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💿 Release Details
Artist: Atomic Opera
Title: Penguin Dust
Label: Retroactive Records
Catalog Number: RRCD2254
UPC: 732131698503
Format: CD
Packaging: Jewel Case with 12-Page Booklet
Pressing: Limited to 300 Copies
Original Release: 1997
Release Date: September 2026
🔥 Key Collector Details
- Retroactive Records Legends Remastered Edition
- Limited edition pressing of only 300 CDs
- Originally released independently in 1997
- Features Frank Hart on vocals, bass, guitars, and cello
- Features original Atomic Opera drummer Mark Poindexter
- Features Kemper Crabb on mandolin and vocals
- Produced by Frank Hart
- Original album mastered by Ty Tabor at Alien Beans
- Remastered by Rob Colwell for this Retroactive Records edition
- Features new liner notes by Frank Hart
- Deluxe 12-page booklet featuring lyrics, artwork, photos, credits, and new liner notes
- For Fans Of: King's X, Galactic Cowboys, The Jelly Jam, Ty Tabor, and adventurous progressive hard rock
🎸 About Penguin Dust
Originally released independently in 1997, Atomic Opera's Penguin Dust is one of the most distinctive and adventurous albums in the band's catalog—and now Retroactive Records brings it back as part of the Legends Remastered Edition.
Following the acclaimed For Madmen Only, Atomic Opera entered a very different chapter. Band founder Frank Hart continued writing and recording, taking the band into decidedly independent territory. The resulting Penguin Dust retained the heavy, melodic, progressive foundation of Atomic Opera while pushing the band's music into even more unusual and adventurous territory.
Heavy guitars and memorable melodies collide with progressive arrangements, rich vocal textures, cello, mandolin, and percussion. It is music that refuses to sit comfortably inside a single category—heavy without being conventional metal, progressive without losing the song, and melodic without sacrificing its edge.
At the center is Frank Hart on vocals, bass, guitars, and cello. Original Atomic Opera drummer Mark Poindexter is behind the kit, while Kemper Crabb contributes mandolin and vocals. Todd Bragg and Garrett Buell add additional percussion to “Water Grave.”
The songs are unmistakably Atomic Opera—musically adventurous and lyrically willing to wrestle with faith, culture, doubt, and our assumptions about God and ourselves. From the opening attack of “Make a God” through “Stop the Rain,” “God of Hate,” “November,” “Spirit of the Age,” “Water Grave,” and the closing “Fever Dream,” Penguin Dust is an album built for repeated listening.
The original album was produced by Frank Hart and mastered by Ty Tabor at Alien Beans. For this special Retroactive Records Legends Remastered Edition, Penguin Dust has been remastered by Rob Colwell and is presented in a jewel case with a deluxe 12-page booklet featuring new liner notes from Frank Hart.
Limited to only 300 copies, this is an essential piece of Atomic Opera history and a welcome return for one of the band's most adventurous releases.
For fans of King's X, Galactic Cowboys, The Jelly Jam, Ty Tabor, and adventurous progressive hard rock
🎵 Track Listing
- Make a God – 3:56
- Stop the Rain – 4:39
- Fade – 3:16
- Thirst – 3:23
- God of Hate – 3:04
- November – 4:31
- Spirit of the Age – 2:39
- Freak Show – 4:40
- Water Grave – 3:58
- Fever Dream – 4:35
🎶 Song Titles
Make a God / Stop the Rain / Fade / Thirst / God of Hate / November / Spirit of the Age / Freak Show / Water Grave / Fever Dream
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