Rude Mood by Hayden Birmingham is, first and foremost, an album built around the electric guitar. Across its 12 instrumental tracks, roaring riffs, heavy power chords and extended lead passages remain firmly at the centre of the music. There is little ambiguity about what Birmingham wants to deliver: instrumental hard rock driven by guitar virtuosity, muscular rhythms and the unapologetic excess associated with the genre’s louder decades.
From the opening moments, the guitar rarely gives up its dominant position. The rhythm sections establish solid foundations with heavy drums, bass and distorted power chords, but much of the attention inevitably goes toward the lead guitar. Solos arrive frequently and confidently, moving between fast runs, sustained notes, bends and melodic phrases without allowing the album to lose its momentum.
Guitar at the Heart of Rude Mood by Hayden Birmingham
There is a distinctly retro quality running throughout the record. Rude Mood often brings to mind the guitar-driven hard rock of the late 1980s and 1990s, when an immediately recognisable riff and an extravagant solo could form the backbone of an entire track. There are echoes of classic-rock guitar language as well, from the melodic theatricality associated with Brian May to the blues-inflected hard-rock vocabulary of players such as Slash.
Yet Birmingham’s playing is not solely about speed. One of the more enjoyable qualities of the album is the control behind the solos. Even when the guitar becomes deliberately excessive, the phrasing remains clear and the lead lines maintain a sense of direction. Tracks such as “Getcha Pull” embrace the heavier and more swaggering side of this approach, while “A Day Late, And A Dollar Short” continues the album’s combination of tightly constructed riffs and prominent lead work.
The rhythm guitar deserves attention too. Beneath the solos, thick power chords and recurring riffs give each piece its basic identity. Combined with the forceful drum and bass parts, they create a consistently dense hard-rock sound that allows the lead guitar to move freely above it.
This consistency also makes the record particularly easy to simply put on and let run. Rather than demanding close attention to a larger narrative or concept, it functions almost like an extended celebration of the electric guitar. One riff gives way to another, another solo arrives, and the energy rarely drops for long.
The album is also framed by two shorter, more atmospheric pieces. Both the opening and closing tracks step away from the dominant electric-guitar attack and instead use acoustic guitars alongside strings, creating a softer soundscape. The effect works almost like a pair of bookends: the first track prepares the listener for the heavier material to come, while the final piece allows the album to settle and breathe before it ends.
Ultimately, Rude Mood by Hayden Birmingham knows precisely what kind of record it wants to be. It is loud, technically driven and proudly indebted to the golden age of guitar-heavy hard rock. For listeners who still enjoy big riffs, powerful rhythm sections and the simple pleasure of hearing an electric guitarist given plenty of space to play, Birmingham provides more than enough solos to keep the amplifiers roaring.
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