May 7th, 2016 - Ivan The Terrible's Certainty

Guten Tag!!  The Meista here today gettin' heavy with Kreator's "Terrible Certainty" and an Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout from Big Sky Brewing Company!  Hells yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Kreator
• Title: "Terrible Certainty"
• Recorded: 1987 at  Horus Studio in Hannover, Germany
  Release date: September 22nd, 1987 (3rd full-length studio album by Kreator)009-02-03)
• Record company: Noise Records
• Production: Roy Rowland
• Album cover art: Phil Lawvere
• Personnel: Roberto "Rob" Fioretti (bass guitar), Mille Petrozza (lead guitar and lead vocals), Jürgen "Ventor" Reil (drums and lead vocals on "As the World Burns"), and Jörg "Tritze" Trzebiatowski (lead guitar)
• Musical style: Thrash metal, speed metal
• Sound: With more complex arrangements and varied tempos, yet still aggressive and fast as hell, "Terrible Certainty" is (for me) the quintessential early Kreator album and a definitive / quintessential piece of the Teutonic thrash metal sound!  Trzebiatowski's guitar work is a blisteringly fast frenzy, Reil's drumming is rapid machine gun fire, and Mille's vocals are razor blades, gravel, and broken glass... thrash metal perfection!
• Major themes: Aggression, war, violence, nihilism, criticism of religion and politics, power, etc.
• Tracks:   

1. "Blind Faith"
2. "Storming With Menace"
3. "Terrible Certainty"
4. "As The World Burns"
5. "Toxic Trace"
6. "No Escape"
7. "One Of Us"
8. "Behind The Mirror"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Big Sky Brewing Company (Missoula, Montana)
• Website: www.bigskybrew.com   
• Brew: Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout
• Style: Russian Imperial Stout
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 9.5%
• Ingredients: English hops and American malts
• Pour: Ink black with reddish highlights and a creamy mocha/tan head
• Nose: The nose is roasty, rich, slightly sweet, and very earthy.  There are aromas of dried dark fruits (prunes, dates, raisins, black cherries, figs), roasted cocoa, dark chocolate, dark roasted coffee, hints of vanilla bean, and aged bourbon.
• Taste: Following the nose, the taste of Ivan The Terrible is a big, bold chocolaty, earthy, sweet, and somewhat boozy concoction.  There are notes of baker's semi-sweet dark chocolate, French roast coffee, fresh cream, vanilla, black currant, figs, raisins, baked bread, and bourbon.
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied with lower carbonation, the mouthfeel is velvety, creamy, thick, chunky, and smooth with a dry, slightly bitter and boozy finish.

Overall pairing: So normally I like to pair Russian Imperial Stouts with slow and sludgy doom metal, funk, or  soulful R&B... and I usually pair thrash metal with a bitter IPA, but the Ivan The Terrible Imperial Stout Big Sky Brewing Company just works so well with Kreator's "Terrible Certainty"!  And not just because of their titles!  The boozy, dark, rich, and very heavy characteristics of Ivan The Terrible seems just so perfect for German-style thrash aggression!

Prost and hails!!