Alchemist (band)
| Alchemist | |
|---|---|
 Band logo |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Death Metal , Progressive Metal |
| founding | 1987 |
| resolution | 2010 |
| Website | http://www.alchemist.com.au/ |
| Founding members | |
| Adam Agius | |
| Last occupation | |
Vocals, guitar, keyboard |
Adam Agius |
| Rodney Holder since 1989 | |
| John Bray since 1991 | |
guitar |
Roy Torkington since 1992 |
| former members | |
Drums |
Andrew Hall 1987-1989 |
bass |
Scott Chivers 1987-1989 |
bass |
James Preece 1989-1991 |
guitar |
Andrew Neridith 1990-1992 |
| Nick Wall 2003-2008 | |
Alchemist was an Australian Metal - band . The stylistic development took place from Death Metal to Progressive Metal , based on the Canadian metal band Voivod . After the dissolution of Armored Angel, Alchemist played a key role in organizing the Metal for the Brain festival .
Band history
Alchemist was formed in 1987 by Adam Agius in Canberra as a high school band. At that time Agius was under the influence of bands like Metallica , Voivod or Coroner , combined with stylistic elements of Death Metal and Progressive Metal. Alchemist recorded the first demo called Eternal Wedlock in the year it was founded. After various changes, the line-up was completed in 1989 with drummer Rodney Holder, in 1990 with guitarist Andrew Neridith and in 1991 with bassist John Bray (formerly Exceed).
In 1990 the band recorded their second demo, which received a lot of attention in the Australian underground . Another demo followed in 1991 and a series of concerts with Sadistik Exekution and Mortal Sin in Melbourne , Brisbane and Sydney . In the fall of 1991, Alchemist played for the first time at the Metal-for-the-Brain Festival in Canberra.
Alchemist signed their first record deal in 1991 with the Austrian independent label Lethal Records. In 1992 guitarist Andrew Neridith left the band and was replaced by Roy Torkington. From then on the band was active in this line-up. The quartet worked on the songs of the debut album Jar of Kingdom , which was finally released in 1993 and received mostly positive feedback. Several shows followed as support act on the Australian tours of Kreator , Pungent Stench , Fear Factory and Bolt Thrower . The European tour promised by Lethal Records did not materialize, and when the label did not reimburse the band for the production costs of the debut album, the band broke their record deal. The promotape recorded in 1994 eventually led to a contract with Shock Records for three records. In 1995, Lunasphere was released. The album received a lot of attention in the Australian metal scene and an extensive tour of Australia followed.
In 1996 the band took over the organization of the Australian metal festival Metal for the Brain .
The 1997 album Spiritech marked the first high point in the band's history. It combines progressive heavy metal with synthesizers , keyboard sounds and samples , some songs on the album were played on Triple J , a radio station of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation , and appeared regularly on the playlists of the radio show Full Metal Racket .
The 1998 EP Eve of the War paid tribute to the Australian composer Jeff Wayne and his work War of the World . In addition to a cover version of Eve of the War, it also includes two live recordings made during a show at Gypsy Bar , Canberra. In 1999 Jar of Kingdom was re-released to fulfill their three-album contract with Shock Records . The release contained the songs of the 1991 demo in addition to the regular album. Again without a record deal, Alchemist recorded another promotional tape in 1999.
Eventually Chatterbox Records signed the band and in 2000 Organasm came out . This album was the first to be released outside of Australia, while all previous albums were only available as imports. The distributor for Europe was the Dutch label Displeased Records , the distributor for North America was Relapse Records . In 2001 Organasm was released in North America, so this album was the first to be regularly released on all major music markets outside Australia.
The musicians' personal highlight is the 2000 tour of Australia as the opening act for their great role models Voivod.
The entire year 2002 the band worked on the songs for the new album Austral Alien , which was released in 2003 on Chatterbox / Relapse. In the same year Nick Wall joined the bands, responsible for the live samples. An Australian and a European tour followed in 2004. In February 2005, Alchemist was one of the winners of the Australian Heavy Metal Music Awards , Adam Agius was named best keyboardist and First Contact was named best video clip . In 2006, Embryonics 90-98 was released, a best-of compilation intended primarily for the market outside of Australia, and the Metal-for-the-Brain Festival took place for the last time.
