Month: August 2012

New Blog The Worshyp Evil Abounds

In this Metal Monday blog, we are going to get into one of my favorite underground metal bands.  I am talking about the metal Canada band called The Worshyp.  This is their second record called Evil Abounds, which is the follow-up to their debut record called Kingdom Earth (2011).  The Worshyp was founded in 2009 by guitarist and lead singer Marc Nova.  The band has an influence from thrash metal, prog, metal and hard rock.

Current Line Up

Mig Diabio – Bass Guitar

Marz Nova – Lead Singer and Guitar

Thor Rune – Lead Guitar

On Evil Abounds, Jimmy DeGrasso is former Megadeth and Alice Copper drummer is playing drums on this record.  Original drummer KK Devina left the band after their tour for Kingdom Earth to return to his home of Peru.  No official replacement has not been picked but Jimmy DeGrasso is filling into that comes to head.  Let us get into this awesome record that I have already been listening to while writing the intro to this blog.

Diabolic

Diabolic has a nice strong guitar, bass, and drums to start out the song.  Of course Marc comes in strong like he has in many of Worshyp songs.  I have always loved the drum work from Jimmy since his days with Megadeth.  I was pretty excited to see him working with this band.  I really wanted to hear the music right away and I will tell you right now his drumming on this opening track is not disappointing.  I love the lyric writing and I love the in your face this song has.  The guitar work is really done up good.  This is a very strong start for this band and awesome starting track.  It has a nice guitar solo with a strong support from the bass and drums.  It has a nice very strong finish to Diabolic.

Thunderman

Nice strong guitar work at the beginning of Thunderman.  This has a flash to old Metallica on the singing.  It has a little Pantera and Anvil feel on the singer in the Chorus.  I love the guitar work and has dropped off from the opening song.  Bassist is doing a good job to fuel the guitar and drums in this song.  This is a well written song.  The lyrics and singing are very well done.  A simple and straight to the point guitar solo is just right for this song.  It is nothing over the top but it keeps the drive of the song going on to the end.  If song is not a single, it will be in the future.  Thunderman is my favorite song so far on this record.  The ending is just right.

Seven Deadly Sins

Seven Deadly Sins has a Megadeth feel to this song.  Marc kind of sounds like the lead singer from Megadeth.  This is a very well written song.  They did a good job throughout Seven Deadly Sins.

The Garveyard

I love the support from the bass and drums while the guitar work comes with this strong opening.  This song has a nice guitar work with awesome singing.  This song kind sounds like something the band Fight would have done.  Worshyp has taken the next step and level in their music career.  I love their first record but Evil Abounds is over the charts right now.  This record has to be close to the top for me for best record of 2012.  I love the guitar solo, lyrics, drums, bass.  Drums are let loose for a few parts on this song.  This is a great song.  Nice fade closing to the song.

WarTorn

WarTorn starts out with a nice bass line which you do not hear from most metal bands today.  Unless it comes the old school metal bands.  I love the slow down pace of this song.  Marc is proving to the world he can sing several different styles of metal on this record.  He has a great voice and it is very strong in this song.  I love how they let the drums and bass take the focus on the music side.  I hope to hear this more often from this band.  This is a very well done song with a beautiful finish.

Awaken Underworld And Destroyer of Men

Awaken Underworld starts with some sound effects and a nice drum beat off the tom.  There is very few drummers that can play just the tom in the metal world.  I love the strong guitar work.  I love how they are playing in different keys to give that nice punch from two guitar players.  This song goes right into Destroyer of Men.  I love long beginnings on metal songs.  This has a nice grooving beat to it.  I really love the movement of these songs.  Just like WarTorn, I love the slow pace of Destroyer of Men.  Damn, they did an awesome job on the guitar work along with the solos.  I will say the drums and bass are not lacking either.  This is a strong eight minute song that should be this length.  This band did not push it because they wanted an eight minute song. It just makes sense.  The time changes are just sick in the song of Destroyer of Men.  I love the ending.

