The Ruins Of Beverast have a long history of combining black metal and doom metal in ways that make each album feel at least a little bit different from its predecessors, usually by tipping the balance between the two in one direction or by pushing the vibe in another direction. Hence why debut Unlock The Shrine had the most purely black metal as remnants from Alexander von Meilenwald's time in Nagelfar all the way to Exuvia's more ethereal psychedelic atmospheres. Where The Thule Grimoires built on that is by amping up the clean vocals in a way that made them reminiscent of Type O Negative, and in my review I also compared the focus on soundscapes to Jesu and Drown.
Tempelschlaf feels like an album that could only come after The Thule Grimoires and how that album did its gothic clean baritone vocals explorations, with Tempelschlaf continuing to bring the clean vocals to the forefront, even if not exclusively, and sometimes, like in "Cathedral Of Bleeding Statues", layered alongside harsh ones. What Tempelschlaf does differently than its predecessor is to look back at some of the band's earlier directions, both the ritualistic Exuvia and the more riff-heavy melodies of Foulest Semen Of A Sheltered Elite to bring these elements as a course change from the already gothic-tinged sound.
Though ritualistic leanings are brought back, they're quite different from their Exuvia counterpart, with Tempelschlaf not only more epic and grandiose in its presentation, but also more direct and less atmosphere focused in its songwriting. Of course the long-form songwriting still makes use of repetition and embellished synth melodies and all the usual atmosphere building tools, with the last half of the album and especially 13-minute closer "The Carrion Cocoon" having plenty of atmospheric moments with the trademark The Ruins Of Beverast touch, but it's also more focused on riffs and drum melodies that feel less labyrinthine.
The more streamlined approach, alongside the quite high in the mix clean vocals, might make this feel a bit too accessible and clean by The Ruins Of Beverast standards, but it subsequently also makes for a very replay-able album.
