Alchemist - Jar of Kingdom Re-Release (Thrust/Shock)
Kev Truong

The re-release of this groundbreaking debut album from one of Australia's great heavy bands marked an important moment indeed for local fans. Originally released in the early 90s, only 1000 copies were pressed, so owning a copy of this extremely rare issue made you part of a privileged metal elite. For the unfortunate masses however their second chance has arrived and it's time for a new audience to enjoy the brilliance locked within 'Jar of Kingdom'. The album that spawned the creation known as Alchemist, 'Jar of Kingdom' can only be described as bizarre insanely brutal death metal with sci-fi sounds and more twists and turns than you can comprehend. In the span of ten tracks, there are the heaviest of heavy riffs, folksy acoustic passages, thundering drum patterns offsetting blast beats, whale sounds incorporated into song and haunting female vocals. And just for fun, inter-track segues which include waves, trains, frog noises and even the drunken banter of your local bar. A deceptively tranquil clean guitar intro, complete with the trademark Alchemist slide guitar, opens the record, but then erupts into the now cult classic 'Abstraction'. The exploding boom and rumbling bottom end is sure to rattle the most hardened rib cages, and there is no mercy to be found as vocalist Adam Agius roars "Help me!!!" down the microphone. The craziness begins early, with what the band often labels a Frank Zappa/Pink Floyd style riffing. Indeed the Floyd stylings are heavily evident, and in creating the Alchemist tradition of opening an album big, 'Abstraction' is just insane. Alchemist in their most brutal are so devastatingly powerful a reading of 9+ on the Richter scale is for them still warming up. Furious chaos in tracks such as 'Purple', 'Brumal; a View from Pluto' and the title track show the unrelenting side of this musical entity, but it's the abstract instrumental passages that are Alchemist's true talent. A strength that is evident in later song-epics such as 'Soul Return' and 'Chinese Whispers', 'Jar of Kingdom' features the birth of this strength in tracks like 'Wandering and Wondering', 'Enhancing Enigma' and 'Worlds within Worlds'. Locking into a more laid-back mode, these startlingly original and effective interludes create the mystique of Alchemist, a facet that few bands have the talent to pull off without sounding pretentious. The guitar virtuosity of Adam Agius and Roy Torkington are second to none, the interplay between the two is brilliant in its unlimited scope. This of course is not to undermine the immeasurable talents of drummer Rod Holder and bassist John Bray- it's almost impossible to conceive an Alchemist that doesn't consist of these four. Jar of Kingdom' is the album that first threw these boys onto Australia's list of esteemed players. While it is true they've grown in leaps and bounds from here, any Alchemist fan will tell you each album is a different incarnation of music in it's own right. The only fault of this album is it is a little too scattered in its presentation and content, but then again its impossible for a debut to be as focused as a fourth or fifth release. 'Jar of Kingdom' is simply a brilliant debut; it laid the groundwork for Alchemist to become one of the world's finest bands.Score- 8.5/10

Kev Truong