November 17th, 2013 - "Pray For Me" Big Bad Baptist! And "Go Tell Somebody"!

Hallo rockers and drinkers!  The (not-so righteous) Minister Meista bringing you some "religion" on this somewhat chilly Sunday evening with another killer rock and roll pairing for you!  This afternoon I'm pairing a Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout (Release #20) from Epic Brewing Company and "XV" by power trio King's X!

Barrel-aged in whiskey casks, 10.5% ABV, and brewed with hearty grains and malts, cocoa nibs and dark roasted Caffe Ibis coffee beans, the Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stout is just as the name denotes... BIG!  The Big Bad Baptist pours a beautiful black... black as "hell's screaming", black as the night sky, black as mud with a very thin mocha head.  The nose is bittersweet cooking chocolate, rich planting soil, and black licorice.  Nugget, Chinook, Cascade make up the hop regiment for this bad boy along with sustaining malts and grains like 2-Row Chocolate Malt, Crystal Muntons, Black Malt, and Roasted Barley, giving the flavor huge chocolate, huge black coffee, huge bourbon, vanilla bean, and molasses notes.  Like a good woman, this brew is full-bodied (sorry for this somewhat sexist remark, I'm a little drunk), sticky, and chunky.  The finish is nice and chewy and with mocha goodness that lingers.   

For a big-ass, chucky, meaty, sticky brew you need an album of equal merit and depth... "XV" is the 12th studio album by progressive metal/hard rock/funk/soul power trio King's X and was released in May of 2008 (their most recent).  As with all their kick-ass work, they combine vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, Texas blues, Motown R&B, and 1960s English rock/pop groups (very much like the Beatles and Cream) and combine it with the multiple genres they have mastered and fused together.  (Think: John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Parliament/Funkadelic, Sam Cooke, and Humble Pie get together and jam!)  Lyrically, "XV" is heart-felt, honest, and emotional.  Musically, it is chunky, soulful, heavy, and deep.  The brilliant track list of "XV" is as follows: 

1. Pray For Me
2. Blue
3. Repeating Myself
4. Rocket Ship
5. Julie
6. Alright
7. Free
8. I Just Want to Live
9. Move
10. I Don't Know
11. Stuck
12. Go Tell Somebody
13. Love And Rockets (Hell's Screaming)
14. No Lie

Here's a photo of me with the King's X bad-asses from the previous album's tour ("Ogre Tones")!  (Cannot seem to find my pics from the "XV" tour.)

 

 

Amen brothas and sistas, halleluiah, and cheers!!  If you like what you taste and hear here at Brews and Tunes, "got tell somebody"!!