November 5th, 2016 - Extra Red Brotherhood Of The Snake

Good evening!  Your drinking buddy the Meista here tonight with the brand new Testament album, "Brotherhood Of The Snake" (that I recently picked from my buddy Kevin at the Heavy Metal Shop... www.heavymetalshop.com) with an Extra Red Ale from Ritual Brewing Company!!  Hells yes!!

Album Info:

• Artist: Testament
• Title: "Brotherhood Of The Snake"
• Recorded: April 27, 2016 through July 8th, 2016 at Trident Studios in Pacheco, California, Deer Creek Studio in Nevada City, California, and Spin Studio in New York City, New York
• Release date: October 28th, 2016 (11th studio album by Testament) (1969-04-16)
• Record company: Nuclear Blast
• Production: Juan Urteaga
• Album cover art: Eliran Kantor
• Personnel: Chuck Billy (vocals), Steve DiGiorgio (bass), Gene Hoglan (drums), Eric Peterson (guitar), and Alex Skolnick (guitar)
• Musical style: Thrash metal
• Sound: The sound on "Brotherhood Of The Snake" is pure, aggressive thrash!  It is powerful, in-your-face, riff-driven, thunderous, fast-paced classic California thrash!  Peterson described the album's sound recently: "It's different. This one is more thrash. I mean, this has got some of the fastest stuff that we have ever played. Usually, we have one or two thrash songs, and then we have some mid-tempo, and then we have a slow, heavy one, and then up-tempo kind of stuff. Half of the new record is thrash, which we've never done before."
• Major themes: Secret societies, deception, ancient alien visitations, politics, religion, power, helplessness, aggression, etc.
• Tracks:   

1. "Brotherhood Of The Snake"
2. "The Pale King"
3. "Stronghold"
4. "Seven Seals"
5. "Born In A Rut"
6. "Centuries Of Suffering"
7. "Black Jack"
8. "Neptune's Spear"
9. "Canna-Business"
10. "The Number Game"
    

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Ritual Brewing Company (Redlands, California)
• Website: http://ritualbrewing.com/
• Brew: Extra Red Ale
• Style: American Amber / Red Ale 
• Serving: 12 ounce bottle
• ABV: 6.5%
• IBUs: 59
• Pour: It pours a murky mahogany red with a creamy, light beige 1-finger head with great retention and intricate spider web lacing.
• Nose: The nose of the Extra Red Ale is very malty, bready, sweet, and hoppy.  There are aromas of sweet caramel, burnt toffee, freshly baked wheat bread, grapefruit rind, tangerine, pine resin, and summer grass.
• Taste: The taste follows the nose... very malty, sweet, and hoppy.  Along with a hearty malt backbone (8 different malts used in this bad boy), there are abundant citrus and pine hop notes.  There are also big flavors of caramel and toffee along with multi-grain bread and honey.
• Mouthfeel: Full-bodied and moderately carbonated, the mouthfeel of the Extra Red Ale is very hearty, creamy, and smooth with a dry, hoppy finish.

Overall pairing: The bold, well-balanced hearty malt flavors of Ritual's Extra Red Ale are great for the complex power, richly textured guitars, and overall depth of Testament's latest metal masterpiece, "The Brotherhood Of The Snake", while the biting hop flavors are great for the aggressive drumming, bass, and Chuck Billy's profound vocals!

Cheers!!  Hails!!