February 12th , 2021 - A Little Talus For This Grand Morbid Funeral

 

Hello and happy Friday evil-doers and hop-heads!  Your headbanging drinking buddy the Meista here getting the weekend off right with another great pairing!  Today I'm going with the killer "Grand Morbid Funeral" by death metal "super group" Bloodbath and another great brew from the fine folks at Ogden River Brewing Company, here in my hometown... the newly released ORB Hazy Series #1: Talus!  Hell yeah!!

Album Info: 

• Artist: Bloodbath
• Title: "Grand Morbid Funeral"
• Recorded: March through September 2014 at Ghost Ward Studio and City of Glass Studio in Stockholm, Sweden
  Release date: November 17th, 2014 (4th studio album by Bloodbath)
• Record company: Peaceville Records
• Production: Bloodbath 
• Album cover art: Néstor Ávalos 
• Personnel: Axe aka Martin Axenrot (drums), Blakkheim aka Anders Nyström (guitars), Lord Seth aka Jonas Renkse (bass), Old Nick aka Nick Holmes (vocals), and Sodomizer aka Per Eriksson (guitars) 
• Additional musicians: Eric Cutler (lead guitar on tracks 2, 6, 9. and 10) and Chris Reifert (vocals on "Grand Morbid Funeral")
• Musical style: Death metal
• Sound: Unapologetic, incredibly aggressive, and wonderfully brutal, "Grand Morbid Funeral" is another great Bloodbath album embracing old-school death metal!  With a nod to bands like Death, Incantation, and Morbid Angel, Bloodbath's work is intense, complex, and compelling.  As guitarist Blakkheim said of the album, it is "destructive, raw, heavy, organic and sludgy death metal". 
• Major themes: death, violence, darkness, evil, the occult, Satan, blasphemy, pain, etc.
• Tracks:  

1. "Let the Stillborn Come To Me"
2. "Total Death Exhumed"
3. "Anne"
4. "Church Of Vastitas"
5. "Famine Of God's Word"
6. "Mental Abortion"
7. "Beyond Cremation"
8. "His Infernal Necropsy"
9. "Unite In Pain"
10. "My Torturer"
11. "Grand Morbid Funeral"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Ogden River Brewing (Ogden, Utah)
• Website: https://ogdenriverbrewing.com/
• Brew: ORB Hazy Series #1: Talus
• Style: New England India Pale Ale (NEIPA)
• Serving: 32 ounce crowler can
• ABV: 5.0%
• Ingredients: Talus hops
• Pour: The ORB Hazy Series #1 pours a very hazy pale golden yellow hue with a frothy, bright white, 1-finger head with great retention and lots of sticky, soapy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a nice blend of citrus, fruit, and floral hops along with lighter malts.  There are big aromas of pink grapefruit juice and rind, lime, dried apricot, mango, light pineapple, guava, dried roses, light pine resin, light sage, sweet biscuit, and sweet caramel/toffee.
• Taste: The taste of the Hazy Series #1 follows the nose with lots of citrusy, fruity, floral, and sweet flavors.  There are notes of pink grapefruit juice, tangerine, mango, dried apricot, very light pine, and soft caramel.
• Mouthfeel: Medium in body with moderate carbonation, the mouthfeel is very crisp, very juicy, and smooth with a dry, slightly sweet finish.

Overall pairing: The bright, citrusy, and juicy flavors of the Ogden River Brewing ORB Hazy Series #1: Talus make for a great foil to the intensity of Bloodbath's "Grand Morbid Funeral" death metal onslaught!  I also think the crowler can and the album art look lovely together.  :)  'Nuff said!!

Skál and hails!!