Love To Death

It is nice to see metal bands pull out the acoustic guitar once in a while.  Marc showing a little softer side to his singing.  He has a little 1990’s feel to his low-end of his singing.  This is a powerful song with great singing and talented music writing.  I love the lyrics to it. Great song writing is all I have to say about this song.  I do not know what else to say about this song but it is just very good.  Love to Death has the perfect ending for an epic song.

One Crow Sorrow

One Crow Sorrow has one of the perfect drum beats that I heard so far on this record.  Nice place guitar playing and singing just floats just right over the music.  This song makes me feel like I am watching a cat fight.  I do not know why I feel this way.  I will say at least it is a good fight.  I could see fans live singing this back to the band.  It has a nice groove for a later part of a live show or the beginning.  I am starting to think this show be their opening song every time they play live.  It has a nice way to get you into the show before the violence and control chaos that this band will release to their fan.  We, as fans, love that.  Please do not take that the wrong way.  Nice ending to the song.

Villians

Villains has nice fade in guitar work at the beginning of it.  I love the drive of this song.  It is perfect for the close out of this strong record from The Worshyp.  This song has an Armored Saints feel to it.  I love the guitar solo in the later part.  The lyrics are not disappointing either.  The bass and drums are just right for the theme of the song and how it was written.  Villans has a very powerful for the song and the record.

*Bonus Track Destroyer Extended

It is Awaken Underworld and Destroyer of Men put together as one whole track.  Please re read that part of the post.  To be honest, I kind of wish they would have done that in the first place.  Most people buy the digital copy of records and  I know for a fact I am one of the few that buys the hard copy of music records.  Call me old school.

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  http://www.theworshyp.com

Twitter:  @theworshyp

Here is a few spots to buy their records:

http://www.cdbaby.com

Zune and iTunes

http://www.amazon.com

In closing, I will say Evil Abounds has not disappoint at all.  This record was well worth the wait.  Evil Abounds has push the level and the band took the next step in their music career.  This record is so much better then their first record.  Their first record was not a bad record and I know it is not fair to judge both records against each other.  If you want to see a band grow up in front of you, go buy their records and watch them to rockstars.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Blog Redhook Brewery ESB

In this beer blog, we are going to try the flagship beer, which is ESB, from the Redhook Brewery.  If you read my earlier blog on their Longhammer IPA, you are pretty up to speed on this brewery.  Let us get into the beer.

Redhook Brewery ESB, which stands for Extra Special Bitter, is part of their everyday beer line up. It has a nice copper color without a head to it.  ESB has a sweet malty to Carmel smell to it. The taste is a sweet malty to camel with no aftertaste. This is a drinkable beer.

Here is a description from their website (www.redhook.com):

Brewed in the style of a traditional British ESB (Extra Special Bitter), we’ve been making ESB continuously since 1987, and it’s now the benchmark for the Amber beer category.  Despite having “bitter” in its name, Redhook ESB is really not that bitter at all.  This brew is all about the balance of caramel malt sweetness completed by spicy, citrusy hops.

Style………………….Amber
Abv…………………….5.8%
IBUs…………………..28.0 IBU
Original Gravity..13.75 degrees plato
Brewed Since………1987
Medals:
2008 North American Beer Awards Gold Medal Winner
2009 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal Winner
Here is a website and twitter addresses:

Webiste:  www.redhook.com

Twitter:  @redhook_brewery

In closing, this beer is true to my heart because this is the first beer that put into the craft beer world.  This beer is has a nice drinkable and flavorful beer.    I suggest you try this beer and tell me what you think of it.  There is not too many breweries making an ESB and doing it correctly.  This beer is one of the correct ones in the market. Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Blog Founders Cerise Cherry Fermented Ale

In this blog, we are going to check out another brewery from Michigan called Founders Brewing.  The beer we are going to talk about is their Cerise Cherry Fermented Ale.  This is one of their four pack seasonal beers.  Here is a little history on this brewery.  The brewery was founded in 1997.

Here is a little history straight from their website (www.foundersbrewing.com):

Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers both had steady jobs when they decided to chase their dreams and open a brewery–which meant writing a business plan, quitting their jobs, and taking out giant loans. They figured if you’re going to live life, you ought to live it hard, without regrets.

