Blog — Page 34 of 275

The Formative Years – Sodom Agent Orange

Persecution Mania was Sodom’s album that saw them leaving the confines of the Hellhammer / Venom inspired black metal underground and rise to prominence with a departure from speed metal, a transition to thrash and with their third album, i.e. Agent Orange, they found their stride with what became their trademark raw, rhythmic and straightforward approach to song-writing and a well-calibrated average song duration of around four minutes all peppered an underlying punkish feel. 

Each song on Agent Orange has lasting appeal and thematically centred around the atrocities of war, it holds a timeless relevance which along with the great production courtesy of Harris Johns makes the album a complete listening experience.

Essentially Sodom’s biting, intricate, technical, catchy and ferocious riffs were the children of the marriage between the essence of what made Metallica’s mid-paced chugging cadence exciting around 1984-86, the angry appeal of Megadeth before the 1990s and deliberate nods to the oeuvre and grimy style of Motörhead.

While Sodom’s no frills approach carved a niche for themselves with their chaotic craftmanship and successfully established their brand as one of the Teutonic four in the pantheon of thrash metal, on international terrain they never seemed to get the appreciation they deserved to the scene being busy worshipping bands from the Bay Area.

The Art of Science: The interwoven history of two disciplines
Allen & Unwin

Opulently illustrated, The Art of Science meticulously examines the artistic emissions of  forty creators, artists and researchers who with their oeuvre set out to delve into exploring the intersection of fields of tension between inventiveness and revelation.

In essence, what is achieved through the examinations culminates in making visible that both intertwined disciplines have more in common than what divides them and that they essentially not merely exist in harmony but beget one another, with commonalities resulting in the urge to push boundaries, nurturing the thirst for enlightenment, experimentation and the unearthing of information.

The Art of Science masterfully elicits that what is perceived as a dividing line between art and science is not only blurred but quintessentially non-existent with artists actively contributing to vital visualizations that are vital foundations to make the advancements  and progressions of scientific discoveries possible, whereas the endeavours of scientists ensure that the artists’ hunger for invention, the endeavours to communicate seemingly intangible thoughts / ideas and the creation of a tool for self-expression is fuelled and based on reliable data, no matter if it is based in natural history, botanical, neurological and optical research or other fields of science that serve as a starting point.

An illuminating tome shedding light on the cross-pollinating nature of two vital disciplines.

The Formative Years – Kreator

Formed forty years ago, Kreator was one of the first European thrash metal acts and three of their first four albums, i.e. Pleasure to Kill, Terrible Certainty, and Extreme Aggression, are widely considered metal classics that exerted an immense influence on what was to eventually become a genre of its own.

Each album showed the band musically progressing, especially as far as complex arrangements, slowdowns and variations of tempi are concerned and what started out with a sound heavily inspired by Venom-esque speed metal eventually evolved to thrash metal, accentuated by erratic guitar work and off-tempo beats.

What I have always loved about Kreator is that apart from the usually suspects from the realm of metal, they have not only been influenced by punk bands like The Exploited, GBH, Raw Power and D.R.I. but wearing those inspirations on their sleeves, which infused their overall sound with a vicious edge and a beautiful aura of chaos that most of their compatriots and San Francisco-based counterparts were missing. 

Revisiting Kreator’s first albums today, it shows that they have stood the test of time masterfully with a rawness and a tenacity that makes it hard to believe that those recordings capturing the vitriolic onslaughts of sheer never ending, layered sonic violence were usually hammered out within a couple of days by three teenagers.

Boris
Opera House
Sydney, Australia
05 June 2022

Over the last twenty years I have had the privilege to witness Boris incarnating in a range of diverse live environments across three continents and while it was never not a rewarding experience, each and every time was very different due to the deliberately incoherent and charmingly contradictive oeuvre and approach of the band. 

