When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you a surplus of alcohol and a fantastic album to review, you make a Evcharist out of them. Today we will be exploring the kaleidoscopic hardcore of Death Goals’ A Garden of Dead Flowers alongside Groenfell Meadery’s Herja.
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The Tunes: Death Goals’ A Garden of Dead Flowers
Several times this year I have said it, and several times more I probably will again, but Prosthetic Records is gonna be one to watch. The label’s turn towards being a home for the misfit and a champion of voices pushed too often to the sidelines is one that melts the ice from my heart, and perhaps never more so than with the release of Death Goals’ sophomore effort A Garden of Dead Flowers. Wearing the “UK Queercore” label loud and proud, the London duo weave their identity into the core of the music they make, creating a blistering, soul-baring experience that trends from joyous cacophony to melancholic poignancy. A Garden is a step forward in every way from the band’s self-released debut, managing to keep the angular, noisy hardcore they made a name for themselves with while incorporating exciting twists along the way. From the anthemic clean signing of “Genderless Clones of Gameshow Hosts” to the warped dance-pop-esque call and response of “Faux Macho”, A Garden is an album that hits hard in every way something can, and is an album that resonates deeply with this fellow queer across the pond.
The Booze: Groenfell Meadery’s Herja
Mead seems to be all the rage these days on this website (thanks, Colin) and since I don’t want to be left out of the zeitgeist, I decided to throw my own hat into the ring and contribute my last can of Groenfell mead (thanks, Colin) to the cause. Herja is a baseline wildflower honey mead that is aged in oak barrels much akin to the way beer is. While my experience with Groenfell mostly is in their blackcurrent mead (thanks, Colin), Herja manages somehow to be even more tart and mouth-puckering without any additional fruit added. It reminds me a lot of the best Berliner weisse and saisons I have had; the tartness hits you immediately, but you get a good amount of floral notes rounded out by the smoothness the oak aging gives you. Apparently Groenfell ships, at least in the continental US, so you have no excuse to not try this out for yourself.
Cheers, and be good to each other,
— Vincent
Nine Circles 