ATOMIC FURY – Atomic Fury II

Atomic Fury currently is a three-piece band hailing from Long Island, New York. 2006 has seen them celebrating five years together, and receiving local airplay as well as competing at the Emergenza Festival and Long Island Music Festival, of which they ended semi-place at the latter. Understandably, Atomic Fury II is their second, self-financed, full-length album, available for streaming via their Web site. Their first, self-titled, release was released in 2003.

Quite instantly, on first listen to Atomic Fury II, it’s clear these guys can write good songs. From the get-go with “Red Hot & Blue,” the recipe is no-frills, straight-ahead Metal-induced Hard Rock; it doesn’t mess around and grabs at an instant. Likeliness and vibes take the listener back to the early 80’s heydays of bands like Anvil, Holocaust, Mötley Crüe, KISS, and Riot style-wise, with touches of Van Halen. Feel-good tunes are served aplenty on the disc.

Unfortunately, this is one of those cases where the vocals degrade the overall impression of the songs. When the vocals aren’t trembling, they come across whining and weak. Still, lackluster vocals aside, the strength of the songs shines through quite easily, and one could only imagine how impressive Atomic Fury II would come across with an accomplished singer, even if nothing was done to adjust the somewhat muddy production, where the guitar-sound, as it is, still has some of it’s raw, old-school charm, though it doesn’t nearly give the bass and drum aspects the justice it deserves. Truth be said, although the production value could certainly be improved several-fold, Atomic Fury probably are the type of band that is better off not perfectly produced.

“Love Ya Later” brings in horn sounds, to accompany the swing-filled riffs. It’s a funny touch, and sounds like the Metal rendition tune for a homecoming dance. “Downtown” sees the band rapping in unison before the guitars kick in. “Stop Drop Rock N Roll” is possibly what Heavy Metal could have sounded like had it existed in the 50’s. A slow, Stoner-like riff is what “Paint It Rust” evolves around, before picking up pace. “Cannonball” as well as “Get Ready” is so NWOBHM-like in their grip-laden delivery… one cannot help being smitten. “In One Ear” sees the band go acoustic, while “Black Cactus” consists of drive as well as slightly odd time signatures. “Got It Now,” even in the overall direction of Atomic Fury II and it’s setting, stands out as a party track.

Fun trivia: the line “I don’t feel tardy” during the last track sounds suspiciously like its sampled off Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher,” but that’s probably a mere coincidence.

As said, Atomic Fury sure knows how to write songs and are accomplished players already. Now, all they need is to recruit a proper singer, pronto, and they are on the go to greater things. Atomic Fury II comprises 14 tracks, and still the quality is stable and the material joyful throughout. That, in itself, is worthy of acknowledgement.

Lineup

Andy Schroeder – Lead Vocals, Bass, Rhythm Guitar
Bob Schroeder – Drums, Backup Vocals
Dave Claeson – Lead Guitar, Backup Vocals