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Sunday Old School: Atomkraft

Speed metal is a genre that’s quite hard to define. Many bands are slapped with the tag while also labelled “heavy metal” or “thrash metal,” which most people agree are the genres that bookend Speed. Whatever the case, there are some excellent bands tagged with the label, many of whom found critical, if not commercial success. Today, we’ll take a look at one such band, which like some of Britain’s finest metal groups, formed in the North East, specifically New castle. A band whose name literally encapsulates power, Atomkraft.

The band was originally put together by vocalist, Tony Dolan and drummer, Paul Spillet as a punk outfit which went by the name of Moral Fibre, recruiting guitar players, Ian Legg and Chris Taylor along the way, though they would mostly operate as a trio. Their moniker was changed after Taylor returned from a trip to Bremen in North West Germany, with badges sporting the anti nuclear power slogan, "Atomkraft, Nein Danke!" and the group decided to take the first word for a new name, feeling that it suited their new, heavy metal approach better.

Ironically, Chris Taylor was soon removed from the band as Dolan and Spillet felt he wasn’t metal enough and was replaced by a former art classmate of Dolan’s, Steve White, while Dolan himself also handled guitar duties after another of his art class alumni, Mark Irvine joined on bass. This lineup only played four shows before Irvine was persuaded to quit by his parents, leading Dolan to return to bass duties. They soon put together their first demo, "Demon," which yielded relatively poor results, though they wouldn’t be able to try and correct this until two years later when they recorded a second demo, "Total Metal." The demo was passed along to Whiplash magazine owner and radio entrepreneur, Sam Kress, who liked it enough to promise them a feature in the magazine.

After the demo was released however, Dolan moved to Canada to help his sister out, with Spillet joining him a short while later. They eventually came across the copy of Whiplash which which discussed Atomkraft very positively and featured them alongside bands such as Metallica and Anthrax, as well as fellow Geordies, Raven and Venom. Inspired by this, the duo started working on new material, moving back to England in the process, although they would later have a falling out over a woman. While visiting Neat Records to see if they knew any available drummers, Dolan met Venom frontman, Chronos who put him in contact with his manager’s brother, Ged Wolf, a drummer who was looking for a new band.

After some searching, they found a sixteen year old guitar prodigy named, Rob Mathew and recorded a three track demo, "Pour the Metal In." The demo received a very good response from fanzines and they were soon signed up to Neat, which was both local and legendary, who released their debut, and to date only studio album, "Future Warriors." The majority of metal magazines gave the record a highly positive review, with the general consensus being that the band sounded like a more refined and polished, Venom. The success of the album led them to perform at some high profile shows, including opening for Slayer at The Marquee in London, where they wrecked their equipment in frustration after three songs, as well joining label mates Venom and American thrashers, Exodus for a tour.

To follow the album, the trio got to work on new material, which was recorded but never released in its original guise, as Dolan left after a disagreement over management, with the singer favouring a London based manager over Venom’s management. As many people know however, he somewhat ironically would join Venom in 1988, replacing Chronos, who had helped with the building of the "Future Warriors" lineup. In his place came Ian Davison Swift, who joined from the recently defunct, Avenger, along with his former bandmate, D.C. Rage on bass. Swift’s vocals were first heard on the "Your Mentor" demo, before recording two new songs and adding it to the demo to form the "Queen of Death" EP.

Amidst more re-recordings and lineup confusion, Tony Dolan returned to the band to replace D.C. Rage, although Swift retained his vocalist position. They seemed to regain some momentum after this, releasing a new EP, "Conductors of Noize" and opening for Nuclear Assault and Agent Steel on their UK tour, on which the opening date was a lengthy affair that also featured Onslaught and Max Penalty. Towards the end of the tour, the band brought back D.C. Rage, while Dolan switched back to guitar, making the group a five piece, with the intention of creating a thicker sound for their next album. However, following a European tour with Nasty Savage and Exumer, both Swift and Dolan left the band, with the latter taking up the previously mentioned offer to join Venom. Searching for replacements proved to be difficult and Atomkraft folded soon after.

In 2004, Neat Records released an Atomkraft compilation album, which sparked some renewed interest in the group, leading Dolan to bring back the band with a new lineup to perform some live shows. It was a long time before new material surfaced however, 2011 to be exact, when Atomkraft released the "Cold Sweat" EP, which featured a cover of the Thin Lizzy song of the same name, along with three new tracks. From then on, Atomkraft have mostly performed live shows, amidst some lineup changes and talk of a new album, "The Dark Angel," which so far has no release date, while Dolan has been spending time with former Venom bandmate, Mantas in M-Pire of Evil and Venom Inc., the latter of which features another former Venom member, Abaddon. Whether or not Atomkraft release any new material remains to be seen, but their limited, yet powerful catalogue means that the band will remain an underground treasure for years to come.

Atomkraft - "Sell It Fast"

Atomkraft - "Demolition"

Atomkraft - "Devils Reign"

Atomkraft - "Total Metal"

Atomkraft - "Dead Man's Hand"

Atomkraft - "Cold Sweat"