May 4th, 2023 - The Big, The Little, And The Grotesque

 

Hello hop heads and music freaks!!  The Meista here today pairing a tasty Big Little Thing IPA from the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and "The Grotesque", the wonderful debut album by DieHumane that will be released officially tomorrow!  Hells yeah!!

Album Info:

• Artist: DieHumane
• Title: "The Grotesque"
• Recorded: 2022 at multiple studios in California, New York, and Texas
• Release date: May 5th, 2023 (1st studio album by DieHuman)
• Record company: WURMgroup
• Production: Ulrich Wild and DieHumane
• Album cover art: Greg Hilligiest (art direction and design) and Josh Vargas (art direction, design, and photography)
• Personnel: Sal Abruscato (drums), Greg Hilligiest (keys, programming, and additional guitars), Rick Hunolt (lead guitars), Josh Vargas (bass, rhythm guitars, piano, and programming), and Garret West (vocals)
• Musical style: Avant Garde metal, experimental metal, doom metal, art rock, industrial music with elements of jazz, blues, and rock
• Sound: A wonderful rich and intricately textured album, with the 17 tracks on "The Grotesque", band combines elements of doom metal, industrial, blues, alternative rock, and progressive rock/metal along with art rock and jazz.  It is a wholly unique, original, and beautifully dark, brooding, and atmospheric journey!  At times it is heavy as hell, and at other times it can be hauntingly beautiful and melancholy, and always mesmerizing! 
• Major themes: Life, death, loss, isolation, states of being, darkness, surrender, escape, etc.
• Tracks:

1. "The Executively Dysfunctional"
2. "King Of Nothing (The Bruiser)"
3. "Standing At The Edge Of Forever"
4. "Shell Shock"
5. "The Death Knoll"
6. "Epitaph"
7. "Oblivion"
8. "The Vanishing"
9. "Ghosts"
10. "Aphasia"
11. "Nevermind"
12. "Crossroads"
13. "The Descent"
14. "The Devil Sings"
15. "Sparrows"
16. "Skeletons"
17. "Stardust Blues"
18. 
    

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Sierra Nevada Brewing Company (Chico, California)
• Website: https://sierranevada.com/
• Brew: Big Little Thing IPA
• Style: Imperial India Pale Ale (IIPA) / Double IPA (DIPA)
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 9.0%
• IBUs: 45 
• Ingredients: Munich, Two-row Pale, and Wheat malts, Ale yeast, and Cascade, Chinook, Columbus, Crystal, Idaho 7, Magnum, and Mosaic hops 
• Pour: The Big Little Thing pours very hazy golden-amber hue with a frothy, 1-finger, off-white head great retention and lots of sticky, intricately layered lacing.
• Nose: The nose is citrusy, tropical, and malty.  There are aromas of grapefruit rind, tangerine, orange zest, juicy mango, biscuit, and sweet toffee.
• Taste: Following the nose, the taste of the Big Little Thing is fruity, hoppy, slightly sweet, and malty.  There are notes of pink grapefruit juice, tangerine, mango, guava, pineapple, bready malts, a hint of booze, and sweet toffee/caramel. 
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied and moderately carbonated, the mouthfeel of the Big Little Thing is with a fairly clean, yet bittersweet finish.

Overall pairing: The Sierra Nevada Big Little Thing IPA is a complex, bold, and aggressive brew... the perfect mate to the unique and engrossing sound of DieHumane's fantastic new album "The Grotesque"!  The bitter hop flavors go great with the darker, biting lyrics and vocals, while the malty backbone is right in line with the heavy-duty rhythm section, and those tropical fruity notes pair so very well with Hunolt's sweet, sweet fret work!

And if you haven't done so already, please check out my great interview with Rick Hunolt and Josh Vargas of DieHumane here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vRTCp8qsHk

Cheers and hails!!