Alchemist Spiritech Shock
by Aaron J. Klamer

'The road to Ubar leads to musical bliss'

There’s no other band out there quite like Australia’s Alchemist. Combining psychedelic slide guitar, tribal percussion and keyboard atmospherics with Eastern musical scales and aggressive post-metal primal scream therapy, they have over the course of 4 full length albums and an EP established themselves as the premiere practitioners of their own exploratory musical vision. It’s hard to imagine another band even coming up with the idea to sound like this, not to mention actually attempting it. If nothing else, Alchemist are certainly unique, and if they are at times guilty of repeating formulas, at least the formulas are wholly theirs.Out of their entire discography, I feel Spiritech is their finest hour. (2nd place goes to the criminally overlooked debut Jar of Kingdom, and yes I’ve heard Organasm!) Opening with "Chinese Whispers," the finest song in their catalogue, the album takes the listener through various atmospheres and emotions, in a constant state of flux it ebbs and flows into the river of the mind. In many ways the metaphor of a river applied to Spiritech seems very appropriate. The music sort of lilts along, slowing washing into other waves of sonic turbulence and calming into smooth introspective pools of instrumental atmospherics. The reverbed slide guitar almost has that "wet" surf guitar sound. The bongos and other tribalesque drummings contribute to the feeling of floating down the river on a barge with Alchemist, drunk and pissed with LSD in your veins. Like any good jam band, Alchemist have their share of songs that recede into sparsely puncuated quiet sections, only to explode back into a truimphant return to the main theme. When the band kicks back into gear in track 2, "Road to Ubar," the swirling sounds which decorated the tribal drum section continue over the fray, undoubtedly more noticable and interesting than they would have been had they not been given the opportunity to pop out of the mix. This type of dynamic shift also occurs in "Chinese Whispers," which I suppose could be viewed as a microcosm of the Alchemist sound, as well as many other songs on Spiritech. I sometimes get annoyed at Alchemist’s shouty vocals. This is not so much a criticism of the style or performance as it is an indication of my personal bias. I just don’t get into angry shouty guy vocals as much as the more inhuman types of styles. Such as the inhuman scream occasionally unleashed by Alchemist! Once again refer to "Chinese Whispers." These types of vocals have dwindled over the course of their career, and that is why I enjoy Jar of Kingdom more than Organasm. But for sheer display of brilliance and overall execution and superior dynamics, Spiritech reigns supreme. The Road to Ubar leads to musical bliss.

by Aaron J. Klamer