Jar of Kingdom
Jar of Kingdom is the debut album by Australian progressive metal band, Alchemist. The band recorded the album after receiving a record contract in the mail from Austrian label Lethal Records and was released by that company in October 1993. During the recording of the first track "Abstraction", vocalist Adam Agius damaged his voice, thus resulting in the raw vocal sound on the rest of the album. The name "Jar of Kingdom" was inspired by a comment by television personality and entertainer Graham Kennedy during a comedy skit, in which he described a vial of pig semen as a "jar of kingdom".[2] Jar of Kingdom featured early experiments with synthesisers, acoustic guitars and samples: "Whale" includes the sample of a humpback whale song. All tracks from this album except "Wandering and Wondering" and "Whale" later appeared on the Embryonics compilation.
| Jar of Kingdom | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 1993 | |||
| Recorded | February 1993 at Powerhouse Studios, Sydney | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, avant-garde metal, death metal | |||
| Length | 44:46 | |||
| Label | Lethal | |||
| Producer | Brett Stanton | |||
| Alchemist chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
The album was dedicated to the memory of John Munns and David Carter.
Track listing
All tracks by Alchemist
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Abstraction" | Alchemist | 4:45 |
| 2. | "Shell" | Alchemist | 4:12 |
| 3. | "Purple" | Alchemist | 4:47 |
| 4. | "Jar of Kingdom" | Alchemist | 5:59 |
| 5. | "Wandering and Wondering" | Alchemist | 3:44 |
| 6. | "Found" | Alchemist | 1:28 |
| 7. | "Enhancing Enigma" | Alchemist | 5:15 |
| 8. | "Whale" | Alchemist | 1:11 |
| 9. | "Brumal: A View From Pluto" | Alchemist | 5:40 |
| 10. | "Worlds Within Worlds" | Alchemist | 7:45 |
Credits
Band members
- Adam Agius − vocals, guitar
- Rodney Holder − drums, (triangle on tracks 4 and 8)
- John Bray − bass guitar
- Roy Torkington − guitar, artwork, layout and design
Guest musicians
- Michelle Klemke − female vocals (tracks 2 and 6)
Production
- Mixed at Rich Music Studios, Sydney, Australia in February 1993
- Engineered by Brett Stanton
- Produced by Alchemist and Brett Stanton
- Band photos by Eddie
- Cover artwork and computer graphics by Christian Ruff
- Booklet design by Michael Piesch
Re-release 99
| Jar of Kingdom Re-Release 99 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 1999 | |||
| Recorded | September 1991 and February 1993 at Powerhouse Studios, Sydney | |||
| Genre | Progressive metal, avant-garde metal, death metal | |||
| Length | 62:42 | |||
| Label | Thrust | |||
| Producer | Brett Stanton and John Hresc | |||
| Alchemist chronology | ||||
| ||||
In 1999, Jar of Kingdom was remastered and re-released by Thrust and distributed by Shock Records in Australia. The album was offered to the label by the band in order for them to be released from their contract to enable them to seek international distribution with other companies. This re-released version was a compilation of the original album together with Alchemist's demo of 1991.
Demo '91 tracks
All songs by Alchemist
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Enhancing Enigma" | Alchemist | |
| 2. | "Escapism" | Alchemist | |
| 3. | "Imagination Flower" | Alchemist | |
| 4. | "Womb Syndrome" | Alchemist |
Credits for re-release
- Adam Agius - vocals, guitar
- Rodney Holder - drums
- John Bray - bass
- Andrew Meredith - guitar (demo tracks only)
- Roy Torkington - guitar, artwork, layout and design
References
- Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Allmusic review". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
- "Unreleased Alchemist DVD on YouTube". Youtube.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 11 August 2012.