Written by [user id=4365] on 15.01.2014 at 19:31


Yes

It suits the aesthetic and general theme of black metal pretty well

Written by mz on 15.01.2014 at 19:28

he is not a good drummer AT ALL

Dude, you're mad.

Come on, the atmosphere of debut is near perfect and the songwriting and production are among the best of the genre. The sophomore was weird but once you get past the strange production, the song writing is as good as the debut. The third one balanced the Doom elements with the Black ones and the addition of the clean singing was marvelous.

Written by Paz on 15.01.2014 at 19:36

Dude, you're mad.

TNX
I'll check this link ASAP but I'm not going to like if that's anything like UtS.

I seem to be in the minority here, as this album was one of the worst I bothered listening to last year (couldn't bother to give it more than two chances). The extreme dislike might be related to the expectations I had going in, but I still think objectively this is monotonous and "pretentious", whatever that means to others. The material doesn't justify the length and the songs don't offer a lot in terms of variation.

I'm quite surprised Joe gave it an 8. I thought he didn't like it much either. I haven't heard much TROB tbh so I can't talk about their stuff.

Written by InnerSelf on 15.01.2014 at 19:39

Come on, the atmosphere of debut is near perfect and the songwriting and production are among the best of the genre. The sophomore was weird but once you get past the strange production, the song writing is as good as the debut. The third one balanced the Doom elements with the Black ones and the addition of the clean singing was marvelous.

Debut is his least interesting stuff for me. I liked the second album more but as you said, it has a weird production. It is not just loud enough but I like how muddy it is. Third album is much better than previous ones but it's too long for its own good. A few tracks on that album are fucking epic

Written by X-Ray Rod on 15.01.2014 at 22:40

I'm quite surprised Joe gave it an 8. I thought he didn't like it much either. I haven't heard much TROB tbh so I can't talk about their stuff.

More like a 7.5 rounded up. While I find it disappointing as a TRoB record, it's still head and shoulders above most other things similar.

All i can say is, i love the album. Sure it drags out, but it's just part of it's atmosphere. I relate the effect to Summoning, where it's very repetitive, but it's kind of meant to be. I love Malefica!

Written by Troy Killjoy on 15.01.2014 at 22:34

I seem to be in the minority here, as this album was one of the worst I bothered listening to last year (couldn't bother to give it more than two chances). The extreme dislike might be related to the expectations I had going in, but I still think objectively this is monotonous and "pretentious", whatever that means to others. The material doesn't justify the length and the songs don't offer a lot in terms of variation.

I'm with you, I won't vote because I haven't even finished the album yet. All hype, no substance.

First I wasn't too sure about this, didn't want to expect too much, but repetitive spins lately have proved it as strong as the former ones.

When I first time heard "Spires, the wailing city", as the rhytmic beat comes in, all I thought was "What is this, Sepultura?"

Written by Boxcar Willy on 14.04.2014 at 04:36
I'm with you, I won't vote because I haven't even finished the album yet. All hype, no substance.

I actually listened to this in its entirety on three separate occasions just to be sure my initial thoughts weren't being affected by my mood, and even got high for one of those listens (because I tend to like everything better when stoned like most people), but even then this is a 5 for me at best. Just way too long and self-indulgent, not nearly enough going on to keep my interest. Might be a bit ironic coming from someone who liked Dodsengel's and Elysian Blaze's lengthy outputs but for me those both stand heads and tails above this. It's too bad, up until now I've really enjoyed The Ruins' discography.

After I listened to their colossal debut, I was posivitely ecstatic about checking out their other releases. So I was quite dissappointed when I listened to this one in its entirety and found myself getting exceedingly bored. It's a good effort nonetheless and I do understand the appeal this brand of blackened doom might have for some people; for me it was only mildy amusing at best. I do like the album art though. Goes really well with the atmosphere of the album.

I've come back to this album on numerous occasions since first listening to it last year, and as many have pointed out, it really isn't worth the 9.5 I gave it in my review. A bit of a fanboy moment resulting from my first three spins of it that at first left me in awe. Now I'd probably score it around solid 8 material, because...

1. There aren't enough clean vocals. Sure, there's the spoken Latin, but those imposing, deep vocals from Foulest and Rain Upon The Impure just aren't there. More a preference than anything though.
2. The first four tracks really dominate the album. After that it kinda lags and becomes a bit monotonous and aside from Ordeal and Trial there isn't that much variation in the second half of it.
3. Lacks the ending power that the previous albums did. Monument is nothing compared to shit like The Mine and Arcane Pharmakon Messiah

All this considered, it's still pretty damn good and probably better than a good 80% of what other blackened doom is being put out today. May be Meilenwald's weakest album to date, but thankfully that's still not really saying much.

Written by Auntie Sahar on 07.09.2014 at 16:22

I've come back to this album on numerous occasions since first listening to it last year, and as many have pointed out, it really isn't worth the 9.5 I gave it in my review. A bit of a fanboy moment resulting from my first three spins of it that at first left me in awe. Now I'd probably score it around solid 8 material, because...

1. There aren't enough clean vocals. Sure, there's the spoken Latin, but those imposing, deep vocals from Foulest and Rain Upon The Impure just aren't there. More a preference than anything though.
2. The first four tracks really dominate the album. After that it kinda lags and becomes a bit monotonous and aside from Ordeal and Trial there isn't that much variation in the second half of it.
3. Lacks the ending power that the previous albums did. Monument is nothing compared to shit like The Mine and Arcane Pharmakon Messiah

All this considered, it's still pretty damn good and probably better than a good 80% of what other blackened doom is being put out today. May be Meilenwald's weakest album to date, but thankfully that's still not really saying much.

This is the problem that caused me to also rate this album lower upon listening to the album for a few times. Though in retrospect, i realize the error in this. You must not compare this to his other works. The best way to take in an album is in isolation. Very, very few albums truly deserve a 10. Foulest and Rain Upon The Impure are two albums which, in my books, deserve this rating. Now, after listening to other great doom and black metal albums, from the likes of Ahab and Nokturnal Mortum, I have again revisited this album. Though it does have its flaws, I would not hesitate to rate this album as a solid 9. Ordeal is the song that really prevents this album from being a 9.5, apart from that, other each song brings unique aspects forward.

Written by Rsrdaman on 01.07.2015 at 12:20

You must not compare this to his other works. The best way to take in an album is in isolation.

Usually I do agree with this attitude and try to practice it. But I'm a huge ROB fanboy, and the first three albums are all nothing short of stunning, so in this case it's really hard not to. Just kinda happens naturally. And I really do think there's something those three had that this one is just generally lacking in a way. And also, how an album ends is everything to me, because I'd rather have an album that starts weak and ends strong than one that starts strong and then ends weak (which is kind of the case here). BUUUUUT... sometimes with music everything is a tradeoff, so while Blood Valuts might be lacking some things that the first three ROB albums did, I think it also has some things they didn't as well. For example, imo this is definitely his most melodic album, and the one that most fully embraces all those dark, choir-like effects that he played around with previously. So you could look at it from that opposite perspective as well

I enjoy this album immensely.