March 9th, 2021 - A Luminiferous Carcosa

 

Hails!!  Yours truly (the Meista) here tonight pairing the killer album from head-banging metal monsters High On Fire, "Luminiferous" with a rather unique Carcosa Barrel Aged Gruit-style Ale Brewed with Herbs from the fine folks at Proper Brewing Company!  This pairing goes out to my late friend Scott, a fellow High On Fire fan and beer enthusiast.  Scott passed away six and half years ago from brain cancer.  Scott was one of the most courageous, heroic, intelligent, witty, and caring people I've ever known.  Miss and love you brother!!  

Album Info:

• Artist: High On Fire
• Title: "Luminiferous"
• Recorded: 2015 at Godcity
• Release date: June 23rd, 2015 (7th studio album by High On Fire)
• Record company: E1 Music
• Production: Kurt Ballou (Converge bassist)
• Album cover art: Jordan Barlow
• Personnel: Des Kensel (drums and backing vocals), Jeff Matz (bass, backing vocals, and baglama on "The Cave"), and Matt Pike (guitars and lead vocals)
• Musical style: A wonderful blend of sludge metal, stoner metal, doom metal, and thrash metal
• Sound: As contradictory as it may sound, "Luminiferous" is all at ounce aggressive, brutal, melodic, expressive, and harmonic.
• Major themes: Pike's lyrics are a bit crazy, dealing with death and destruction, political and alien government conspiracy theories, and Lovecraftian evil, but they are wholly metal!  Of his lyrics on the album, Pike recently stated,  "We're doing our part to expose The Elite and the fingers they have in religion, media, governments and financial world downfall and their relationship to all of our extraterrestrial connections in the race to control this world."
• Notes: Check out the great review NPR did of the album here: http://www.npr.org/2015/06/07/412028493/first-listen-high-on-fire-luminiferous 
• Tracks: 

1. "The Black Plot"
2. "Carcosa"
3. "The Sunless Years"
4. "Slave The Hive"
5. "The Falconist"
6. "The Dark Side Of The Compass"
7. "The Cave"
8. "Luminiferous"
9. "The Lethal Chamber"

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Proper Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
• Website: http://www.properbrewingco.com/
• Brew: Carcosa Barrel Aged Gruit-style Ale Brewed with Herbs
• Style: Gruit / Abbey Ale
• Serving: 22 ounce bottle
• ABV: 10.2%
• Ingredients: Brew made with American malt, German malt, U.K. malt, yarrow, sweet gale, Labrador tea, and Belgian Abbey Ale yeast and aged in pinot noir barrels 
• Pour: The Carcosa pours a very cloudy and murky (almost opaque) dark amber/brown with a very thin, light beige head that dissipates immediately, leaving virtually no lacing.
• Nose: The nose is herbal, fruity, floral, woody, tart, and sweet.  There are aromas of bitter and sweet roots, tart pinot noir, dark fruits (tart cherries, dates, plums, and raisins), black tea, mountain flowers, light vanilla bean, oak, and honey.
• Taste: The taste is tart, bitter, and herbal with sweet and boozy notes lingering as well.  There are notes of pinot noir tannins, plum, cherry juice, raisin, herbal tea, wild herbs, sweet honey, licorice, light vanilla, and homemade booze.
• Mouthfeel: Medium to full-bodied with lower carbonation the mouthfeel is smooth, somewhat thick, tart, and somewhat bitter with a dry, sweet, and boozy finish.

Overall pairing: The aggressive bite of  "Luminiferous" deserves an ale of equal complexity, depth, and aggression... and Proper's Carcosa most definitely fits that bill!  I picked up "Luminiferous" from my buddy Kevin at the Heavy Metal Shop (www.heavymetalshop.com)... and you should too!!

To your health... keep it metal and keep it craft!!