May 8th, 2016 - Mother Earth's Saison For Mother's Day

 

 

Hello!  The Meista here today with a Mother's Day pairing of "Mother Earth" by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation and an Anchor Saison Spring Ale from Anchor Brewing Company!

Album Info:

• Artist: Within Temptation
• Title: "Mother Earth"
• Recorded: June through August 2000 at Studio RS29 in Waalwijk, Netherlands
  Release date: December 24th, 2000 (2nd studio album by Within Temptation)009-02-03)
• Record company: DSFA
• Production: Oscar Holleman and Anthony van den Berg
• Album cover art: Fred van Diem and Ron Tetteroo
• Personnel: Sharon den Adel (vocals), Ivar de Graaf (drums), Michiel Papenhove (guitar), Jeroen van Veen (bass), Martijn Westerholt (keyboards), and Robert Westerholt (guitar, vocals on "Mother Earth", and spoken words on "The Promise")
• Additional musicians: Rene Dissel (fretless bass guitar on "Never-Ending Story"), Guus Eikens (synthesizer), Arjen Lucassen (guitar solo on "Dark Wings"), René Merkelbach (additional keyboards and orchestral arrangements), and Caspar De Jonge, Hans Cassa, Melissa 't Hart, Yvonne Rooda (choir)
• Musical style: Symphonic metal, progressive/goth metal, folk metal
• Sound: Bombastic, cinematic, and complex, the songs of "Mother Earth" are defining, not only of Within Temptation, but of symphonic metal as a whole.  Sharon states that Mother Earth was "a little bit older, a little bit more knowledgeable about how we wanted to sound, even then, of course you grow, so we had a better picture of how we wanted to sound. We didn't want to have the grunt vocals anymore. We felt like everyone was using that as a gimmick, and we didn't want to have it in our music anymore because of that...and also we were very much enthralled by a movie at that time, Braveheart, which was very Celtic, and that's how our album became very Celtic because we were so in love with the soundtrack of the Braveheart movie. So inspired by that, the album came out that way...I still love that album very much...it came together in a very natural way. The songs were sometimes written in a day, it did take time to work it out more, the way it sounded in the end, but it was like the ideas and the whole concepts of certain songs were written mostly in one day, the chorus and the verses."
• Major themes: Gothic and mythological themes of fantasy, folklore, love, loss, death, darkness, good vs. evil, etc. 
• Tracks:   

1. "Mother Earth"
2. "Ice Queen"
3. "Our Farewell"
4. "Caged"
5. "The Promise"
6. "Never-Ending Story"
7. "Deceiver Of Fools"
8. "Intro"
9. "Dark Wings"
10. "In Perfect Harmony"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Anchor Brewing Company (San Francisco, California)
• Website: www.anchorbrewing.com     
• Brew: Anchor Saison Spring Ale
• Style: Saison / Farmhouse Ale
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 7.2%
• Ingredients: Roasted Belgian wheat malt, locally cultured saison-style yeast, Chinook and Nelson Sauvin hops, lemongrass, lemon peel, and ginger 
• Pour: Hazy copper-amber with a fizzy, thin white head that leaves a sustained ring.
• Nose: The nose of the Anchor Saison is characterized by fruit esters, herbal spices, citrus, and earthy notes.  There are aromas of Belgian yeast, soft banana, lemon zest, orange peel, lemongrass, honey, ginger, clove, and hints of black pepper. 
• Taste: With a classic saison flavor, the taste of the Anchor Saison is spicy, fruity, citrusy, and sweet with hints of funk.  There are notes of ginger, lemon zest, grassy hops, soft banana and bubble gum, a hint of honey, leather, and black pepper.
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium-bodied with strong carbonation, the mouthfeel is very crisp, spicy, and refreshing with a dry, slightly bitter finish.

Overall pairing: The complex flavors (spicy, sweet, and earthy) of the Anchor Saison Spring Ale is a great beer to share with your mom on this somewhat rainy Mother's Day here in Salt Lake City whilst listening to the ethereal, soaring, and beautifully dark and "ancient" sounds of Within Temptation's "Mother Earth"!

Proost... Gezondheid!!