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Rain Upon the Impure is a black/doom metal goliath created by ex-Nagelfar (no, not Naglfar) drummer Alexander Von Meilenwald. The album is about 80 minutes long and absolutely reeks of ambiance throughout its entirety. It is atmospheric, desolate, and cold and shockingly it is all created by one man. Also shocking is the absolutely atrocious production quality which plagues this album. It is extraordinarily quiet on the average stereo and must be turned up in order to be audible and furthermore all of the tracks are very muddy. However, without this terrible production it may lose some of its ambient charm as the barren feeling represented in the album is noticeably augmented by the murky sound quality. Interestingly the drumming is perhaps the worst produced of the instruments and in tandem with the guitar it can start to sound monotonous, a bit like a wall of nearly inaudible noise hitting you all at one time. There are also choral parts which are liberally added to most tracks which are the only other vocals aside from the constant black metal shrieking of the standard variety. Overall the musicianship presented on this album is clear and I did and do enjoy it for its incredible ambiance. Everything that would ordinarily come across as poor playing or shoddy production quality seems intended so as to add to the dark and inhospitable mood. However this is a double edged sword. Throughout its massive 80 minute run time Rain Upon the Impure can become monotonous and frankly I still can not fully accept and enjoy such shabby production. Thus while I believe that The Ruins of Beverast is a good project and I will look forward to future releases. Rain Upon the Impure still sits in my "a little better than average" pile. I would definitely recommend Rain Upon the Impure to fans of ambient and epic black/doom metal, it is surely worth a listen or two.
| Tracklist |
| 1. 50 Forts Along The Rhine |
| 2. Soliloquy Of The Stigmatised Shepherd |
| 3. Rapture |
| 4. Blood Vaults (I: Thy Virginal Malodour) |
| 5. Soil Of The Incestuous |
| 6. Balnaa-Kheil The Bleak |
| 7. Rain Upon The Impure |
: 79:52
| Buy other The Ruins of Beverast albums |
