Pairing & Killing: Outer Heaven and Adroit Theory

In our Pairing & Killing series, we’re bringing you our favorite picks for beers and band combinations from the Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest: Philly 2019 lineup. Just 50 “Metal & Beer” tickets for the event, which takes place on April 13-14, remain.

It’s hard to think of a death metal band that had a better 2018 than Outer Heaven. The Philly-area crushers dropped their first full-length Realms of Eternal Decay to extremely-positive reviews, which was followed by the release of single “Cryptic Visions” through the Decibel Flexi Series and a slot on Metal & Beer Fest alongside Triptykon, Deafheaven and Enslaved. The death dealers didn’t just catch Decibel‘s eye over the last six months; following a performance at Adroit Theory‘s Dawn of a Dark Day event, the brewery approached Outer Heaven to brew a collaborative beer.

Dubbed NecroGenesis, the collaborative brew is a milk stout with candy cap mushrooms, brown sugar, maple syrup, coffee beans and fall spices. Complete with forthcoming art from Mark Riddick, NecroGenesis is a leading contender for most-extreme beer at Metal & Beer Fest.

“There are very few events on the beer festival circuit that are circled in permanent red ink and Decibel Metal & Beer Fest is one of them!” Adroit Theory owner Mark Osbourne says. “When we saw that Outer Heaven was performing, we took it as a sign. Outer Heaven had just played our anniversary party (Dawn of a Dark Day) and absolutely DESTROYED it! We discussed brewing a black beer and they were stoked. They suggested mushrooms to tie in with their tentacle inspired artwork.”

To really stake their claim to most-extreme brewery at the fest, Adroit Theory are also bringing Obolus, their collaborative beer with progressive death metal phenoms Horrendous, named after the closing track on last year’s Idol. A 5% ABV pilsner, Obolus is a lighter alternative to NecroGenesis. Horrendous members will be in attendance on Saturday, April 13 to pour samples of Obolus and meet attendees (but will not be performing). More details on the exact time of the meet and greet will follow.