IN HEARING OF ATOMIC ROOSTER

In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster is the third full-length studio album from UK hard rock act Atomic Rooster. It´s safe to say that I haven´t enjoyed the first two albums from the band much and I kind of lost interest in trying out this album. But after waiting about a half year I´ve decided to give the band another try.

The music is basic hard rock but with lots of hammond and piano. The songs are simple in structure and there are not many links to progressive rock IMO. The two instrumentals A Spoonful Of Bromide Helps The Pulse Rate Go Down and The Rock does qualify to that description though. Where most hard rock bands are guitar driven the music on In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster is very driven by hammond organ and piano. The guitars are not very dominant and it´s a bit of a let down for me. Not because I don´t like hammond and piano but because I think the music lacks power because of the restrained nature of the guitar. I´m not very happy about the vocals either. New lead singer Pete French might suit many peoples taste but I don´t like his voice. Vincent Crane sings on the song Black Snake but his vocal performance doesn´t do anything for me either.

The musicianship is very good on the album. Tight interplay and there´s especially some interesting organ playing on the album.

The production is good even though I find that the hammond and pianos are a bit too high in the mix at times.

In Hearing Of Atomic Rooster doesn´t suit my taste at all. I just can´t hear the charm. The music lacks power and the compositions are too simple to excite me most of the time. I can´t give more than a 2 star rating.