
The Ruins of Beverast provides examples of:
- Album Intro Track: "Apologia" on Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer.
- Ambient: Some of the shorter tracks and interludes fall into this.
- Cover Version: Covered Beherit, Dead Can Dance, Depeche Mode, My Dying Bride and Pink Floyd.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Cover art for Unlock the Shrine and Rain upon the Impure.
- Epic Rocking: A typical TRoB song is at least eight minutes in length, often surpassing ten and beyond. While this trope was already present on Unlock the Shrine, it didn't take full effect until Rain upon the Impure. Many tracks that don't fall into this are album intros and "transitional" tracks between longer pieces.
- Gratuitous Latin: Pops up occasionally in the lyrics.
- Harsh Vocals: Alexander uses a variety of harsh vocal techniques, some of which sound especially monstrous, even by black metal standards.
- I Am the Band: Alexander von Meilenwald, the sole member, composer and performer on all studio records.
- Indecipherable Lyrics: On older records especially, not helped by copious amounts of reverb. Downplayed on the more recent releases.
- New Sound Album: Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite had a more pronounced doom metal influence than the previous output. Blood Vaults took it even further, to the point where it borders on funeral doom.
- Noble Savage: Exuvia has a strong Native American/tribal theme.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: Rarely Latin, but always ominous.
- Religion Rant Song: A common lyrical theme. Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer is a whole album directed at titular Heinrich Kramer, author of the infamous Malleus Maleficarum.
- Sampling: Movie samples sometimes appear in the songs, i.e. the chanting in "Blood Vaults (I - Thy Virginal Malodour)" is taken from the film adaptation of The Name of the Rose.
- Start My Own: Von Meilenwald formed The Ruins of Beverast after the breakup of his previous band, Nagelfar.
