Alchemist

Alchemist
Origin	Canberra, ACT
Genres	Progressive death metal
Years active	1987 - 2010
Labels	Thrust, Chatterbox, Relapse
Associated acts	Exceed, Mortuary, Synapse, The Levitation Hex
Website	http://www.alchemist.com.au
Past members	Adam Agius, John Bray, Scott Chivers, Andrew Hall, Rodney Holder, Murray Neill, Nick Paddon-Row, James Preece, Roy Torkington, Nick Wall

Band members

• Final line-up
  • Adam Agius (vocals, guitar, keyboards)
  • Rodney Holder (drums)
  • John Bray (bass)
  • Roy Torkington (guitar)

• Former members
  • Nick Wall (samples) 2003 - 2008
  • Andrew Meredith (guitar) 1989 - 1992
  • James Preece (bass) 1989 - 1991
  • Andrew Hall (drums) 1987 - 1989
  • Scott Chivers (bass) 1987 - 1989
  • Murray Neill (vocal) 1987 - 1989
  • Nick Paddon-Row (drums) 1987

Formed

Canberra, ACT, 1986

Band information

Alchemist was formed by Adam Agius in Canberra in 1987. An early demo with a contemporary death metal sound was recorded by the first line-up that also featured Murray Neill (vocals), Scott Chivers (bass) and Nick Paddon-Row (drums). In 1989, Rodney Holder became the group's drummer and Agius was now vocalist and guitarist. Andrew Meredith (guitar) and bass player James Preece now completed the band. The second Alchemist demo in 1990 featured death metal with more experimental aspects.

The next year Preece was replaced by John Bray who joined the band from fellow Canberra metal act Exceed. Another demo was recorded and the band began to receive interest from overseas quarters. In early 1992, Meredith made way for former Mortuary and Synapse guitarist Roy Torkington and the maintained the same personnel for most of the rest of their career.

Released by Austrian label Lethal in 1993, Jar of Kingdom was wildly experimental and eclectic with Zappa-like jazz-style arrangements, surf grind and psychedelia. The album went out of print very quickly and the label closed in 1996, but Alchemist issued a re-released version in 1999 to see off their contract with Shock Records. Jar of Kingdom Re-Release 99 featured some overdubbing due to the poor quality of the original recording and also included the four songs from their 91 demo.

With the release of Lunasphere in 1995 through the Shock sub-label Thrust, the band began a rigourous touring schedule that continued to classify them until they split. In 1996 Alchemist toured nationally with Deathless and appeared at the Sydney Big Day Out. That year the band became the custodians of the annual Metal for the Brain Festival which they continued to play and organise until 2006.

1997 saw the release of Spiritech, an album that remains a firm favourite with fans. By now Alchemist was recognised as one of Australia’s most popular and important metal bands. In 1999, Alchemist began to look for other label options. A tour with Entombed was then followed by a tour with Pitchshifter and the "Eve of the War" EP and the ’99 re-release of Jar of Kingdom completed their contractual obligations to Shock while they worked on a new album that was prefaced by a contribution to the double compilation CD Under the Southern Cross in mid-1999.

Chatterbox Records released Organasm in early 2000. The album release was followed by a huge national tour with Cryogenic and labelmates Psi.Kore dubbed World War Three. The tour spanned three months and visited most centres on the east coast. Organasm was issued in the US by Relapse and in Europe by Dutch label Displeased.

After Metal for the Brain 2000, Alchemist began work on their next album, finally emerging in May 2003 with Austral Alien. Just before the album’s release, Alchemist played their first live shows in eighteen months as the major support for Opeth's first Australian tour. Late in 2003, the album was released worldwide on Relapse. Now well-respected internationally as an excellent and innovative band, late in 2004 they were one of the major attractions at the Power Prog Europe festival in the Netherlands in October, a show that was followed by an extensive tour supporting Cult of Luna and several headlining performances with Textures. After the release of Austral Alien, sampler Nick Wall was added as a touring member.

Embryonics is a double CD compilation featuring tracks from the first three albums and early demos. Alchemist began recording a new album in July 2006. 'Tripsis was issued in October 2007. The release was followed by a short European tour that included a headlining spot at the ProgPower festival. Tripsis was voted the #4 metal release of 2007 by Full Metal Racket listeners in December 2007.

In mid-2008 Alchemist toured Europe once more, appearing at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium in late June; Wall was dismissed from the band during the tour. On their return to Australia, Alchemist toured nationally with Meshuggah. Work on a new EP release was promised in January 2010 but in May they released a statement announcing an indefinite hiatus. No official notification of Alchemist's disbandment was ever made, but no further music or live appearances were ever made. Roy Torkington released some instrumental music under the name Tranquilistics and is a well-know graphic designer. Rodney Holder moved into education as a lecturer in music business and management business.

Adam Agius formed The Levitation Hex with Mark Palfreyman from Alarum and is also active in the stoner/psychedelic metal band Pilots of Baalbek with his partner Mel Walker of Pod People.

Discography

Albums:

	1993	Jar of Kingdom	Lethal
	1995	Lunasphere	Thrust
	1997	Spiritech	Thrust
	1999	Jar of Kingdom Re-Release 99	Thrust
	2000	Organasm	Chatterbox
	2003	Austral Alien	Chatterbox
	2005	Embryonics	Chatterbox
	2007	Tripsis	Chatterbox

EPs:

	1998	Eve of the War	Thrust

Compilation tracks:

	Year	Track Title	Album Title	Label
	1992	"Escapism"	Redrum	Roadrunner
	1994	"Black Metal"	The Promoters of the Third World War: A Tribute to Venom	Tribute
	1996	"Garden of Eroticism"	This is Twelve	ABC/EMI
	1999	"Austral Spectrum"	Under the Southern Cross	Chatterbox
	2000	"Escape From the Black Hole"	Full Metal Racket	ABC/EMI
	2000	"Surreality"	Radio Rock Vol. 1	Columbia
	2000	"Tide In, Mind Out"	Route 666, Volume 2	Shock
	2001	"Warring Tribes"	Metal for the Brain 2001	Metal for the Brain/Chatterbox
	2005	"Solar Burn"	Metal for the Brain 2005	Faultline/Gorilla
	2007	"Tongues and Knives"	A Blaze in the Southern Skies	Prime Cuts