Recent drinks 4/15/13

Forgive all the delays, dear friends and readers. As some of you may have noticed, I disappeared for a week to attend my cousin's wedding in California. I drank a handful of great beers there, but basically took minimal notes and don't really feel I could write anything sufficient on them. I may post my abbreviated notes soon for your consideration anyway, but in the meantime, here's a bit of what I've enjoyed at home in the days before and after my trip.

5 Golden Rings (The Bruery)
This surprisingly sweet golden ale tastes as if it has far more than five rings of pineapple sitting in each sip. An element of nutmeg or cinnamon is definitely present, but the pineapple juice is a dominant flavor that makes this drink more like a cider than a Belgian style ale. While I wouldn't go for this every day, I definitely was in the mood for it when I consumed it. This is the first I've had of their 12 beers of Christmas, and I'm definitely excited to see what they come up with later this year.

Vitus (Weihenstephaner)
I'm not going to lie and pretend that I didn't totally buy this for its name. I mean, I'm not the king of doomsters, but I love St. Vitus, which is exactly what I'm listening to while I drink this. The beer's got a massively foamy head, yet a really light body. The yeasty and sweet, almost banana-like flavor of this beer caught me off guard, but it's definitely up my alley. I'm so frequently shying away from lighter beers or anything "wheat" heavy, but I clearly need to change it up, because this one is deceptively tasty.

White Monkey Tripel (Victory)
As someone who has been known for introducing multiple friends to Victory's stellar Golden Monkey beverage, I pretty much was obligated to purchase this beautiful bottle of beer. The beer's amber color is rather accurate for the Belgian tripel style, yet this drink has such complexity that I'm finding a few varying descriptors that all are relatively fair. Since I'm aware that this was aged in oak barrels that once held chardonnay, I can certainly pick out elements of white wine, yet they aren't overwhelming. There's also a bit of mild mango flavor and a slight sugary bite of some sort that I can't quite put my finger on. The bottle indicates that this version is slightly more playful than the original, and I agree. I'm definitely enjoying that there's a lot going on here, but for some reason I can't see this being an every day drink. Instead, much like champagne, I feel this is a special, rare type of drink to be enjoyed from time to time. It's a limited release, so grab it while you're able.

That's it for this week's post. If you want to keep up with my current drinking that might not be featured here (or if you want a sneak peek of things to come), you can add me on Untappd or follow me on twitter. Both of these are full of my thoughts on various drinks, and the twitter account also features rants about awesome music and why being a student is bittersweet. Thanks for reading!

Eitarnora- "Tall Grasses and Black Ash" CD (Lakedeer Recordings)

Eitarnora are a drone-heavy folk duo who seem to exist in a beautiful little bubble, separate from the rest of the musical world. These two musicians seem to find peace and solace in gentle, natural forms and use their music to create a blissful space in which they can reflect. In this beautiful little realm, Eitarnora creates a landscape of mid-afternoon clouds and rolling hills with grass playing in the wind, beautiful yet isolated, which seems to be the way Eitarnora prefers to exist. While the twosome utilize a broad variety of instruments and even a couple guest appearances over the course of these five songs, there remains a very stripped down nature to this glistening hybrid of drone and Americana. All the spaces are filled in by gentle tones, yet none of it is overpowering or invasive, and it works wonderfully, being both personal and massive at the same time.

I find the music here goes through moments of melancholy without fully immersing itself in anything negative. Instead, it's the moments of introspection and calmness that come from progressing beyond the melancholy that really stick with me as a listener. Endless fields stretch out before me during some songs, like opening track "Feet in the Earth," while other songs retain a sense of solitude, like dust floating in thin light beams in an old forgotten attic. The nice thing about these relatively soothing songs is that they never make their way into the territory of dull background music. While many similarly calm albums can fade into the distractions of everyday life, Eitarnora's gentle presence is still strong, hovering in the periphery of one's conscious thoughts, with layer upon layer of sound revealing new sonic and mental territories with each repeated listen. This space is perfect for silent reflection, meditation, and even just relaxation. I've been listening for a few days now and it has been a stellar soundtrack for both rising in the morning and readying myself for sleep. Any time I want to find a piece of nature's beauty in the midst of the flat city in which I live, I know I can turn to this mellow gem for a soothing escape.

This album is currently available for preorder from Lakedeer Recordings, with an official release of midnight tonight. 100 copies of this CD will be available, 20 of which are special editions which will contain a 3" CDr and DVD-r recording of a live Eitarnora concert, as well as a vial of dried grass and black ash. Check out a sample of the second song, "Plains Dance" from Eitarnora's bandcamp or a sample of the gorgeous "You Are Mine" on Heathen Harvest if my kind words haven't already convinced you of the worthiness of this album. Immerse yourself in pure beauty and enjoy.