The songwriting for the 2007 album Tripsis took a good three years. The main reason was the move of drummer Rod Holder to Brisbane, which made the songwriting and rehearsals together extremely difficult. After the album was released, the first European tour followed as a headliner in 2008 , during which Nick Wall was fired. In 2009 a tour of Australia followed, after which the band began songwriting for the seventh studio album. Work on a new EP also began in early 2010. In mid-2010 the band announced on their website that they are on hiatus until further notice. Singer Adam Agius founded the group The Levitation Hex together with Mark Palfreyman (ex- Alarum ) in March 2010 and guitarist Roy Torkington founded the instrumental music project Tranquilistics.
Musical development
Originally shaped by Death Metal of the late 1980s and early 1990s, the first Jar of Kingdom record could basically be described as a Death Metal album. But already at this time the band tried to combine different extreme forms of heavy metal with other styles. Elements of Arabic folklore and, for the first time, synthesizers were found on Lunasphere . Finally, the stylistic change of the band reached its first climax with Spiritech , a space metal album based on the style of the Canadian band Voivod. There were hardly any elements of Death Metal recognizable, instead progressive and psychedelic approaches dominated, which the band combined with Far Eastern melodies and Aboriginal music .
This unorthodox mix, for which Voivod and bands like Rush or Pink Floyd were the godfathers, was consistently continued on Organasm and its successor Austral Alien . The style was also known as SciFi Metal . Carsten Agthe from Eclipsed saw the band closer to Tool than Katatonia , Amorphis and Opeth at this stage . With Tripsis the Australians finally found their own style, the roots of which are still in Death Metal, enriched by non-genre elements such as tribal rhythms or open chords and characterized by a band-typical guitar sound and the hypnotic singing of Adam Agius.
Discography
Albums and EPs
- Jar of Kingdom , 1993, Lethal Records
- Lunasphere , 1995, Shock Records
- Spiritech , 1997, Shock Records
- Eve of the War (EP), 1998, Shock Records
- Organasm , 2000, Chatterbox Records (Australia), Displeased Records (Europe), Relapse (USA)
- Austral Alien , 2003, Chatterbox Records (Australia), Relapse Records (outside Australia)
- Embryonics 90-98 (Compilation), 2006, Chatterbox Records
- Tripsis , 2007, Chatterbox Records (Australia), Relapse Records (outside Australia)
Sampler contributions
- Garden of Eroticism on Triple J: This Is Twelve (1995)
- Escape from the Black Hole on Full Metal Racket (2000)
- Single-sided on Contaminated 4.0
- Alpha Capella Nova Vega on KnuckleTracks Vol. 51 (2003)
- Single-Sided on Contaminated 5.0 (2003, Relapse Records)
- Alpha Capella Nova Vega on Metal Hammer: September 2003 (2003)
- First Contact on Contaminated VI (2004)
- Chinese Whispers on Relapse Records Sampler (2006)
- Solarburn on Psychosonic! Vol. 47
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alchemist Timeline - Year 1991. (No longer available online.) Official band website, archived from the original on March 4, 2009 ; accessed on March 1, 2009 (English).
- ↑ Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: Other countries, other customs ... Interview with alchemist . In: RockHard magazine . No. 159 .
- ↑ Alchemist Timeline - Year 1994. (No longer available online.) Official band website, archived from the original on August 29, 2007 ; accessed on March 1, 2009 (English).
- ^ A b Metal for the Brain Comes to an End. (No longer available online.) FasterLouder, Aug 12, 2006, archived from the original on March 4, 2009 ; accessed on March 1, 2009 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Discography - Eve of the War. (No longer available online.) Official band website, archived from the original on June 17, 2007 ; accessed on March 1, 2009 (English).
- ↑ Alchemist Timeline - Year 1999. (No longer available online.) Official band website, archived from the original on March 4, 2009 ; accessed on March 1, 2009 (English).
- ^ Australian Heavy Metal Music Awards Winners Announced. metal underground, accessed March 1, 2009 .
- ↑ Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: No desire to prog. Interview with Adam Agius . In: RockHard magazine . No. 246 .
- ↑ Eduardo Rivadavia: Jar of Kingdom - Review. All Music Guide, accessed March 1, 2009 .
- ^ Eduardo Rivadavia: Spiritech Review. All Music Guide, accessed March 1, 2009 .
- ↑ Eduardo Rivadavia: Austral Alien Review. All Music Guide, accessed March 1, 2009 .
- ↑ C [arsten] A [gthe]: Alchemist. "Austral Alien" . In: Eclipsed . July / August, No. 54 , 2003, CD reviews, pp. 38 .
- ↑ "Tripsis" (CD review). laut.de, accessed on March 2, 2009 .
