Hello and happy Saturday metal maniacs, and craft beer fanatics! The Meista here today rocking the hell out with a pairing of the wonderful, self-titled, debut album by progressive metal band Severed Angel and a bold and rich Red Sea Rift Imperial Coffee Stout from the fine folks at Level Crossing Brewing Company! Hell yeah!
Album Info:
- Artist: Severed Angel
- Title: "Severed Angel"
- Recorded: 2022 through 2023 in New York and Pennsylvania
- Release date: May 2nd, 2023 (1st full-length studio album by Severed Angel)
- Record company: Sliptrick Records
- Production: Severed Angel
- Album cover art: Aleh Zielankievič
- Personnel: George Dimitri (bass), Lou Mavs (lead and rhythm guitars and vocals), Marc Muchnik (keyboards), Wayne Noon (drums), and Alex Repetti (rhythm and lead guitars and lead vocals)
- Guest musicians: Gail Bourque (backing vocals on "Severed Angel" and "A New Beginning") and Ralph Viera (narration on "Introspection")
- Musical style: Heavy metal with elements of progressive metal, symphonic metal, and hard rock
- Sound: Blending power metal and traditional metal elements with progressive metal and rock, the sound on the album is aggressive, fast-paced, and complex, yet very melodic and emotive. There are wonderfully epic and bombastic tracks along with straight-forward rockers.
- Major themes: Introspection, knowledge, war, death, nightmares, horror, technology, sorrow, etc.
- Tracks:
- "Introspection"
- "In The Red"
- "Dogs Of War"
- "Severed Angel"
- "A New Beginning"
- "Wide Awake In Screamland"
- "Attachment Unavailable"
- "Number Eight"
- "With Wings Anew"
- "Sqaure Hammer" (Ghost cover)
- "Fate Worse Than Death" (bonus track)
- "Run And Hide" (bonus track)
- "Bump In The Night" (bonus track)
- "Mt. Cyanide" (bonus track)
- "Professor Finch" (bonus track)
Brew Info:
- Brewery: Level Crossing Brewing Company (Salt Lake City, Utah)
- Website: http://www.levelcrossingbrewing.com/
- Brew: Red Sea Rift Imperial Coffee Stout
- Style: Imperial Stout
- Serving: 16 ounce can
- ABV: 10.0%
- IBUs: 69
- Ingredients: Magnum and Tettnan hops, Solstice Mild, Solstice 2-Row, Solstice flaked oats, Thomas Fawcett Chocolate, Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate, Great Western Crystal 30, Great Western Crystal 75, Great Western Crystal 120, Briess Blackprinz malts, Red Sea Coffee blend from Jack Mormon Coffee Company, toasted oatmeal, raw sugar, Chocolate Conspiracy organic Peruvian cocoa nibs, and lactose milk sugar
- Pour: The Red Sea Rift pours an ink black color with a billowy and creamy, 2-finger, light mocha head with excellent retention and lots of sticky, intricate spider web lacing.
- Nose: The nose is roasty, malty, chocolaty, and rich. There are aromas of robust dark roasted coffee beans, dark chocolate, light bourbon, oak, cherries, light raspberry, and burnt toffee/caramel.
- Taste: Following the nose, the taste of Red Sea Rift is a blend of roasty, toasty, earthy, and sweet flavors. There are notes of black coffee, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, fresh cream, light marshmallow, dark toasted hearty bread, toasted oats, light berries, a hint of booze, and soft caramel/toffee.
- Mouthfeel: Full-bodied with low carbonation, the mouthfeel is velvety smooth and chewy with a dry, slightly sweet finish.
Overall pairing: The rich, earthy, and bold aromas and flavors of the Level Crossing Red Sea Rift Imperial Coffee Stout are perfect for the heavy metal sonic attack that is the mighty Severed Angel! I also thought the imagery from the album cover and beer label worked well together. 'Nuff said!
And if you haven't done so already, make sure to check out my interviews with a few of the Severed Angel band members, the very friendly, very talented, and personable:
- Guitarist Lou Mavs and drummer Wayne Noon here: https://youtu.be/8hRfkenOCiY
- Lead vocalist and guitarist Alex Repetti here: https://youtu.be/1-TNQZJTYFY
Cheers and hails!!
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