I met Darren Wharton a few years ago when he toured Australia with Thin Lizzy and you couldn’t meet a nicer bloke, we chatted about music, about Lizzy and about the old days but I sort of skirted around the subject of Dare, as to be honest after ‘Out of the Silence’ I sort of lost touch. After that night I swiftly soaked up the back catalogue and knew I’d been missing out.
Now that I’m a fully signed-up fan I’m absolutely taken aback to say that this 7th album could well be Dare’s best, ever.
What strikes you most is how well these songs stick in your head and it comes from a combination of great songwriting, some memorable guitar licks from Vinny Burns and Wharton’s superb vocals.
It all starts with ‘Home’ a song that builds beautifully, full of melody and yearning before the even more heartfelt ‘I’ll Hear You Pray’ adds a depth and intensity so sweet and sharp that it almost comes too soon in terms of where its sits in the album, but that is the real beauty of ‘Sacred Ground’ – it is all this good.
‘Strength’ starts with piano and cascading harmonies to build beautifully on a canvas shot with haunting guitars; whilst the next track ‘Every Time we Say Goodbye’ shows both what a great singer and songwriter Wharton is, it’s a gentle ballad equal of anything here.
The rest of the album is just as good with the mid-tempo ‘All Our Brass Was Gold’ and the moody ‘Like the First Time’ standing out alongside the final track ‘Along the Heather’ which adds a nice warmth to close proceedings.
Albums like this don’t come round too often and when they do you need to savour them. This may be on the lighter side of melodic Rock for some, but to me it’s like a fine meal full of subtlety, comfort and surprise and at the end it leaves you more than satisfied.
