Good evening! In celebration of getting to see The Sword in concert this week, I'm doing a pairing of their latest kick-ass album "Apocryphon" with a Samuel Adams Cold Snap from the Boston Beer Company! Hell yes!!
Hailing from Austin, Texas, The Sword is a stoner rock/doom metal band heavily influenced by the likes of Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, the Melvins, Slayer, and Sleep. The band is made up of J. D. Cronise (vocals, guitars), Kyle Shutt (guitars), Bryan Richie (bass, synthesizers), and Santiago "Jimmy" Vella III (drums, percussion). Their latest album, "Apocryphon" (Greek for "secret writings" or secret teachings") is a monstrously heavy and rocking album! The riffs are big, bold, and aggressive, but with soaring and melodic solo work! The bass and drum work is a profoundly penetrating thunderstorm! Lyrically, Cronise's writing is more "metaphysical" than previous albums. Shutt described the album as being "more of a metaphorical reflection of everything we've gone through" as opposed to the more conceptual approach on previous albums. Speaking about the amazingly heavy opening track, "The Veil of Isis", Cronise describes the lyrical content as "a little more metaphysical than a lot of our previous stuff", explaining that it explores "cycles of nature and life and death and birth and transformation and death and rebirth". Along with "The Veil of Isis", tracks like "Cloak Of Feathers", "Arcane Montane", "The Hidden Masters", "Seven Sisters", "Eyes Of The Stormwitch", and the title track, "Apocryphon" are meaty, thunderous, mesmerizing explorations of heaviness on a profound level! I really cannot express in words how much I love "Apocryphon"!! You NEED to own this album!! (Oh, and the wonderful album cover was produced by the very talented comic book artist J. H. Williams III.)
With such a heavy album, I decided I would go for more of a foil in terms of pairing and crack open something light and refreshing. The Samuel Adams Cold Snap is a Witbier, a very pale and very cloudy, unfiltered, Belgian-style white ale brewed with spices. It pours a light golden amber with a frothy white head that leaves good lacing. The nose is light, floral, and fruity. There are notes of toasted bread, orange zest, lemon juice, plum, and cherry blossom. Crisp and juicy, the mouthfeel is light and smooth. The flavor, like the nose, is rather mellow, fruity, and very refreshing. There are notes of orange peel, plum juice, ground coriander, white pepper, clove, ginger, light malt, and baked bread. The Cold Snap goes down easy and finishes clean with just a light, lingering spiciness. Good stuff!
Raise those glasses!! Cheers and hails!!
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