I got that Friday feeling in me, esteemed reader, and you should too.  Lots of good on the altar for today, so let’s dive in and drink deep from that good ol’ cup of heresy.  This week’s offerings: Shadowmare’s Transfiguration and Phase Three Brewing Company’s P3.

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The Tunes: Shadowmare’s Transfiguration

Portugal’s Shadowmare are an independent band as of right now, and I’ll be honest: that probably makes them far from household names, but they’re aiming for that all to change with their third release Transfiguration.  The name couldn’t be more apt: apparently Camp Shadowmare has been through a number of lineup changes in the recent years, and Transfiguration sees the technical thrash outfit regroup as a quartet, which has forced them to change the creative process entirely, from writing and recording to arranging and performing live.  Seems like the fellas are in good spirits though, as they describe the compositions on Transfiguration as being their most direct and intense they’ve recorded.  Transfiguration tells the story of the band from their inception over a decade ago until now, struggles and all, with the punky ferocity and wrist-splitting riffs of old school thrash, the prowess of tech death and the…well, melodicism of melodic death metal.  Helmed by the persistent barks and growls of João Infante, the band he brings with him this time around is young, hungry and locked in tight enough with each other to practically shit out a diamond.  Transfiguration is a blistering affair of only seven tracks (really, six and an interlude) that barely clocks in at a half hour, but there’s quite a lot of punch packed into that concise package.

I would say that if you go into Transfiguration hearing the phrase “tech thrash” and you’re expecting something Psycroptic adjacent, you’re not exactly in the wrong zip code, but Shadowmare put much more emphasis on the “thrash” part.  This album is a blistering riff fest, a love letter to the classics of the genre, from the Bay Area to Germany.  One listen to the riff that opens the album and the track “When We Fall” and I felt like I could tear through six inches of solid concrete.  And there’s really no letting up from there either: even the aforementioned interlude (which happens to be the title track of the album) is a barn burner, bordering on symphonic shred, so if you’re expecting a ballad or some kind of mid-tempo relief piece, you better just keep right on moshing, right up to the very end of “Now We Rise” (thematically appropriate and also chock full of fist pumping riff after riff).  That brings me to the next thing that I find myself tickled by: the emphasis on thrash doesn’t mean the tech stuff gets buried.  Sometimes bands that promise technicality mixed with something more old school don’t deliver on either, but I will say that the riffs are as fleet-fingered and melodically intricate as they need to be, and the solos courtesy of Mr. Jorge Assunção are sweep picked, shredded masterclasses.  Hopefully this lineup of Shadowmare is in it for the long haul, because truly the worst thing I can say about Transfiguration is that I wish there was a little more of it.

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Transfiguration is available digitally now on Shadowmare’s Bandcamp page.  It looks like at the time of this review being posted, physical releases will be shipped out on November 8, and you can preorder yours at the same Bandcamp page.  For more information on Shadowmare, visit their Facebook page.

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The Booze: Phase Three Brewing Company’s P3

We’ve been exploring the weirder and wilder parts of the craft beer world lately, and while I can certainly promise you even more weird and wacky stuff is on the horizon (yes, weirder than a kimchi sour and an oyster shell saison), I thought that today we would turn back to a classic, with just a twist of refinement.  Phase Three Brewing Company is local-ish to Angela and I, and while we’ve been to the taproom and sampled their wares a few times before, our hyper local liquor store/hangout spot seems to be especially enamored with them, and they always have a wider selection of their concoctions than other similar places.  Not the worst thing I suppose, because Phase Three puts in the good work, and P3 is another notch in their proverbial belt.  P3 is a Japanese style rice lager, which is one of my favorite easy drinking beers of all time.  Truly, there is nothing like an absolutely ice cold rice lager (especially paired with a bowl of spicy ramen), and P3 nails everything that I love about this particular brew.  It’s light, it’s clean and it’s ultra crisp without feeling watered down like a generic light beer.  There’s a full body and a delicate mouthfeel, which pairs nicely with the slight sweetness from the rice.  You’re not going to get knocked over the head by a ton of complexity, but that’s part of the charm.  Everything about this drink is subtle, but it’s pure refreshment in a can, and it’s dangerously easy to crush an ungodly amount back to back to back.

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As you might have gleaned, it won’t be long before we’re back here again.  Until then, cheers and be good to each other.

— Ian