After some initial challenges, due to making well-balanced but unremarkable beers, we were on the verge of bankruptcy. It was at this point that the original Founders team decided to brew the kind of beer that got them excited about brewing in the first place: complex, in-your-face ales, with huge aromatics, bigger body, and tons of flavor.

The Founders Family, a group of passionate beer enthusiasts, has grown around this simple philosophy: “We don’t brew beer for the masses. Instead, our beers are crafted for a chosen few, a small cadre of renegades and rebels who enjoy a beer that pushes the limits of what is commonly accepted as taste. In short, we make beer for people like us.”

We at Founders Brewing Company have been lucky to evolve into one of the highest recognized breweries in the United States. Since 2011, Ratebeer.com has ranked us as the 2nd best brewery in the world (we were 4th best in 2010), and we have several beers listed in the top one hundred beers of the world on Beeradvocate.com. We were the winner of four medals at the 2010 World Beer Cup, two medals at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival, and one medal at the 2012 World Beer Cup.

We are proud to be doing what we are doing, and we give great thanks to our many customers and credit to our staff for whom we continually work to reinvent and provide world-class beers.

The website had a better explanation than what I could have ever wrote on this brewery.  I found that straight from their website.  Let us get into the brew that I checked out from this brewery.

Founders Cerise has a nice red cherry color without a head on it.  It has a nice fresh pick cherry smell to it.  This fruit beer has a sweet heavy cherry taste with a little carbonation to it. The aftertaste is a heavy cherry to it. It is drinkable beer.

Here is a description from their website about the beer (www.foundersbrewing.com):

You’ll have a soft spot for this one. Using only fresh Michigan tart cherries, this beauty tantalizes with intense flavors combined with a no-hesitation malt bill. Adding fresh cherries at five separate stages of fermentation achieves the ultimate balance between tartness and sweetness.

  • ABV: 6.5%
  • IBUs: 15
  • Availability: Jun – Aug

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.foundersbrewing.com

Twitter:  @foundersbrewing

In closing, I did not know how I would react to this beer.  I am not a huge fan of this beer style of fruit in beer.  I have tried several Belgian and Belgian Fruit Beer Style and they all pretty much came off the wrong to me.  Some were too sweet or not any fruit taste in them.  With all that said, I really like this beer.  It kind of remind me of Liefman’s Fruitesse but with just Cherry in it.  Liefmans has every berries you can think of in the world in it.  It is extremely drinkable and dangerous for an ABV 6.5%.  Go find this beer before the season is over.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser

New Blog Uinta Hop Notch IPA

In this blog, we are going to take a look at this brewery’s, who is Uinta Brewery, flagship beer called Unita Hop Notch IPA.  If you read my earlier blog on this brewery, you are pretty much up to speed on Uinta.  Let us get into this beer.

Hop Notch is one of their everyday beers and it is not organic unlike some of their other beers.  It has a nice light copper color with a constant white head on it.  It has a slight citrus but more earthly smell to this IPA.  Hop Notch has a slight sweet citrus but more earthly to piney taste to it with nice hop finish. It is drinkable for being a 7.3% ABV.

Here is a description from their website (www.uintabrewing.com):

Description

Bold and refreshing, this IPA combines an abundance of hops with a smooth malt profile.

Story

A play on “Top Notch” with a hoppy twist..setting new trends for beer vocabulary, “this IPA is Hop Notch.”

Here is their website and twitter addresses:

Website:  www.uintabrewing.com

Twitter:  @uintabrewing

In closing, I really enjoyed this beer.  I love how it is drinkable and has a ton of flavor.  It might be have a nice hoppy to earthy taste but it has a nice malty backbone to balance everything in the beer.  This beer has a different twist on the west coast india pale ale style.  It is not a cookie cut west coast india pale ale.  Go get some!  Drink it!  Enjoy it!  Metal it!  \m/

Cheers!

Bill DJ Weiser

Email:  djweiser13@comcast.net

Twitter:  @djweiser