October 4th, 2022 - The Sleeping God Machine

 

Guten abend and happy Tuesday!  The Meista here with a pairing of Blind Guardian's latest kickass album, "The God Machine" and a tasty Sleeping God Cold Fermented Ale from E9!  Hell yeah!

Album Info:

• Artist: Blind Guardian
• Title: "The God Machine"
• Recorded: 2018 through 2021 at Twilight Hall Studio in Grefrath, Germany 
• Release date: September 2nd, 2022 (12th studio album by Blind Guardian)
• Record company: Nuclear Blast Records
• Production: Charlie Bauerfeind and Joost van den Broek
• Album cover art: Peter Mohrbacher
• Personnel: Frederik Ehmke (drums), Hansi Kürsch (lead vocals), André Olbrich (lead, rhythm, and acoustic guitars), and Marcus Siepen (rhythm and acoustic guitars)
• Guest musicians: Marcela Bovio (backing vocals), Barend Courbois (bass), John "Jaycee" Cuijpers (backing vocals), Thomas Geiger (keyboards and effects), Hacky Hackmann (backing vocals), Olaf Senkbeil (backing vocals), Joost van den Broek (keyboards on "Life Beyond The Spheres"), and Marjan Welman (backing vocals)
• Musical style: Speed metal, power metal, progressive metal
• Sound: "The God Machine" is powerful and fast-paced musical delivery.  Combining the aggression of speed metal with the complexity of progressive metal, and the punch of power metal, Blind Guardian creates a wonderfully rich, direct, and aggressive tapestry!
• Major themes: With multiple songs focused on plots and characters from fantasy novels, themes on the album include folklore, mythology, fantasy, life and death, creation of the universe, darkness, evil, etc.
• Tracks: 

1. "Deliver Us From Evil"
2. "Damnation"
3. "Secrets Of The American Gods"
4. "Violent Shadows"
5. "Life Beyond The Spheres"
6. "Architects Of Doom"
7. "Let It Be No More"
8. "Blood Of The Elves"
9. "Destiny"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: E9 (Tacoma, Washington)
• Website: https://e9brewingco.com/
• Brew: Sleeping God Cold Fermented Ale 
• Style: Dry-hopped Kölsch
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 4.8%
• Ingredients: Wai-iti and Taiheke hops
• Pour: The E9 Sleeping God pours a clear, golden yellow hue with a frothy, bright white, 1-finger head that slowly dissipates to a thin, yet sustained ring with lots of sticky and sudsy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is grassy, grainy, and citrusy and slightly tropical.  There are aromas of .
• Taste: The taste of the E9 Sleeping God is similar to the nose with lots of citrusy, grassy, grainy flavors.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and well carbonated, the mouthfeel is crisp, slightly bitter, yet smooth, and refreshing with a clean, dry finish.

Overall pairing: The Sleeping God from E9 is ... perfect for the classic power metal/speed metal brilliance of German metallers Blind Guardian!  Those crisp and bready notes got great with heavy duty rhythm section while the citrusy elements go great with the soaring guitars and Hansi's amazing vocals!

Prost!!  Hails!!