Nine Circles

Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly feature where we pair choice albums with our favorite libations.  Drink from the cup of heresy.  This week’s offering: Twilight Fauna’s Where Birds Sing My Name and Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Cherry Jane.  

The Metal: Twilight Fauna’s Where Birds Sing My Name

It would appear the back half of 2018 is hiding the majority of the black metal albums I am digging this time around, because here we are for the second week in a row digging into some fantastic frostbitten riffs, although this time around from a completely different perspective.  Its no secret that we here at Nine Circles are head-over-heels for the music of Twilight Fauna, and the project’s latest offering Where Birds Sing My Name fully cements that love to the utmost degree.  Coming on the heels of a split with Evergreen Refuge and a full-length both released last year, Where Birds… crests the wave project mastermind Paul Ravenwood has been riding since its inception; with each new offering the songwriting gets stronger and stronger, but the leap between albums here is nothing short of monumental.  The songs on Where Birds… are the most fully realized, emotionally gripping work that Paul has ever released.  The folk elements that inform Twilight Fauna’s music, from tin whistle to banjo, are incorporated as skillful touches, the guitars wrap the listener in a comforting blanket of fog, and Paul and drummer Josh Thieler connect on this album like never before.  The blend of bluegrass and black metal immediately recalls Panopticon’s Kentucky, but while informed by the same kinds of landscapes, Where Birds… trades in righteous anger for wistful melancholy, telling the personal story of how community and country can heal even the deepest of wounds.

The Booze: Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Cherry Jane

Lagunitas continues to hit high marks with their one-off creations.  Last time we sampled one of these it was the Born Yesterday Pale Ale, from 2017’s series.  This time, however, I was lucky enough to grab yet another delicious sour ale to add to my hit list, and one brewed with one of my all time favorite fruits.  Cherry Jane is a lovely sour ale brewed with Turkish Delight cherry juice; the flavor here is the perfect balance of tart and sweet, producing just enough of a puckering effect to make itself known without being overpowering.  This reminds me of the juice I used to crush for breakfast every morning as a kid, and just like I used to go through bottle after bottle of that every week, its extremely hard to drink just one of these; its just that refreshing and satisfying.

That wraps up another week here.  I’ll catch you next time.  And as always,

Cheers, and be good to each other,

– Vincent