HeavyHardMetalmania: THE RUINS OF BEVERAST

The infinitely mysterious yet irrefutably heralded underworld musical entity known to its devout cult following asTHE RUINS OF BEVERAST will unveil its massive fourth LP late this Summer; an album which vows to prove itself as one of the most ambitious and unrestrained releases under the cape of black metal to see release all year.

The solo project of one Meilenwald, the infamously devastating drummer and one of the chief songwriters for now defunct legion Nagelfar, in addition to drummer for Truppensturm, Abusus, Verdunkeln and more, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST originated in 2003, and with each release has pummeled underground audiences with an epic, wholly original style of massive, mesmerizing, and malicious black metal artistry. With an incredible tact for keeping his hymns continually entertaining, each of TROB's full-length releases boast well over an hour of exceptionally high-quality blackened craft with not a moment of filler and each album showing more progression than the previous, not only musically, but artistically and conceptually. The art of 2004's debut Unlock The Shrine was taken to even darker and cryptic levels with the 2006 follow-up Rain Upon The Impure, and with the release 2009's grand Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite the word "epic" should have been wiped out of the dictionary, the album showcasing Meilenwald's most intriguing tunes to date. Until Now.

After a four-year wait, and celebrating the act's ten-year mark in 2013, the newest works from THE RUINS OF BEVERAST are nearing public availability with the pending release of Blood Vaults -- The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum -- Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris).

As always, every element of the new album's precision percussion, axemanship and synth-laden atmospheres over its nine winding movements was fully conceived and executed by Meilenwald, the man's brutal creativity coming devastatingly alive through a whirling barrage of through nearly an hour and twenty minutes of his most flooring and entrancing material yet. The LP's striking cover art by Axell Hermann (Asphynx, Grave, Samael, Sodom) boldly portrays the religious depravity and brilliant decay of the album's lyrical tone.

Blood Vaults -- The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum -- Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris will be made available to the public in September via CD digibook, gatefold 2xLP, a lavish 2xLP pressing and digital once again through the act's direct cooperation with the cult label Ván Records (Nagelfar, The Devil's Blood, Urfaust, Year of the Goat) as with the three previous TROB LP's.

Blood Vaults - The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer (Cryptae Sanguinum - Evangelium Flagrans Henrici Institoris) Track Listing:

Prima Pars

I. Apologia

II. Daemon

III. Malefica

IV. Ornaments On Malice

Secunda Pars

V. Spires, The Wailing City

VI. A Failed Exorcism

Tertia Pars

VII. Trial

VIII. Ordeal

IX. Monument

facebook.The-Ruins-Of-Beverast

van-records.de

facebook.com/vanrecs

The following three releases from Germany's Ván Records are finally available in North American stores today: THE DEVIL'S BLOOD's The Time of No Time Evermore, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST's Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite, and GRIFTEGÅRD's Solemn.Sacred.Severe.

THE DEVIL'S BLOOD - The Time of No Time Evermore

Dutch rock occultists THE DEVIL'S BLOOD have spent the last several years clawing their way through the musical establishment, infecting audiences the world over with their enchanting, seductive, haunting hymns. Hailed for their sublime spiritual rituals as well as their high quality releases -- which include their free, 4-track 2007 demo, the Graveyard Shuffle 7" EP (Ván Records) and 2008's Come, Reap EP (Ván/Profound Lore) -- the band have shown their definitive musical vision and clear spiritual path.

The band's debut full-length The Time of No Time Evermore was released in Europe in September of 2009, to amazing reactions and incredibly high ratings from fans and critics alike. The 11-track album showcases some of the most ethereal yet hard-rocking passages the rock genre has to offer. Now available in North America for the first time, THE DEVIL'S BLOOD are determined to spread their sorrowful celebrations across an even wider audience and will do so in the coming year by performing more live rituals over mainland Europe and expanding to other parts of the world.

