Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Dare
Label: Legend Records
Release: 2016
Rating: 4/5
Dare, the band founded in the eighties by British musician Darren Wharton, known for his stint with Irish rock legends Thin Lizzy, are back after seven years with a new studio album called »Sacred Ground«. Seven years since the last record, »Arc of the Dawn«, and Dare are with us again. With their seventh studio album overall. Speed was never their thing when it came to putting out new records.
»Sacred Ground« is finally a move back into the musical waters that made Dare so well known in the eighties, and that still make them, among AOR connoisseurs, one of the most respected bands of the genre. So I can say right away that »Sacred Ground« ties in much better with the legacy of the classic Dare albums, namely »Blood From Stone«, »Out of the Silence« and »Calm Before the Storm«, than with the previous two Dare albums, »Beneath The Shining Water« and the already mentioned »Arc Of The Dawn«. On both of those, you could clearly hear the creative tank running low.
Besides the long stretch spent writing new material, an even bigger factor taking Dare back to the AOR purism of the eighties is the return of the phenomenal guitar wizard Vinnie Burns to the lineup. His guitar sorcery brings back that proper rock directness and energetic punch AOR needs »to grab you«, and accordingly the songs sound more »honed« again, and the album as a whole, also thanks to the basic rhythmic foundation chosen for the individual tracks, is considerably faster and more dynamic than the previous two studio efforts.
Darren Wharton has once again delivered brilliant production, where it’s easy to pick out a big organic feel alongside an otherwise full sound, thanks to the many layered instrumental and vocal lines that lock into one another. That goes especially for the rich vocal harmonies wrapped around Wharton’s voice, which are the core of the pomp that every decent AOR album demands. Wharton’s voice is considered one of the most representative AOR vocals of all time, and anyone who gets into the genre will sooner or later run smack into the band’s debut, »Out of the Silence«, which today, quite rightly, counts as one of the best albums of the entire AOR era. In that respect Dare have had pretty rotten luck, since all their later releases remain in the shadow of that brilliant debut. Luckily, »Sacred Ground« gets fully respectable in sound and style, and believe me, if this new material had been written 30 years ago, it could easily have helped shape the artistic identity of »Out of the Silence«.
Eleven songs in the typical Dare tradition, packed with brilliant solos and guitar flourishes from the refined Vinnie Burns, high musical value that sparkles in infectiously catchy choruses. An album where epic grandeur and bombast move back to the front, along with the mysticism and mystery of Celtic melody that still smolders beneath the compositions.
»Sacred Ground« is a big comeback for Dare. Back in the waters of classic AOR, allowing, of course, for the 30-year gap since the genre’s golden age! Let’s hope the Burns/Wharton partnership holds up, because it doesn’t just deliver, it brings back the top-tier quality Dare once spoiled us with, and the kind we’ve always »instinctively« demanded from them. With its evocation of nostalgic AOR sentiment, »Sacred Ground« once again sells exactly what we’ve been missing from Dare for quite a while.
On July 14, 2016, Dare played as part of the 21st edition of the Bang Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany. You can read how they did at the show HERE!
Lineup
Darren Wharton – vocals, guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
Vinnie Burns – guitar
Marc Roberts – keyboards
Nigel Cutterbuck – bass
Kevin Whitehead – drums
Production
Darren Wharton
Tracklist
1. Home (4:44)
2. I’ll Hear You Pray (4:20)
3. Strength (4:16)
4. Every Time We Say Goodbye (4:01)
5. Days of Summer (3:44)
6. On My Own (3:15)
7. Until (3:58)
8. All Our Brass Was Gold (3:48)
9. You Carried Me (4:11)
10. Like the First Time (4:18)
11. Along the Heather (4:01)
