Blog — Page 36 of 277

Water of Life – Amber Lane

We have covered quite an array of Australian whiskies as part of this series and while terra australis has established itself firmly on the firmament of quality whiskey producing nations, it was only over the last couple of years that distilleries evolved to create more refined and complex expressions and thereby crafting their own DNA.

Incepted in 2017 and based in the Yarramalong Valley on New South Wales’ Central Coast, Amber Lane distillery started out as a venture of the duo Rod Berry and Phil Townsend, which since then have grown their operations significantly and committed themselves to not only crafting high-grade spirit via using a pot still for double distillation and a consistent high-quality mash bill, but curating seasoned barrels and taking their time with the maturation process until their drops hit the sweet spot as far as the complexity of their flavour profiles is concerned.

My first exposure to Amber Lane was via their Destiny expression, which is comprised of a union of whiskies that have matured for four years in ex-Heaven Hill American Oak Bourbon Casks and ex-Fernando de Castilla and ex-McWilliams Sherry casks. 
Upon approach the nostrils are tickled by honeyed vanilla aromas, which seamlessly transition to the top of the mouth where buttercream, macaroons and vanilla custard collide with a caramelly top layer, pieced by gingery, slightly floral and acidic notes. 
The elongated finish reverberates with delightful fruity and raisiny notes, which make this little number a dessert dram par excellence. 

Amber Lane’s second release is aptly called Liquid Amber, the dark fruity chestnut nose of which clearly indicates that we landed firmly in Sherry Cask territory.

On the palate butterscotch dances with honeyed chocolate, caramel and tangy nuances, which culminate in a distinctly berry and fig dominated sweetness before things are rounded out via an excursion through cinnamon valley.

Given the quality of what I have tasted, I cannot wait to try Amber Lane’s new Cask Strength expression.

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image from company website

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