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: Unreqvited’s Beautiful Ghosts and Ogopogo Brewing Company’s Peryton.
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The Tunes: Unreqvited’s Beautiful Ghosts
I find it really refreshing to dive into established bands blind sometimes, and Unreqvited are one of those bands. I have never listened to them before (though their name is familiar to me), I have no preconceived notions, and I get to experience their new album Beautiful Ghosts purely for what it is. And it turns out that it’s black metal that’s a little gazey, a little orchestral, a little post-rock influenced, and features a lot of stirring musical motifs (in a way reminiscent of the way classical music sets moods) that bring a romantic air to the album that is quite refreshing for something that gets as intense as this kind of black metal can. All these parts could lead to an album with a bit of an identity crisis, though, but here the whole thing is tied together by the feeling that it gives off, and by association, the overarching theme of the album. Beautiful Ghosts is an album at its core about love: unapologetic, devotional, beautiful love. In a way, Beautiful Ghosts is an album that I can’t separate from the circumstances of my own life at the time I am listening to it. If this were any other year, I might think ‘yeah, this is good’ and maybe come back to it here or there. Listening to it now though, as a person newly married to my partner of now ten years, it makes me think of how much that love has shaped my life and helped me through some of the hardest patches I’ve been through. I think about us finally taking that step towards sealing our commitment to one another, and all the steps we have yet to take going forward. It’s an album that makes me think about how great being in love really is, and because of that, it’s an album I enjoy on an even deeper level.
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The Booze: Ogopogo Brewing Company’s Peryton
To preface this review: yes, this was a beer I bought because of the can art alone, but seriously just look at how gorgeous that is. And as I have often found, attention to outside detail correlates strongly to the attention to detail paid to what’s inside the can as well. Ogopogo Brewing Company really surprised me with Peryton, which is their take on the Hazy IPA’s that have been gaining popularity the country over. This is one of the smoothest, easiest drinking beers I’ve ever had. There’s barely any bitterness from the hops present at all, just a ton of smooth, floral orange and stone fruit flavors and a mouth-watering juciness, which is a term that a lot of North East style IPA’s get attached with, but here it is really well-deserved. This really is like sunshine in a can. Side note: if you’re curious about the beer’s name, look up the mythos surrounding the Peryton, some of which you can read on the can; it’s an excellent time sink.
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Cheers, and be good to each other,
– Vincent
Nine Circles 