Atomic Rooster - 2025 - Circle The Sun

(37:44; Esoteric Antenna)






















I surely cannot be the only person who was stunned to hear that a brand-new Atomic Rooster album was being released as I had thought the band had broken up in the Eighties, being permanently laid to rest with the death of Vincent Crane in 1989, as how could there be a band without him? Through all the membership trials and tribulations he was the only constant, and I consider myself highly fortunate that the band played the student union at my university more than 40 years ago when he was again joined by John Du Cann and Paul Hammond (and were incredible).

In 2016, Vincent’s widow apparently let ex-members Pete French (‘In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster’) and Steve "Boltz" Bolton (‘Made In England’) resurrect the name, even though the former was in the band only in 1971 and the latter 1971-1972. Since then they have been touring and there have been some changes with the current line-up now Bolton (guitars, vocals), Adrian Gautrey (keyboards, vocals), Shugg Millidge (bass) and Paul Everett (drums). I guess the only question here really is why? This is not Atomic Rooster, although huge kudos to Gautrey for capturing an amazing Hammond sound. Some of the songs, such as “Rebel Devil”, sound as if they are an attempt to copy material from 50+ years ago. I am sure these guys go down a storm on the live circuit as they obviously have a real knack for capturing the Atomic Rooster sound and probably do wonderful takes on “Devil’s Answer” and “Tomorrow Night” but it is disingenuous to say they are the real deal. This is for diehard fans only. 

Kev Rowland, December 2025

Links:
https://www.theatomicrooster.com/
https://www.esotericrecordings.com/antenna.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tonnen von Hall - 2025 - Ein Abdruck vom Messer im Herzen

Image
(61:45; Iapetus [Unsung Records] ) Track list: 1. Erdmantel 4:05 2. Vorhalle 0:40 3. Antlitz 4:12 4. Stahlhalle 1:01 5. Kraken 5:02 6. Mitralsaal 0:55 7. Kanister 5:56 8. Sockelwald 0:49 9. Kaiserlicht 5:46 10. Schacht 0:43 11. Zivilisationsfolie 4:27 12. Nebelgarten 0:58 13. Donnermesser 6:41 14. Blutrille 1:01 15. Rauschmitte 5:22 16. Klingensaal 0:50 17. Endgegner 3:39 18. Ätzung 0:41 19. Thronfolge 3:09 20. Ein Abdruck vom Messer im Herzen 4:55 21. Herzkammer 0:53 Line-up: Markus Reuter - guitars, loops, sounds Alexander Paul Dowerk - guitars Asaf Sirkis - drums, percussion, vocals Prolusion. Germany based band Tonnen Von Hall was established back in 2022 or thereabouts, and the threesome consisting of Marks Reuter, Alexander Paul Dowerk and Asaf Sirkis has been developing the style and sound of this new formation ever since. The results of that process first came to light on an EP released towards the end of 2024. A few months later the band have now released their debut album ...
Read more

Thirteen of Everything - 2023 - Time and Other Delusions

Image
(68:22; Basement Avatar Records) Track list: 1. Timeline 8:57 2. Alternate Life 12:02 3. Where the Time Goes 5:32 4. The Penultimate Flight of Armando the Pigeon 7:11 5. The King of Istanbul 10:35 6. Warmth and Darkness 7:32 7. Count All the Days 16.33 Line-up: Brett Cosby - guitars Mick Peters - Chapman stick, bass, pedals, vocals Ted Thomas - drums, percussion, vocals Bob Villwock - keyboards with: Thad Miller - keyboards Prolusion. US band Thirteen of Everything has been a going concern for a bit over 20 years, releasing their initial demo back in 2002 with official albums following in 2005 and 2019 respectively. Following what has been a brief pause between albums for this band they are now preparing to launch their third studio album "Time and Other Delusions", which will be released on US label Basement Avatar Records. Analysis. In terms of the different variations one can find in the progressive rock universe, Thirteen of Everything resides safely inside the symphonic ...
Read more

Deaton Lemay Project - 2022 - The Fifth Element

Image
(63:04; Deaton Lemay Project) Track list: 1. The Great Awakening 5:32 2. A Different Place in Time 7:24 3. Dragonfly 3:35 4. The Nightmare 4:28 5. Exordium 6:24 - Elements of Life Suite 6. Overture 4:43 7. Fire 6:10 8. Water 6:11 9. Air 4:19 10. Earth 6:53 11. Music 7:25 Line-up: Roby Deaton - keyboards, guitars, vocals Craig LeMay - drums, percussion with: Hadi Kiani - vocals Ehsan Imani - guitars Josh Mark Raj - guitars John Haddad - bass Charles Berthoud - bass Liza Evans - violin Prolusion. US band DEATON LEMAY PROJECT started out officially back in 2018, following a 25 year long period of gestation. They released their debut album "Day After Yesterday" in 2019, and following what I suspect has been a rather busy planning and recording period during the years of the pandemic the creative twosome of Deaton and Lemay are back with their second album "The Fifth Element" at the start of 2022. Analysis. While the fifth element apparently used to be defined as aether ...
Read more