February 7th, 2024 - Attempted Murder Through Victim Eyes

 

Hello, hails, and happy Wednesday rockers and craft beer freaks!  The Meista here with another killer brew and killer album pairing for ya my friends!  Today, I'm rocking out to Reaction's great "Through Victim Eyes" album along with a bold and tasty Attempted Murder Vanilla Cinnamon Imperial Stout from Bombastic Brewing!  Oh, hell yeah!

Album Info: 

• Artist: Reaction
• Title: "Through Victim Eyes"
• Recorded: 1992 through 1995 at Audio Visions and Musicians Choice in Utah
  Release date: November 3rd, 2023 (compilation album by Reaction)
• Record company: Metallic Blue Records / Rewind Records
• Production: Reaction
• Album cover art: Patrick Hill (artwork) and Tyler Thorsted (design)
• Personnel: Tom Adolphson (vocals), Jeff Ballantyne (drums), Ron Weales (bass), and Greg Yeates (guitars) 
• Musical style: Heavy metal, hard rock
• Sound: With lots of great hooks and riffs, Reaction provides straightforward, aggressive, yet melodic heavy rockin' metal!  
• Major themes: Darkness, deceit, guilt, pain, death, violence, murder, loss, etc.
• Notes: The album includes tracks from Reaction's 1995 self-titled demo tape and other songs from previously released and unreleased material by the band when they were called Hellbender.
• Tracks: 

1. "Gallows' Blue"
2. "War Monger"
3. "Victim Of Homicide (Have You Seen Me)"
4. "The Gift"
5. "Autumn Colored Sorrow"
6. "Self-Righteous"
7. "Dreams Of Yesterday"
8. "Frostbite"
9. "One Figure"
10. "Emotion Grey"
11. "Victim Eyes"
12. "Bloodguilt"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Bombastic Brewing (Hayden, Idaho)
• Website: https://www.bombasticbrewing.com/
• Brew: Attempted Murder Vanilla Cinnamon Imperial Stout 
• Style: Imperial Stout
• Serving: 16 ounce can
• ABV: 10.5%
• IBUs: 47
• Pour: The Attempted Murder pours an opaque, deep, dark brown (almost black) hue with a billowy and creamy, 1+ finger, mocha head with great retention and lots of sticky, sudsy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is earthy, malty, chocolaty, spicy, and boozy.  There are aromas of dark chocolate, cinnamon, vanilla beans, espresso, oak, and rich bourbon. 
• Taste: Following the nose, the taste of the Attempted Murder is rich, roasty, malty, chocolaty, and boozy.  There are notes of bittersweet dark chocolate, burnt toffee, creamy vanilla, roasted walnuts, and rich bourbon.
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied with low carbonation, the mouthfeel is silky, velvety, and thick and chewy with a dry, bittersweet, and boozy finish.

Overall pairing: The rich and complex flavors and aromas of the Attempted Murder are the perfect beer for an evening of heavy duty headbanging with Reaction!  The boozier, more bitter notes are great for the aggressive machine gun fire guitars and drums, while the sweeter malt aromas and flavors are a great companion to Adolphson's vocals!

Cheers!!  Rock on!!