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: Atræ Bilis’ Apexapien and New Belgium Brewing Company’s Dominga.
The Tunes: Atræ Bilis’ Apexapien
If you had to do a double take when you saw who was writing this album up for this column, you might only be half as surprised as me, the person writing it. Yet the fact that the noted and notorious Tech Denier is the person telling you to run, not walk, to Atræ Bilis’ Apexapien should only serve to highlight what a triumph this album is. Apexapien is some of, if not, the most forward-thinking death metal to come out this entire year; beyond merely “technical death metal,” Atræ Bilis take familiar tropes of modern death metal and warp them nigh beyond recognition into a Gorguts-meets-Hate-Eternal style of heaving, dissonant dervish. Across its half-hour run time, the listener is treated to brutal, syncopated vocal stylings, masterful bass interplay, guitars that utilize dissonance, string bending, effects, and utter downtuned carnage in exciting ways, and some of the most impeccable drumming I’ve heard in quite some time (seriously, it cannot be overstated that Luka Govednik deserves to be a household name for his performance here). If one listen to album closer “To Entomb the Aetherworld,” final section of playful octave work on guitar layered over shifting drum patterns isn’t enough to make you get it, then you never will. But I sincerely hope you do.
The Booze: New Belgium Brewing Company’s Dominga
It may be the start of cooler weather season here in Southern California, but I couldn’t resist grabbing the last vestiges of summertime off the shelf this week. New Belgium Brewing company is mostly known for its brown ales a la Fat Tire and IPA’s, so to see them jumping on the sour bandwagon is a nice change of pace, and Dominga shows they definitely know what they’re doing in this respect too. Billing itself as a ‘mimosa sour,’ this brew features flavors of lime, orange, and calamansi (a delicious Southeast Asian variety of citrus used a lot in Indonesian and Filipino cuisine). Set against the backdrop of the yeast-forward sour, Dominga does have a distinctly mimosa-like taste to it, but the calamansi in particular sets it apart from your standard brunch fair; it’s such a unique flavor that I have never seen utilized in beer before, highly floral and sweet, and perfectly complimenting the flavors of both the lime and orange. If you can find this in your area, it comes highly recommended.
Cheers, and be good to each other,
– Vincent
Nine Circles 
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