July 19th, 2026 - Mother Earth Drinks at the Rainforest Cafeteria

 

Greetings rockers, rollers, and craft beer fans!  Happy Sunday!  The Meista here today with a pairing of the wonderful sophomore album, "Mother Earth" by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation and a Rainforest Cafeteria West Coast Style Pilsner from the fine folks at Ogden Beer Company in collaboration with Melvin Brewing Company!  Hell yeah!

Album Info:

• Artist: Within Temptation
• Title: "Mother Earth"
• Recorded: June through August 2000 at Studio RS29 in Waalwijk, Netherlands
  Release date: December 24th, 2000 / January 11th, 2019 (2nd studio album by Within Temptation)
• Record company: DSFA Records / Music On Vinyl
• 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"
11. "Deceiver Of Fools" (live)
12. "Caged" (live)
13. "Candles" (live)
14. "Ice Queen" (live)

Brew Info:

• Brewery: Ogden Beer Company (Ogden, Utah), Melvin Brewing Company (Alpine, Wyoming)
• Website: http://www.ogdenbeercompany.com/  / http://www.melvinbrewing.com/ 
• Brew: Rainforest Cafeteria West Coast Style Pilsner
• Style: American Pilsner
• Serving: 12 ounce can
• ABV: 6.0%
• Pour: The Rainforest Cafeteria pours a clear, bright golden-yellow hue with a 2-finger, bright white, frothy head with great retention and lots of soapy, sudsy lacing.
• Nose: The nose is a characterized by grainy, malty, and slightly fruity aromas.  There are aromas of freshly cut hay, grapefruit rind, light lemon zest, light pine resin, grassy hops, lightly toasted white bread, Pilsner malt, light biscuit, and a hint of apple.
• Taste: Well-balanced, the Rainforest Cafeteria is a nice blend of bready, grainy, malty, and subtly fruity flavors.  There are notes of toasted white bread, crackery biscuit, lemon zest, floral, piney, and grassy hops, and a splash of honey.
• Mouthfeel: Light to medium in body and well-carbonated, the mouthfeel of the Rainforest Cafeteria is very crisp and hoppy, yet smooth with a dry, slightly bitter, but clean finish. 

Overall pairing: The Rainforest Cafeteria West Coast Style Pilsner from Ogden Beer Company / Melvin Brewing Company is the perfect brew to crush whilst listening to the ethereal, soaring, and beautifully dark and "ancient" sounds of Within Temptation's "Mother Earth"!

And make sure to check out my interview with Within Temptation guitarist Ruud Jolie here: https://youtu.be/qbD4PE3vvs4 

Proost... Gezondheid!!