November 12th, 2017 - A Hissing And Spinning Chai Yeti

Hello and happy Sunday! The Meista here getting heavy and dark with Chelsea Wolfe's latest album, the brilliant "Hiss Spun" and a Chai Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing Company!

Album Info:

• Artist: Chelsea Wolfe
• Title: "Hiss Spun"
• Recorded: 2017 at GodCity Studio in Salem, Massachusetts)
• Release date: September 22nd, 2017 (5th studio album by Chelsea Wolfe)
• Record company: Sargent House
• Production: Chelsea Wolfe and Ben Chisholm
• Album cover art: John Crawford (art direction and design) and Bill Crisafi (photography)
• Personnel: Chelsea Wolfe (vocals and guitar) with Ben Chisholm (guitar, bass, keyboards, and electronics), Kurt Ballou (guitar on "Twin Fawn"), Travis Brooks (sounds), Ezra Buchla (viola), Jess Gowrie (drums), Christopher Orr (guitar on "Two Spirit"), Bryan Tulao (guitar on "The Culling" and "Static Hum"), and Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar) 
• Musical style: Doom metal, sludge metal, experimental metal with elements of black metal, alternative metal, and folk metal
• Sound: Almost crushingly heavy, dark, and purposeful, the sound on "Hiss Spun" is powerful, bombastic, and pure Wolfe!  Her beautiful and almost seductive vocals act as a foil to the thunderous and murky darkness of the sludgy doom she and Chisholm have masterfully executed.
• Major themes: "Hiss Spun" is a very personal and with themes about confronting various health issues, confronting one's past (especially a dark family history), self-discovery, "expunging of the soul", honesty, darkness, isolation, evil, etc.  Of the album, Wolfe stated: "I deal with extreme anxiety that gets exacerbated by bouts of insomnia [...] I’m constantly trying to find ways to calm down… That has manifested into addiction at times [and] I carried a lot of that into this record, especially on '16 Psyche' and 'Spun'."
• Tracks:   

1. "Spun"
2. "16 Psyche"
3. "Vex" 
4. "Strain"
5. "The Culling"
6. "Particle Flux"
7. "Twin Fawn"
8. "Offering"
9. "Static Hum"
10. "Welt"
11. "Two Spirit"
12. "Scrape"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Great Divide Brewing Company (Denver, Colorado)
• Website: https://greatdivide.com/
• Brew: Chai Yeti Imperial Stout
• Style: Imperial Stout
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 9.5%
• Pour: The Chai Yeti pours an opaque, ink black hue with a creamy, firm, dark mocha head with great retention and chunky, layered lacing.
• Nose: The nose of the Chai Yeti is roasty, earthy, chocolaty, and spicy.  There are big aromas of chai spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, green cardamom, black pepper, and vanilla bean), dark chocolate, cocoa, roasted malt, cream, marshmallow, and dark roasted coffee beans.
• Taste: Like the nose, the taste is roasty, spicy, chocolaty, and earthy.  There are notes of dark and milk chocolate, coffee, fresh cream, vanilla, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, black pepper, subtle licorice, and a very subtle hint of bourbon.
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied with low carbonation, the mouthfeel of the Chai Yeti is velvety smooth, thick and chunky, sticky, and very creamy with a dry finish that includes a little spicy heat.

Overall pairing: The bold, robust, earthy, spicy, and chocolaty flavors and aromas of Chai Yeti Imperial Stout from Great Divide Brewing Company is the perfect brew to compliment the incredibly powerful honesty, darkness, and heaviness of Chelsea Wolfe's amazing "Hiss Spun"!  The creamy and velvety mouthfeel works wonderfully well with Wolfe's beautiful vocals while the spicy and rich chocolate flavors are great for the overall doomy sludge!
    

Cheers!!  Hails!!