December 12th, 2015 - That Time I Was Burning For You In The Slaughter House

Hallo!  Your pal the Meista here today pairing a Slaughterhouse India Red Ale from Payette Brewing Company and one of my all-time favorite hard rock albums, "Fire Of Unknown Origin" by the mighty Blue Öyster Cult (BÖC)!!  Hells yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Blue Öyster Cult
• Title: "Fire Of Unknown Origin"
• Recorded: 1981 at Kingdom Sound Studios in Long Island, New York and The Automatt in San Francisco, California
• Release date: July 1981 (8th studio album by BÖC)
• Record company: Columbia Records
• Production: Martin Birch
• Album cover art: Greg Scott
• Personnel: Eric Bloom (lead vocals, guitar, and bass), Albert Bouchard (drums, synthesizers, and vocals), Joe Bouchard (bass and vocals), Allen Lanier (keyboards), and Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (lead guitars, vocals, percussion, bass, and sound effects)
• Additional musicians: Tony Cedrone (percussion), Bill Civitella (percussion), Karla DeVito (backing vocals), Sandy Jean (backing vocals), and Jesse Levy (string arrangements)
• Musical style: Hard rock, heavy metal, progressive rock
• Sound: With a sound more akin to their earlier albums, "Fire Of Unknown Origin" is a hard rockin' and wonderfully rich album with lots of great hooks, melodies, harmonies, and solos.  Every track is rock masterpiece... complex, engaging, and fun as hell! 
• Major themes: Subject matter on "Fire Of Unknown Origin" delves into the world of the occult, fantasy, and science fiction with themes of violence, sex, lust, death, vengeance, evil, and abandonment.
• Note: The majority of tracks on the album were originally intended for the animated film Heavy Metal, but only "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars" was actually featured in the movie, which is rather ironic as the song wasn't written for the film.  It was co-written by fantasy/science fiction author Michael Moorcock of the Elric of Melniboné series fame.  (Subsequently, Moorcock co-wrote the song "Black Blade" on the previous BÖC album, Cultösaurus Erectus".)  Sadly, "Fire Of Unknown Origin" is the last BÖC studio album to include all of the original band members.
• Tracks:  

1. "Fire Of Unknown Origin"
2. "Burning For You"
3. "Veteran Of The Psychic Wars"
4. "Sole Survivor"
5. "Heavy Metal: The Black And Silver"
6. "Vengeance"
7. "After Dark"
8. "Joan Crawford"
9. "Don't Turn Your Back"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Payette Brewing Company (Boise, Idaho)
• Website: http://www.payettebrewing.com/
• Brew: Slaughterhouse India Red Ale
• Style: American Amber / Red Ale
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 7.5%
• IBUs: 70
• Ingredients: Cara Red, Crystal, and Pale malts with Amarillo, Chinook, and Crystal hops.
• Pour: A wonderful deep ruby red hue with a billow crème color head with good retention and lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a well-balanced blend of malty, citrusy, and piney aromas.  There are big notes of caramel, pine resin, and juicy pink grapefruit. 
• Taste: Like the nose, the flavors of the Slaughterhouse India Red Ale blend hearty grains, sweet malts, citrusy fruits, and bitter and dank earth notes.  There are notes of burnt toffee, freshly baked bread, toffee, pine, black tea, and lots of pink grapefruit and tangerine.
• Mouthfeel: Lighter medium-bodied with good carbonation, the mouthfeel is very crisp and refreshing with some hearty grains and a clean, slightly dry finish.

Overall pairing: One of the greatest rock albums of all time from one of the greatest hard rock bands of all time deserves nothing short of a kick-ass and refreshing brew!  Those wonderfully blended dank, sweet, and citrusy flavors and aromas of the Slaughterhouse India Red Ale are perfect for the wholly original, complex, and brilliant tracks on "Fire Of Unknown Origin"!

Cheers and hails to BÖC!!