Defying an overarching narrative, Boris’ asymmetric back catalogue ranges from collaborations with Sunn0))), via bliss imparting longform releases like their shoegazy Feedbacker album to fuzzed out, borderline doom and sludgy emissions, all of which harbouring the common denominator that they meander between self-referential theatrical antics and dramatical seriousness. 

Needless to say, when I learned about Boris descending on Sydney to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the band’s existence as part of the annual Vivid LIVE by playing their fantastic spaced out album Heavy Rocks in its entirety, I was getting excited about getting to experience the straight-up stoner and rock side of the band.

It was fantastic to see Boris teaming up with Japanese veteran guitar wizard extraordinaire Tokie emitting their brand of precise noise rock while still referencing each of their musical styles and sonic power without ever committing to a single facet. 

Drawing from psychedelia, drone rock and noisy punk in equal measure, the evening was a fulminant, immediate, loud and immersive celebration of a band that continues to defy preconceived notions and a quintessential testament to Boris being at their best when they abandon longform, heady territory and instead focus on rocking out with their idiosyncratic brand of fuzz-drenched, acid-dripping and noisy-ass heavy guitar-based music, which allows to show their fun side with the delivery being at times reminiscent of a counterintuitively, schizophrenic proggy homage to bands like Mudhoney, Dinosaur Jr. and Hawkwind.

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photos courtesy of @k.a.vv

Water of Life – Overeem Cask Strength expressions

Founded fifteen years ago by Casey Overeem as a hobby business and what effectively constituted the fourth distillery in Tasmania, Overeem Distillery has established itself as a veritable heavyweight not merely on the firmament of distilleries on terra australis but also on international terrain based on their commitment to not cutting corners and putting quality first and foremost.

Using only Tasmanian grown barley, which is then fermented extensively before matured in a specifically created environment for casks, Overeem’s process is based on a slow and meticulously thought through approach.

With a core range comprised of two Port Cask matured expressions and two Sherry Cask matured expressions, I have grown to love Overeem’s cask strength expressions, the lion’s share of which have been matured for up to six years in 100 litre French oak casks, with recently American Oak and Bourbon Casks having been introduced to the fold.

Overeem’s Sherry Cask deep golden coloured Matured Cask Strength expression tickles the nostrils upon approach with its melange of caramel, raisins and cinnamon with top notes of chocolate, middle notes of coconut and notes of vanilla.

On the top of the mouth the ABV of 60% materializes with a bit of a burn, before cidery, mixed cinnamon spicy nuances blend in with pineapple and green strawberry notes. The reverberating finish is characterised by sweet and bitter flavours reminiscent of charred almonds and cocoa.

A special variant of Overeem’s Sherry Cask expression if the Cask OD-474, which was selected at random to end up being accolade decorated at the World Whisky Awards 2022. Not unlike the regular Sherry Cask expression, the nose is dominated by dark chocolatey and sweet spicy, raisin aromas and what the scents promised, continues seamlessly on the palate, where dried fruits merge with elegant hits of spice and cinnamon before leaving me smacking my lips due to the nutty, candied caramel flavours.

The aromas of the Port Cask Matured Cask Strength win me over instantaneously with its smoky, tobacco, herbaceous black tea aromas blending in with a bit of an ocean smell.

On the palate, this little number unfolds its big oily character via umami and balanced, slightly salty savoury flavours, culminating in distinct notes of burnt toffee and butterscotch.

The long sweet finish lands firmly in chocolatey and slightly spicy territory, with the faintest hint of smokiness which makes me lust for another dram. 

The highlight when it comes to Overeem channelling its alchemy in the realm of cask strength expressions, however, is the 12 Year Old Bourbon Cask Matured variant.

Matured in ex-Heaven Hill 200 litre casks, this drop is a rich tour de force when it comes to layered complexity: It starts with a slightly sweet, coffee bean nose, backed by orange peel and brown sugar molasses. 

On the palate things get interesting as molasses meet American Oak to then take a detour into mildly nutty and mildly spicy liquorice territory with bright acidic highlights, which finish on high notes of coconuts and tropical fruits. 

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image from company website