Proving yet again that good music doesn’t need to have a measurable half-life the folks at Angel Air have compiled a second edition of the brilliant “First 10 Years” disc with still more rare photos, music and liner notes enough to educate any who have yet to hear the ROOSTER’s cackle.
For those who somehow missed out on ATOMIC ROOSTER in either their early seventies or early eighties lives this disc is an excellent source of immersion into the world of Progressive Heavy Metal that lay somewhere between BLACK SABBATH and ELP. A trio on record and during most of their live appearances ATOMIC ROOSTER had no regular bass player leaving organist Vincent Crane and guitarist John DuCann to bottom the music with each chord they spat. The result is something so unique, so heavy and so concusive that “Atomic” really is the best word to describe the group.
In this second volume the compilers dug a bit deeper than the “hit” records exhuming 18 tracks of nuclear fueled Rock that has served as an influence to countless numbers of groups through the years, VENOM, IRON MAIDEN, MONSTER MAGNET and KYUSS to name but a few. Not that any given number wouldn’t melt your mind as quick as your speakers there are a few that stick in the mind a bit deeper. “Friday the 13th” and “Broken Window” are thematically darker than any Black Metal band of today could ever hope to be and genuinely spooky. Joyously headbanging away to these two has caused many a neck injury but you will never hear a complaint about that.
“A Spoonful of Bromide” comes in like one of YES’s or ELP’s big show openers building itself into a full on showcase for each instrumentalist, mostly at the same time if that is conceivable! “The Rock” is a lot of groovin’ and jammin’ with a dash of horns added for extra flavor. Why this song hasn’t been mined by the Rap generation for samples is beyond me, totally seventies Funk-Rock UK style. So, with two discs, packaged as they are, bearing the name “THE FIRST 10 EXPLOSIVE YEARS” you have a virtual ATOMIC ROOSTER box set and if a group ever deserved a box set it is ATOMIC ROOSTER.