"...The Time of No Time Evermore sees the Dutch band achieving what much hyped (especially in retrospect) ‘70s bands like Black Widow and Coven never could: a visionary blend of hard rock, psych rock, acid rock, and even art rock, dripping with obsessively detailed satanic ritual." 4/5 - All Music Guide

"Her voice is haunting, captivating, maddening, like she is trying to get her minions to go shatter worlds for her. The vocals have this character of being both blissful and raging, and they sound like the blissful celebration of lunacy." 9.5/10 - The Metal Observer

THE RUINS OF BEVERAST - Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite

THE RUINS OF BEVERAST is the solo project of Alexander von Meilenwald, known as the ultra-fast, maniacally technical drummer of famed German horde Nagelfar, as well as being a live and/or session member of Truppensturm, Abusus, Verdunkeln and other kult acts. The band has constantly astounded audiences on every release -- including 2004's Unlock The Shrine, 2006'sRain Upon The Impure, a split EP with Urfaust and a 4-way split LP with Deathgate Arkanum, Nihil Nocturne and Anti -- each album showcasing more forward-thinking progression and more creatively constructed aggression than the last. Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite -- the third full-length from THE RUINS OF BEVERAST -- was released in Europe mid-September 2009, and immediately became the most critically-acclaimed TROB album to date.

Meilenwald fully self-constructs every element of TROB, taking the veracity and creativity of his brutal percussion, axemanship and synth-laden atmospheres to otherworldly levels on Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite, and pushing the album to the limits with a massive play time of nearly an hour and twenty minutes! The end result is far more involved and intriguing than a simple black metal release; the thunderous, explosive, unnerving, epic and brilliantly frightening album is easily one of the most flooring and unique releases in recent metal history.

"...like Disembowelment's Transcendence Into The Peripheral, Candlemass's Ancient Dreams and Bathory's Under The Sign of the Black Mark gurgling in a hot cauldron lorded over by a lone robed monk in some deep cave." -Decibel Magazine

"... one of those rare acts that transcends music and becomes true art, and with his third album, has cemented his status in the elite category of artists." 10/10 - MetalReview.com

GRIFTEGÅRD - Solemn.Sacred.Severe

Swedish for a churchless graveyard, the name GRIFTEGÅRD holds a symbolism that is echoed in the musical and textual themes expressed by its members – the aesthetic is clearly spiritual, although non-confessional, just like the atmosphere of a burial ground generally is perceived as solemn, sacred and severe, regardless of whether or not the visitor is aware of which religious current it is a part of. GRIFTEGÅRD, in an artistic context, is the burial ground for finite and worldly thoughts and the birth place for ponderings of an infinite and spiritual nature -- the superficial, the shallow, the empty – such expressions have no place in GRIFTEGÅRD’s universe. The core and soul of all is all. To some this may seem as bold, even pretentious, statements for a band to make and to them we say: Dare to drop your armor of cynicism and irony, care to open your dormant mind’s eye, gaze inwards, and challenge yourself!

GRIFTEGÅRD is comprised of vocalist Thomas Eriksson (Bokor), guitarist/lyricist Ola Blomkvist (Spetälsk, The Doomsday Cult), guitarist Per Broddesson (The Doomsday Cult, Wolverine etc.), bassist Thomas Jansson (Wolverine) and drummer Jens Gustafsson. Solemn.Sacred.Severe was recorded and mixed in Milk Studios, Norrköping, and produced by the band, with co-producer engineer/studio owner Magnus Jonsson. Arguably one of the genre’s most eclectic offerings this year, the riff heavy masterwork includes appearances from various friends of the band, all of whom added to the already multi-textured epic doom hymns.

"... nothing less than a spiritual journey. Quite possibly the (yes, the) doom standout of the year thus far." - Metal Army America

"This is beyond recommended. It’s essential that you own this album." 10/10 - Funeral Rain Zine

The Ruins Of Beverast -
The clockhands groaning circles

Review copies of these fine Ván releases are available now, and interviews with all three acts are also available anytime. In North America, please contact your local Earsplit henchmen with all requests and inquiries.

http://www.van-records.de
http://www.myspace.com/vanrecords

Earsplit PR