June 5th, 2015 - IPA Of Chaos... or... Enjoyed By Hordes

 

Guten Tag! Your drinking buddy the Meista here pairing Kreator's "Hordes Of Chaos" and a Stone Enjoy By 04.20.15 IPA from Stone Brewing Company!  This one goes out to my favorite metal show, Maximum Distortion hosted by the infernal Forgach and Cody D... and my good buddies Jeff and Terri (thanks for the beer!!)...  holle ja... prost!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Kreator
• Title: "Hordes Of Chaos"
• Recorded: July through August 2008 at Titonus Studios in Germany
• Release date: January 13th, 2009 (12th studio album by Kreator and the first Kreator album to chart in the United States.  It was released in 3 different formats with 3 different album covers.)
• Record company: SPV/Steamhammer
• Production: Moses Schneider
• Album cover art: Joachim Luetke
• Personnel: Christian "Speesy" Giesler (bass), Miland "Mille" Petrozza (vocals and guitar), Jürgen "Ventor" Reil (drums), and Sami Yli-Sirniö (guitar)
• Musical style: Thrash metal / speed metal
• Sound: Wonderfully aggressive, brutal, and fiery thrash metal in the vein of earlier Kreator and Sodom albums, "Hordes Of Chaos" is everything I love about Kreator and more!  It provides that classic German thrash style with elements of Venom and proto-death metal along with a fresh, high-energized feel.  Yli-Sirniö's blistering guitar work, Ventor's machine-gun drumming, and Mille's broken glass/gravel vocals coupled with the pump-fisting melodies is everything a true metal head needs!!
• Major themes: As with many Kreator albums, "Hordes Of Chaos" is thematically characterized by biting socio-political criticism of war, riots, violence, hatred, aggression, chaos, false freedom, religion, etc.
• Notes: "Hordes Of Chaos" was recorded in a live setting on an analog tape recorder with very few overdubs (only some vocals, guitar solos, and melodies).
• Tracks:   

1. "Hordes of Chaos (A Necrologuefor the Elite)"
2. "War Curse"
3. "Escalation"
4. "Amok Run"
5. "Destroy What Destroys You"
6. "Radical Resistance"
7. "Absolute Misanthropy"
8. "To The Afterborn"
9. "Corpses Of Liberty"
10. "Demon Prince"

    Brew Info:

• Brewery: Stone Brewing Company (Escondido, California)
• Website: http://www.stonebrewing.com/
• Brew: Stone Enjoy By 04.20.15 IPA
• Style: Double India Pale Ale (IPA)
• Serving: ounce bottle
• ABV: 9.4%
• IBUs: 88
• Ingredients: "We loaded up very heavily on the flavor hops at the end of the boil and in the whirlpool. Simcoe, Delta, Target and Amarillo were used in the late kettle hop. Simcoe, Amarillo, Calypso and Cascade were used for the whirlpool hop. As you can clearly tell, this beer was super hoppy even before we dry-hopped it, but then we went for it...dry-hopping with primarily Southern Hemisphere hops, including Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Helga."
• Pour: Hazy golden amber with a huge, billowy off-white head with excellent retention and displays of intricately layered lacing.
• Nose: The nose is an aromatic display of intense hoppiness - fruity, citrusy, and piney.  There are big aromas of pineapple, mango, peach, and tangerine along with dank pine resin, cedar.   
• Taste: A true hop bomb, the Stone Enjoy By 04.20.15 IPA is characterized by a HUGE, dank, citrusy, tropical fruity hop onslaught!  There are notes of mango, peach, grapefruit, pine, black tea, floral herbs and with more subtle elements of crackery grains and sweet caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and well-carbonated, the mouthfeel is initially smooth, but then that mid-range palate bitterness hits you with some slight booziness.  The finish is very dry and very bitter, yet still crisp and refreshing.  It goes down pretty easy... which can be a little dangerous considering the higher ABV measurement.  :)

Overall pairing:  I'm not sure if any brew can measure up to the extreme aggression and blisteringly fast speed of Kreator's "Hordes Of Chaos", but the Stone Enjoy By 04.20.15 IPA from Stone Brewing Company comes pretty damned close!   The intensity, integrity, and bursting flavor of both the beer and the album are unparalleled... and make for excellent bedfellows! 

PROST and HAILS!!