Turns out it is legit and Atomic Rooster are alive and pecking! OK there is no Vincent Crane (RIP) the name is kept alive by guitarist Steve (Boltz) Bolton who made his debut with the band shortly after the release of ‘In Hearing Of’ playing on the North American tour supporting the release of said album. He then went on to being involved on the following album ‘Made in England’ which also saw the debut of ex Colosseum singer Chris Farlowe.

Bolton only lasted in the lineup for one album and was replaced on the next album ‘Nice ‘n’ Greasy’ by a certain John Goodsall from Brand X, known on the sleeve notes for contractual reasons as ‘Johnny Mandala’.

So, he has the credentials but does the album do the name of Atomic Rooster due respect? In a word , yes!

From the getgo this album is drenched by the familiar sound reminiscent of Vincent Crane’s Hammond organ thanks to keyboard player Adrian Gautrey summoning the spirit of the man himself. That is not to say that the Hammond dominates this album it just does what it needs to do, be it soloing wildly or tinkling away in the background which Crane was particularly adept at. Gautrey has nailed it!

As a whole the album hangs together very nicely. Thankfully the temptation to recreate the sound of the band as they were and just do an album of tracks that echoed that was obviously not on the bands radar. This is an album of refreshingly new songs each of it’s own merit but all stay faithful to the epoch of Atomic Rooster as Vincent Crane envisioned it! The album covers all the bands many facets musically, heavy rock, psych, prog, blues and more.

One criticism I can level is that all the songs are quite short, the longest track being ‘Never 2 Lose’ which clocks in at just over 5 minutes. This doesn’t allow for extended musical passages so therefore leaves the listener wanting more. That said there is plenty to enjoy here!

I don’t normally identify individual tracks in reviews but I must mention two songs here; ‘Pillow’ because it has a totally different vibe and that makes it a refreshing break, strangely refreshing because it would sit very nicely on a morbid Leonard Cohen album. Secondly ‘Last Night’ simply because the general feel of the song is reminiscent of Roosters “hit single” ‘Tomorrow Night’ which got them an appearance on Top of the Pops. Intentional? Who knows?

Is it Prog? In the main I don’t think so, there are many proggy moments largely due to Adrian Gautreys keys but if questioned under duress I would classify this as Heavy Rock, albeit with a Proggy edge.

At the end of the day whether you agree that this is a legit Atomic Rooster album or are of the  persuasion that there is no Rooster without Vincent Crane there is no getting away from the fact that this is a great album which sits very well within the Atomic Rooster roster! Well, I think so anyway! Ignore it at your loss!