Label: Legend Records
Release date: 1. 4. 2022
Production: Darren Wharton
Album length: 41.59 min
Genre: AOR/hard rock
Rating: 8.0/10
Dare are by now Irish AOR legends, and hard rock (and, to a degree, folk rock) legends too. Their 1988 debut »Out of the Silence« brought the band to the doorstep of the biggest names in AOR, but after the (controversially) somewhat heavier »Blood From Stone« (1991), it never quite happened. For fans and connoisseurs of the band, and there are quite a few, it’s encouraging that original guitarist Vinny Burns has been working with Darren Wharton again for more than ten years now. The result was the more than solid »Sacred Ground« (2016), followed by the re-recorded and re-released album »Out of the Silence II«. Add to that the stepped-up live activity of the last few years (before the Covid-19 scenery, of course). So on that front, Dare have never been as close to their beginnings as they are right now. In this very moment.
»Road To Eden« is a mix of the commercial-success days of the late eighties and what Wharton did later, which is what kept Dare going and standing their ground. Burns sounds even more focused and front and center on guitar. He and Wharton have once again cemented that chemistry that defined the first two albums Burns played on. The guitarist sounds noticeably better integrated than on »Sacred Ground«, especially when you weigh the always lavish keyboard arrangements.
Melody, sound, Wharton’s recognizable vocal character. Nitpicky production. The interplay of guitar and keyboards, which the very good predecessor, perhaps a bit too cautious, never fully pulled off, is dialed up even further this time. That means Burns has finally settled into the Dare crew. Fully integrated. That Celtic melody you could call ‘folk’ is something the band achieves with keyboards and guitar motifs, and especially with Wharton’s melodies. The first such typical Dare moment comes already with the song Cradle To The Grave. In that sense, it pairs very nicely with the vibe of the Celtic-sounding parts of »Out Of the Silence«, on the new album for example I Always Will, as well as the title track.
There’s not much complicated about Dare. The musicality is lavish and rich, the pompous theater and bombast There’s not much complicated about Dare. The musicality is lavish and rich, the pompous theater and bombast of the album, of which there’s plenty on »Road To Eden« too, are achieved by the band with fairly elementary progressions of basic chords, which is a guarantee of high musical impact from the get-go. Even if it comes at the expense of more predictability. But with Dare you have to be ready for that. That’s how Wharton has always worked. So no, we’re not reinventing the wheel here either. In that sense, Wharton could hypothetically be a singer-songwriter or solo performer, singing and playing the very same songs with an acoustic guitar. The title track sums that up, and Lovers And Friends does so even more, and for those looking for a harder sonic edge on the album, it will surely be the last straw and surplus to requirements (partly because of its ‘sappiness’ too).
The album opens with intensity. With Born in the Storm, by far the thunderiest track on the record. A great phrase, a chorus that gets under your skin in an instant. Everything just clicks into place right away. The close of the album is also faster and louder, with The Devil Rides Tonight and the brilliant closing composition Thy Kingdom Come. Dare can also get dark in their theatricality, as hinted at in the melancholic but mood-grabbing Fire Never Fades. That song has intense contrasts between calm sections and a part ruled by sharpened guitar phrasing. Only The Good Die Young takes a similar approach to composing, except that in how the lead melodies develop, it’s more rousing compared to Fire Never Fades.
In short. A really beautiful, polished new Dare album. It grabs even harder than »Sacred Ground« (2016) and delivers the moment in Dare’s career that’s closest to the very beginning, when they were on the verge of shooting up among the most recognizable names on the AOR scene. A combination, then. Of the early days and the later period. Successful and convincing in every way.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Born in the Storm
2. Cradle to The Grave
3. Fire Never Fades
4. Road to Eden
5. Lovers and Friends
6. Only the Good Die Young
7. I Always Will
8. Grace
9. The Devil Rides Tonight
10. Thy Kingdom Come
Lineup:
Darren Wharton – vocals, keyboards
Vinny Burns – guitar
Nigel Clutterbuck – bass
Kev Whitehead – drums
Marc Roberts – keyboards