Terzij de Horde- "A Rage of Rapture Against the Dying of the Light" CD (Self-Released)

Terzij de Horde look like such sweet, mellow guys in their portrait inside this CD. They look more likely to help stoke up a fire in the winter and put on some tea than to create chaotic and conflicted black metal. Of course you know that stirring up chaos is exactly this group's goal, and they certainly succeed at it.With each of these four songs, Terzij de Horde creates something that is bold and unique yet completely familiar, as if this music comes from such a deep place that all of us could hold it in our collective experiences.

Musically these guys lash out like a hydra, with elements of hardcore, crust, and sludge latching onto their relentless black metal assault. Stillness is not an element one will find here, but ferocity is pouring out of every sound. Opener "Prometheans" is noticeably shorter than the other tracks on this album, yet it sets the pace properly, starting at a crawl that builds up to a bloodthirsty hybrid of textured riffs and breakneck drumming. Vocalist Joost sounds like he has long since given up anything human and replaced it with the entirety of nature's wrath towards humanity's destruction. These guys are also clearly well-read, as evidenced by the list of "inspirations" for this album (all are novels rather than musical works) and the fact that they took their own moniker from a line from a famous Dutch poet. It's pleasant to see that their literary hobbies make for great lyrics. In black metal I rarely pay attention to the lyrical content of a band, yet these guys made it actually a pleasure to read along as I listened. This album as a whole is good for repeat listens due to its relatively short length, and I can only imagine how vicious these guys would be in the live setting.

Terzij de Horde is currently writing a new album that will surely shred our collective faces off. In the meantime, grab a shirt and CD directly from the band (or download it for free if you're a bit poor today). If you're lucky enough to live anywhere near them, they'll be playing with Ash Borer and Fell Voices in Amsterdam just a couple weeks. Don't miss these guys, they're destined for some serious attention in the near future.

World of Metal and Rust- "Industrial Noir" CDr (Self-Released/Depressive Illusions)

Some of my more frequent readers may remember my review of the now-defunct black industrial artist Mara. For those who enjoyed Mara's last breath, World of Metal and Rust is born from Mara's ashes. Cold factories and grey industrial skylines have always scattered the landscapes in this man's music, but here the electronic elements and darker atmospheres which I had touched upon in my previous review are now a dominant force. Gone are elements of depressive black metal, and in their place is a slow, monotonous mechanical emptiness that creates an even bleaker environment.

The sounds created here vary from hypnotic to absolutely terrifying. Mechanized percussion fuses with fuzzy and cold synths to generate pure atmosphere. I feel like this would serve as one of many soundtracks to the end of the world. The sky is mostly black and red swirling into each other, with some substance that might be either ash or snow falling from above. The streets are littered with vehicles, papers, and peoples' belongings that they left behind along the way. Few survivors remain in this wasteland. This is in many ways exactly what the name of this project evokes, and the sound is well suited. Many songs here seem to contain two or more separate compositions that complement each other rather than one solid song per track, but I feel it works nicely. The album flows quite well from song to song and the atmosphere is consistently heavy. The ominous nature of the music might make extended listens difficult for some folks, but I feel that listening all the way through creates a perfect sense of dread and despair that chills me to the bone in the best way possible. I must reiterate that nothing here really makes it into "metal" territory, but everything here echoes cold detachment. This is perfect misery and self-hate.

Copies of this release come in a DVD case with full artwork and a labeled disc. You can purchase it digitally from the band or it you can purchase a physical copy for 6 EUR from Depressive Illusions, who also released the Minblod album I recently reviewed.  Only 33 CDs are available, so grab it quickly. Keep up with the band through its blog and be up to date on any future releases or plans. There's already a new demo posted, so it's worth checking out.

Autolatry- "Of the Land" CD (Self-Released)

Snow, nightfall, and the woods are trademarks of classic black metal albums. Many bands intentionally evoke these elements in lyrics, album art, and absurd song titles. Some bands, like Autolatry, barely need to mention the colder, more natural side of black metal for it to shine through everything they do. While New England may not have the regional clout of Scandinavia, cold weather seems to run in Autolatry's collective bloodstream. With this brief EP, they show that they can hold their own with a unique brand of progressive black metal that seems culled equally from American and European influences, all with crisp, precise production, partially courtesy of the studio brilliance of the legendary Morrisound Studios.

"Of the Land" is a collection of four songs that reflect upon different aspects of winter in New England. Opener "Mountain" sets an aggressive and compelling precedent, and though it's my least favorite track on the album, it's still an impressive and enjoyable tune. Every member of the band showcases something unique here, with the drums being particularly on spot throughout the whole album. I find these tunes straddle a territory occupied evenly by Cormorant and Enslaved, with a healthy dose of tech-death influence that adds a certain aggression without sacrificing the black metal aesthetic. The riffs run the gamut from technical to textured and the cold atmosphere is relentless, even when the songs find their way into chunkier, more American death metal influenced territory. Autolatry's creative insanity works its best when they're moving at full-speed, with the occasional stop-start dynamic there to create the perfect tension for the band to break through. A lot of rawer black metal groups don't sound like they'd translate well live, but these songs sound both majestic and stage-ready, which is a nice balance since these guys always seem to be either on the road or gearing up for it.

