In celebration of the season (which of course includes Halloween and Oktoberfest), I'm pairing another great pumpkin ale with some German power metal brilliance... tonight I'm going with a Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale from the wonderful brewers at Rogue Ales and the genius that is Helloween's "7 Sinners"!! Hell(oween) yes!! Oh, this pairing goes out to my power metal pals Jeff, Patrick, and Carlos... cheers buddies!!
Literally released on Halloween of 2010, "7 Sinners" is the 13th studio (and 13 track) album by power metal masters Helloween. Fast-paced, wonderfully written, richly textured, and (maybe a little) more aggressive than earlier works, "7 Sinners" is an underrated metal monster! Musically speaking, Helloween delivers the goods in a big, big way on "7 Sinners"! The combined guitar work of Sascha Gerstner and Michael Weikath is mind-blowing, both ethereal and ear crunching! The rhythm work of Markus Großkopf (bass) and Dani Löble (drums) is a thunderous stampede of galloping horses and a marching army! And Andi Deris vocals are paradoxically soaring and aggressive... beautiful! Songs like "Where The Sinners Go", "Are You Metal?", "Who Is Mr. Madman?", "World Of Fantasy", "Long Live The King", "If A Mountain Could Talk", "The Sage, The Fool, The Sinner", "My Sacrifice", and "Far From The Future" are classically reminiscent of the power and prowess of bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and the Scorpions, yet wholly original and fresh. Guest musicians include Eberhard Hahn (flute on "Raise the Noise"), Matthias Ulmer (keyboards), and Eddy Wrapiprou (keyboards). I STRONGLY suggest checking this album out... it kills!!
The Rogue Farms Pumpkin Patch Ale is probably one of the best pumpkin brews currently on the market. So check out this list of ingredients: hand-picked Rogue Farms Dream Pumpkins, Rogue Farms Dare, Risk, Carafa II, and Crystal Wheat Malts, Rogue Farms Independent Hops, orange peel, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, nutmeg, coastal water, and Pacman Yeast! The pour: an opaque red-copper with a huge kaki head from a 22 ounce bomber. The nose: a blast of organic pumpkin, my grandmother's pumpkin pie, squash, sweet potato, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and zesty ginger. Man, I could inhale this all day long! The taste: liquid pumpkin bread perfection... seriously! Huge notes of smooth pumpkin pie, loads of cinnamon and cloves, rich vanilla, hearty grains, and spicy ginger abound! Those Rogue Farms Independent Hops give the Pumpkin Patch Ale some nice, bitter grassiness. And there's a very slight spiced rum booziness as the ale warms as well. Just like "7 Sinners", This. Is. So. F*cking. Good!!
Prost... hails... cheers!!
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| The amazing Helloween (live in SLC 10/03/2013)!! |
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