June 28th, 2022 - Godspeed On The Devil's Cranberry IPA

 

Hello and happy Tuesday craft brew freaks and metal maniacs!  The Meista here with a pairing of Cradle Of Filth's very wonderful and very underrated album, "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" and a tasty and tart Cranberry IPA from Epic Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!

Album Info:

• Artist: Cradle Of Filth
• Title: "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder"
• Recorded: March through June 2008 at Backstage Studios in Derbyshire, England
• Release date: October 28th, 2008 (8th studio album by Cradle Of Filth)
• Record company: Roadrunner Records
• Production: Andy Sneap, Doug Cook, and Cradle Of Filth
• Album cover art: David Ho
• Personnel: Paul Allender (guitars), Dani Filth (lead vocals), Dave Pybus (bass), Martin Škaroupka (drums), and Sarah Jezebel Deva (spoken voice and vocal harmonies)
• Additional musicians: Doub Bradley (lead narration), Luna Scarlett Davey (narration), Elissa Devins (choir), Julie Devins (choir), Carolyn Gretton (choir and additional vocals), Leanne Harrison (choir), Tonya Kay (choir), Rachel Marshall-Clarke (choir), Mark Newby-Robson (keyboards), Stephen Svanholm (baritone vocals), Laura Willgoose (choir), and Liz Willgoose (choir) 
• Musical style: Symphonic black metal, extreme gothic metal
• Sound: As with all COF albums, "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder" is bombastic, complex, dark, and richly textured.  It also is faster and more extreme than its predecessor and harkens back to earlier COF albums like "Midian".
• Major themes: A concept album about the legend of serial killer Gilles de Rais, themes on the album include occultism, murder, paganism, death, mythology, dark romance, horror, etc.  Of the album's content, Dani Filth stated the following: "After Joan of Arc's death, he slid into a life of debauchery, which ended up with him trying to reclaim his fortune through alchemy and witchcraft. This led him to murder and kidnapping. He was eventually arrested by the Catholic Church and tried. It's a great gothic sort of fairytale story, because he's a very pious man at the beginning, turns extremely evil... The story runs concurrently throughout the album, it's not just vague ideas orbiting a main satellite. It's a story, and the narrative is actually taken from trial transcripts that were taken down in secular court at the time of his judgement"
• Tracks: 

1. "In Grandeur and Frankincense Devilment Stirs"
2. "Shat Out Of Hell"
3. "The Death Of Love"
4. "The 13th Caesar"
5. "Tiffauges"
6. "Tragic Kingdom"
7. "Sweetest Maleficia"
8. "Honey And Sulfur"
9. "Midnight Shadows Crawl To Darken Counsel With Life"
10. "Darkness Incarnate"
11. "Ten Leagues Beneath Contempt"
12. "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder"
13. "Corpseflower"
    
    

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Epic Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: https://www.epicbrewing.com/
• Brew: Cranberry IPA
• Style: American India Pale Ale (IPA) brewed with cranberries and lactose
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 7.5% 
• Pour: The Cranberry IPA pours a very hazy, bright golden amber hue with a billowy and frothy, 2+ finger, eggshell white head with great retention and lots of sticky intricate lacing.
• Nose: The nose is characterized by fruity, hoppy, tart, slightly sweet, and malty elements.  There are aromas of fresh cranberries, raspberries, pink grapefruit rind, tangerine, apricot, peach, mango, lemon, light cream, and soft caramel.
• Taste: The taste of the Cranberry IPA follows the nose with lots of citrusy, fruity, tart, and lightly malty flavors.  There are notes of cranberry juice, lemon, tangerine, orange, mango, dried apricot, sweet biscuit, fresh cream, and light caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied with good carbonation, the mouthfeel of the is rather crisp, juicy, tart, and a little sweet with a dry, fairly clean finish.

Overall pairing: Epic's Cranberry IPA is a punchy and flavorful ale... a good companion to the infernal symphonic stylings of Cradle Of Filth's excellent "Godspeed on the Devil's Thunder"!  Those citrusy hoppy notes go great with the intricate guitar work and bass work, while the sweetness, light bitterness, and slightly tart bite go great with the more aggressive passages!  I also thought the bottle label and the album artwork made for a nice color and imagery combination.

Cheers and hails!!