Snag a copy of this album directly from the band and bask in icy technical mastery or download it for the price of your choice. They're currently working on a full-length entitled "Native," and I can safely say that it will be massive. Keep an eye on these guys before they take over the metal underground and be sure to get their stuff before it becomes rare collectors' items.

Weekly Drinks 3/31/13

Greetings readers. Some of you may have noticed that my beer reviews have been slightly less popular than my music reviews. While I'm not eager for popularity necessarily, the popularity of a post does reflect the interests of my readers. With this in mind, I'm changing the nature of my beer-related posts yet again. Unless I experience something quite interesting, I'm going to round up the beers I consumed in any given week with a brief description. This spares me the trouble of writing lengthy reviews for every drink I have and it spares my readers a series of beer posts when it's obvious that most of us are here almost exclusively for extreme music. I'm not sure if this will always be a Sunday thing, but I'm eager to get this started and I think it'll be good fun for all of us. That said, here's what I've been drinking this week.

Evander Brown Ale (Cigar City)

This one has a beautiful caramel body with a thin, almost nonexistent head. The aroma is rather subtle, but the flavor here reminds me of a blunter, more spiced version of the pumpkin beers that show up in the fall. The pumpkin itself is absent, but nutmeg and cinnamon are absolutely dominant flavors in this thin and delicious brown ale. The aftertaste settles in with a light cocoa flavor, somewhat reminiscent of some darker beers I've enjoyed recently from these guys. I'm not always into things that remind me of pie, but this is worth checking out if you're into the style.

Zinneke Belgian Style Stout (Smuttynose)

This beer is ridiculous. It's like somebody made it just for me. I'm not a big whiskey drinker, but bourbon barrel beers just really seem to do it for me. The sweetness of the Belgian yeasts plays nicely with the bitterness of the whiskey barrel as they blend smoothly into a really well-rounded and tasty stout. It's dark, heady, and refreshing. Some people only drink stuff like this in cold weather, but I'm sitting on my sunny porch and loving life right now. Highly recommended, as most Smuttynose Big Beer Series release are.

Positive Contact (Dogfish Head)
This beer is a collaborative effort with and a tribute to rapper Del The Funky Homosapien. While hip-hop and related genres aren't my specialty, I feel the man's legendary status is well-earned and this beer does proper justice. A light and smooth drinker with surprising spice and sweetness from a pairing of cider and cayenne flavors (among many others). Perfect for warm evenings spent in the company of friends. I listened to a tape by No Pleasure in Life while drinking this, but the song this was named after makes quite a good soundtrack too.

Uvikra- "Bi" CD (badGod Music)

For some reason, some people like black metal to follow a traditional formula and never deviate from it. To these people, sounds that were good twenty years ago are still the law for newer artists. While I love traditional black metal and own most of the classics, I fail to see the logic in this mindset. For me, black metal really excels when it achieves such a level of rebellion and chaos that even its own community isn't sure what to make of it. The second black metal becomes predictable, it stops being dangerous. With this in mind, Lithuanian one-man monstrosity Uvikra is dangerous. Not because sole member Loikav going to dominate the world with his music, and not because he's going to hurt you. No, Uvikra is dangerous because it moves through black metal's territory without ever firmly committing itself to a particular set of sounds.

The album starts off in a rather unassuming fashion, yet quickly makes its way onto a riff-hopping madness that lingers around only long enough to tempt the listener with a moment or two of understanding. Many bands find a riff or two and set them to work for the better part of a song, yet Uvikra seems almost fearful of stagnation. If the song begins to feel melodic or familiar, it will almost certainly disintegrate into filth. Conversely, and a little more uniquely, many of the ugliest sections of this album crawl upwards into something resembling melody and beauty. Pairing the album's title with this sonic duality, it's almost as if Uvikra intentionally finds the beauty in the agony and the horror in the sterile and strives to share each of these sensations with the listener. It makes for an unsettling yet rather enjoyable album of primitive and angular black metal. It neither follows tradition nor charts wholly new ground, but each piece of music presented here is almost entirely separate from the rest of black metal as a whole.

This album is currently available for purchase from badGod Music. If dissonance, chaos, and fuzz are familiar vocabulary words in your musical selections, this album will soon find a happy home in your heart. It may not make sense, and it certainly won't always be a comfortable experience, but that isn't the point. By the time "Bi" has finished, you won't know up from down.