Style: Atmospheric black/doom metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: A continuation of the ritual that started on Exuvia
Thoughts: The Ruins of Beverast has always had a strong emphasis on atmosphere... in fact one can argue that this is the defining characteristic of the band. While the tone of that atmosphere has changed over the course of their six studio albums, the fact remains that the band is defined by having a deep and often prohibitively dark atmosphere. On The Thule Grimores the band has embraced the atmosphere to the point where much of the album is nearly ambient.
There are large, and I mean large, sections of the entire album where there is nothing but ambience. Little to no melody, no percussion, no vocals... just atmosphere... just wallowing in pure atmosphere. The band has done stuff like this in the past, but never for more than a few moments at a time. Here it's one of the main focuses.
In many ways it takes the ritual atmosphere of the previous album and expands on it. In a lot of ways it's better than Exuvia, but in others it's a bit lacking. I feel that between the two albums you have one of the better renditions of the band's style, but with the two albums it's just a little bit lacking and over drawn. Regardless the band is still elite and even with these sub par albums, they are head and shoulders above most black metal bands.
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