Hi again, after a couple weeks off due to… dumb stuff… I’m back! As a reminder, Receiving the Evcharist is our weekly, but not-at-all-weekly, feature where I consume both a new metal album and usually some form of bougie craft beer. It’s fun, I promise. Mostly for me. My cup of heresy runneth over this week with: Wrath Of The Bastard from Cave Bastard and DDH Pulp Daddy from Greater Good. Do they pair up nicely… read on to find out!
The Tunes: Cave Bastard – Wrath Of The Bastard
Alright, so I’m not going to lie to you, I chose the latest from Cave Bastard for precisely two reasons. For one, that artwork is just super fun. At first glance I thought it was just a spacey kinda thing, but then I looked a second time and it got so much better! The other reason I chose Wrath Of The Bastard? Well, I had already downloaded the promo… *shrug emoji*. But when all is said and done, I’m really glad I did! Based in San Diego, Cave Bastard offers some form of extreme progressive metal (or so I’ve been told) that is just loaded with pulverizing riffage and absolutely relentless aggression. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to be presented with when reading up for literally 15 seconds, but this totally works. From time to time, the technical (tech death?) elements of this album may get their point across a little more than they need to, but then tracks like “The Kriest” roll around to mix things up just enough to keep interest. And for what it’s worth, “The Kriest” is my favorite track on the album by a distance. Just enough atmosphere, slightly more to-the-point, even with a couple (well-executed) changes in pace, and those leads are oh… so… tasty. So yeah, there’s a ton to like about this thing. At points the production does sound a little thin where a little more density would round this thing out brilliantly, but that’s just my two cents. I’m no audiophile, so you probably shouldn’t have even read all the way to this point. My bad. Anyway, Wrath Of The Bastard is out today, November 12th. Give it a listen below, and then buy the fucker.
The Booze: Greater Goods’ DDH Pulp Daddy
Well, no doubt about it, the Greater Good artwork here is also incredible. So these two items pair well in that sense. A hell of a start. The story behind this beer is that I acquired it from a friend. And I acquired it because I was a groomsman in his wedding literally four days ago and things got weird all weekend (in a good way)… but that’s a tale for another day. ANYWAY. According to my eyeballs which are reading the can in front of me, Greater Good is “America’s first all imperial brewing company.” Since this DDH Pulp Daddy clocks in at 8%, and this is the only beer I’ve discovered from Greater Good to this point, that math checks out. But I gotta say, this doesn’t go down like an 8% beer. A New England IPA with just the right amount of haze, and just the right amount of juice, is pretty damn tasty. Curiously, I actually think the higher ABV balances this out a bit. If this were any softer, I could actually see some of those hazy qualities becoming a bit too much (which is the case with a lot of stuff in the New England IPA scene right now). It also appears that this brewery is based in Worcester, which would make this the best thing to come out of Worcester in… ever! All told, this is absolutely delicious and I will need to keep my eyes open in case more Greater Good stuff makes its way up to me. And if all of them truly do clock in this high? Even better. Keep up Greater Good… from the product, to the artwork, to the me drinking it… A+ all around.
So when all is said and done, this pairing did work out really well. An album with this much to offer truly was enhanced by a beverage that similarly hit the ground running. When the riffs hit, the ABVs hit. Aggressive, meet aggressive. And in the end, Corey wins. Until next time, friends!
“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb
Nine Circles 