Style: Black metal, gothic metal, doom metal (Mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Blut Aus Nord, Enslaved, Borknagar
Country: Germany
Release date: 9 January 2026

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Dreams, while both a critical facet of animal biology and an absolute banger of a Fleetwood Mac song, are also undeniably really fucking weird. It only takes one recount of your friend’s dream where they walk into their house but the foyer stretches endlessly and the walls are plastered on both sides with a picture of them from middle school with a haircut that they got made fun of while their English teacher from second grade lives in a spare room they didn’t even know they had to exemplify the utterly surreal nature of our subconscious. These strange, ephemeral forays into our inner psyche aren’t always so innocuous, however—they can often elicit a frighteningly real fear response. Such is the world of The Ruins of Beverast’s Tempelschlaf (Temple-sleep), a release mired in the hypnagogic disquietude of our deepest nightmares. Will we safely escape from multi-instrumentalist Alexander von Meilenwald’s REM-induced prison, or will we be doomed to forever run away from a group of pirates while trying not to be late to a job in Budapest doing carpentry work for your uncle that you haven’t seen since you were seven?

Tempelschlaf is a surreal mix of black metal, doom metal, and gothic metal, leaning into evil monstrosity through aggressive drumming (“Alpha Fluids”), dire grandeur in soaring riffage (“Cathedral of Bleeding Statues”), and gloomy romanticism from clean, heavily flanged guitars (“Tempelschlaf”). Meilenwald’s harsh vocals howl with fervor in his mid-range and rumble from the depths of the earth in his lower register; his pronounced clean vocal performance is heavily reverbed, weary with millennia of agony. Like much of The Ruins of Beverast’s back-catalog, a primal, ritualistic vibe encompasses Tempelschlaf through the use of clattering percussion (“Tempelschlaf”, “Babel, You Scarlet Queen!”) and distant chanting (“Day of the Poacher”, “Last Theater of the Sea”).

The cyclic nature of Tempelschlaf’s pieces lends itself to a kind of psychedelic paranoia—the temple in which the record resides snakes unto itself, leading the listener on twisted journeys back to exactly where they started. Labyrinthine hallways of murals depicting unknowable rituals echo disquieting chants on “Tempelschlaf”. Even the guitars sound confused during the track’s instrumental break as an arpeggio tries to ascend but then stumbles into tremolos. The aggressive blast beats and reverberating black metal riffs of “Day of the Poacher” instill a sense of fearful urgency, like being chased by a creature through narrow passages. However, the track’s velocity is halted at the hands of hypnotic drumming and creepy chopped vocals, backed by repeated chants of ‘we carry death’ from disembodied forms.

Compositions open up into soaring doom metal moments on “Cathedral of Bleeding Statues” and “Babel, You Scarlet Queen!”. Featuring slow, ominous riffage that teeters around extended phrasing, these tracks conjure imagery of realms incomprehensible in their terror. “Cathedral” cleverly utilizes harmony to give its melodies a cinematic boost, layering guitars in its instrumental middle section and imposing harsh vocals on top of plaintive cleans in its climax. Tempelschlaf doesn’t demand its hazy stupor through complexity; rather, every element works in tandem to coax out a disorienting affect, whether it be the spectral voices that whisper into ears which can’t understand them or the reverberating percussion that announces an eldritch ceremony.

While Tempelschlaf’s menacing, contorted pieces may bewilder the unwitting temple-goer, elements of the record engender a confusion that seems unintended. Throughout songs like “Day of the Poacher”, “Alpha Fluids”, and “The Last Theatre of the Sea”, a martial undertone is established that feels at odds with the songwriting. The warlike lyricism of “Alpha Fluids”, for example, stands in opposition to the contemplative gothic sensibility breathed in by the clean guitar melodies. While “Day of the Poacher” does well to embody the feeling of a chase and “The Last Theatre of the Sea” has moments that border on apocalyptic, the claustrophobic and byzantine architecture of Tempelschlaf exists miles away from the rotting and wounded landscapes that Meilenwald paints with lyrics. Additionally, the record is a touch front-loaded: the first four tracks are through-and-through bangers, but closing pieces “The Last Theatre of the Sea” and “The Carrion Cocoon” belabor the atmosphere to where the experience becomes less ‘nightmarish ritualistic disorientation’ and more ‘Squidward falling through a spaghetti portal’.

The Ruins of Beverast is a mainstay of unique, forward-thinking black metal, and Tempelschlaf does little to change that. At its peaks, the record’s psychedelic dream logic is delightfully dreadful, brilliantly incorporating tinges of wistful romanticism into its unsettling songwriting. The extensive use of clean guitar tones and clean vocals on top of the aggressive black metal framework add a subtle otherworldly touch to its compositions. Were the ending compositions tightened up a bit and were more congruence present between the musical and lyrical ideas, then Tempelschlaf would be a nightmare vacation destination you’ll never want to leave. Not that you’d have the chance to; it is an eternally expanding hell temple, after all.

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Recommended tracks: Tempelschlaf, Cathedral of Bleeding Statues, Alpha Fluids, Babel, You Scarlet Queen!
You may also like: Uulliata Digir, Esoctrilihum, Dordeduh, Sur Austru
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Facebook | Instagram

Label: Ván Records

The Ruins of Beverast is:
– Alexander von Meilenwald: everything