Here we are again, dear reader; consistency is key and I’ve been having a rip roaring good time making this a (semi-)weekly column again, so let’s not let the fun stop there. Let us, as always, drink from the cup of heresy. This week’s offerings: Fen’s Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth and Off Color Brewing Company’s Yuzu Koshō.
—
The Tunes: Fen’s Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth
A band like England’s Fen needs no introduction. They are a flagship act in the post-black metal genre, a staple of the self-styled “English black metal” scene that includes a lot of prominent household names, and creators of some of the most beloved and wildly creative black metal out there. 2026 marks two decades of Fen, and to celebrate the band are releasing a duo diptych of albums, beginning with Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth. The goal with these albums is to celebrate the diversity in sound and style that Fen have expanded into in these decades, as well as to push their sound into the future. To that end, Fen decided to focus more on the atmosphere and cinematic nature of their sound, with an intention of leaving space for the music to stretch out and breathe. This is especially captured by the rhythm section of Grungyn on bass and J.G. on drums, who ease off the gas pedal and substitute more groove and accent work in lieu of blast beats and double kick patterns, with precise and dynamic basslines weaving around the riffs and melodies played by frontman The Watcher. It’s classic Fen at its heart, but this is also a band that never quite makes the same album twice, so even if they are hearkening back to their early days, they’re gonna do it their way.
A great Fen album is many things: heavy but full of air and space, just a little proggy without being meandering, melodic and mournful without being morose or saccharine, and full of the kind of evocative musical imagery that makes one wistful for the English countryside. Mourning Earth is all of these things and more, I’m pleased to say. Opener “Glacier” moves at a brisk pace, ironically, and kicks things off with plenty of the vibes and heaviness that one would expect, although it’s on lead single “Tectonic” that things get really heavy. Fen aren’t exactly known for playing straight black metal, but this song is as close as they’ve ever gotten, but this song is also the first one where I really noticed how groovy and downright delicious these basslines are. Huge kudos to the rhythm section here: they nailed the nuance subtlety they were looking for on this album, and it’s especially noticeable in the midsection, where the atmosphere and light touches of prog send Mourning Earth into the stratosphere. This whole thing is a delight, and the fact that Part Two is basically imminent makes it all the better.
Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth is available now on Prophecy Productions. For more information on Fen, visit their Facebook page.
The Booze: Off Color Brewing Company’s Yuzu Koshō
Off Color Brewing is one of my favorite local institutions, and the good news is they also seem to be getting a wider distribution as of late. I love them because they do the really funky stuff well (Apex Predator is hands down my favorite farmhouse ale and I can’t believe I haven’t featured it in this column yet), but they also do just bog standard beer really well. This one is definitely on the weird side, though. If you don’t know, yuzu koshō is a Japanese fermented condiment made from yuzu fruit, chili peppers and salt. It’s incredibly bright, briny and punchy on its own, and a little dab makes every sauce or broth taste that much better (seriously, a spoonful mixed in some honey mustard makes a dynamite chicken nugget dipping sauce). But in beer? Apparently, yeah; at least we’re gonna try it. Yuzu Koshō is a Berliner-style Weiss beer, which might seem like an odd base to start with, but since they play really nicely with citrus the East-meets-West thing works pretty damn well. To that, yuzu peel and juice is added, along with salt and shishito peppers, which happen to be one of my all time favorite vegetables. I’ll admit, this is the first time I’ve seen peppers added to beer strictly for the flavor and not for the spice, but goddamn if it doesn’t hit the spot. The immediate flavor is green and vegetal, not unlike the vegetal notes in green coffee or good olive oil, except it tastes prominently like peppers before fading away into a tart but not mouth puckering citrus finish. Yuzu is such an interesting citrus fruit because it tastes like no other one and also like all the other citrus fruits smashed together, and its distinct punch is a very welcome contrast to the bright and fruity peppers. Yuzu Koshō is clean and crisp, like a good Weiss beer should be, and the salt is present enough to elevate the delicate flavors of the peppers and yuzu, but not enough to make this a salty beer. If you’ve ever put an orange slice in your Blue Moon, just imagine this is the fancy prep school version of that.
I’m gonna keep saying it until it doesn’t need to be said anymore: cheers, and be good to each other.
-Ian
Leave a Reply