Evenin' my metal and craft brew brethren! Your drinking buddy the Meista here with another killer pairing for you... tonight I'm spinning "Life Sentence", the latest release by the great New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) band Satan and a !! Hell yeah!!
Okay... so I'm going to cheat. First off, I'm pairing a brew I've already paired twice before (but I think it is very fitting for "Life Sentence") and I'm basically just going to reprint what I wrote about this beer before. But hey, it is my page and I can do whatever the hell I want here on Brews and Tunes! :) So... I cannot think of anything more richly deserving of the might of Satan's "Life Sentence" than a Squatters Outer Darkness Russian Imperial Stout!! This stout is NWOBHM metal HUGE! As Squatters says of this wonderfully robust ale, its "roasted barley, oak, molasses, and licorice root combine to create an utterly unique and complex imperial stout experience." Ain't that the truth! Aged with oak, Outer Darkness has 65 IBUs, comes in at a massive 10.5 ABV, and is bottle conditioned. After only a few swigs you know you've got a profoundly big beer in your hands. It pours black (hellishly black, "black as night", black as Satan's "Tears Of Blood"!) with a thick, frothy, 2-finger mocha head with very strong, sustained lacing. The nose is earthy and intense with a strong coffee aroma. There are notes of dark chocolate and dark fruits like dates, prunes, and figs. The initial flavor of this bold brew is equally rich, intense, and strong... like Columbian coffee with big notes of dark chocolate, raisin, aged bourbon or cognac, and toasted malty goodness... and a touch of smokiness. Full-bodied, the mouthfeel is thick and sticky, but with a lovely, creamy, velvetiness. As my father would say, this is a beer that "you have to drink with a fork and knife." This is a bold, complex stout in the Russian tradition that demands attention and respect... and METAL! It is absolutely perfect for the metal brilliance that is SATAN!!
Like their compatriots Tygers of Pan Tang and Witchfynde, Satan is still going strong and producing music just as relevant and profound (if not better) than in their heyday in the yesteryears of the original NWOBHM movement. Forming in Newcastle, England in 1979, Satan was one of the forerunners of the proto-thrash/speed metal sound of the early 1980s. Although they have gone through several name changes and line-up changes, the core sound remains... and what a sound it is! Since I picked "Life Sentence" up from the Heavy Metal Shop a couple of weeks ago, I haven't stopped playing it. Their latest album "Life Sentence" was released on April 29th, 2013 in Europe and May 21st, 2013 in the U.S. through Listenable Records. It is the 7th album by the band, but technically the 3rd release under the moniker Satan. (They have also released albums under the name Blind Fury and Pariah.) Regardless of their name, with "Life Sentence" this band lays it down, and in a big way! The seem to channel all the infernal powers of the devil himself in their delivery of this brilliant album! Songs like "Time To Die", "Twenty Twenty Five", "Siege Mentality", "Incantations", "Tears Of Blood", the title track, "Personal Demons", and "Another Universe" are powerful, honest, and true metal masterpieces! Satan is Graeme English (bass), Steve Ramsey (guitars), Brian Ross (vocals), Sean Taylor (drums), and Russ Tippins (guitars). If you aren't familiar with them, check out more about this killer band at http://www.satanmusic.com/! And do yourself a HUGE favor and pick up a copy of "Life Sentence" from my buddy Kevin at the Heavy Metal Shop (www.heavymetalshop.com)... you NEED this album!!
Cheers and hails!! Keep it metal... and keep it craft!!
No comments:
Post a Comment