Dante Fox started out in 1989 as one woman's quest to create a quality female fronted rock band. It took another seven years before an album was released. 1996 saw their debut, "Under Suspecion" which received a bit of critical acclaim. This was quickly followed up with "The Fire Within" in 1998. Then they were *poof* just gone, and that silence has lasted for almost a decade. Most have probably forgotten their existence by now or else written them off as a dead band. But here they are, back to the melodic rock world, a brand new album in tow.
"Under the Seven Skies" is a high energy rock album that firmly acknowledges their British pedigree but has been streaked in the sounds of classic Heart. They are all-in-all a solid rock outfit that relies heavily on the forces of powerful electric guitar riffs and the voice of Sue Willetts.
Alot of rock bands that try the female singer approach fail at that level. The songwriters seem to fumble on how best to utilize the voice, thus coupling a soft vocal lead with crazy harsh backgrounds or dropping a more forceful frontwoman into an uncomfortably delicate situation.
Dante Fox doesn't fall into this trap. They know exactly how best to use Sue as a strength and not a handicap. It also helps that her voice is strong, powerhouse and quite flexible. No sweet monotone here, she has a commanding presence and belts the higher ranges at ease with the best of them. Unfortunately the songwriters didn't exactly live up to expectations where songs themselves are concerned. There's a good deal of generic material littering the disc. Tracks which are not abysmally bad, yet they are kind of just "there" taking up space as fillers and diminishing the impact of the album.
The disc starts out well enough, moving through a strong few songs.
"The Last Goodbye" sizzles, rocking out without apology, as does the guitar grinder
"Firing Guns". A darker voice, this one dropping and holding notes with an attitude spat sassy grit. This approach is reminiscent of Ann Wilson's 70s stuff such as "Barricuda" which has that loose, relaxed, yet very heavy appeal. They are surely not afraid to play it tough and whip their sound into a heavy direction.
"Breaking Down" has the locked intensity of late 80s
Great White and rips through a powerful assortment of guitar riffs and solos. Electric edgy blues splintering bliss and the voice topping them sounds natural and just as in command. Coarse and crawling up your spine comes
"Lucky Ones", piano tickling the atmosphere like goosebumps and the chorus lightening up the darker tones emanating from the guitar growling nature of the track.
"Love Tried To Find You" begins soft and fluttery, the voice like a banner of ribbons unfurling in the wind and then the long strands are swept up by that gusty breeze and blown hither by a force like a ripping hurricane. The passion comes flowing forth as the guitars rise to the heights of the occasion and the lacy keyboards embroider their way into the crackling sing-a-long chorus. Very Heart-like, midtempo rock wrapped in a pop friendly approach.
There are a few tracks that pull the album down such as the chokingly sappy
"Hold Out Your Hand". The softer harmonies are a nice diversion but the song itself just doesn't stack up. It feels and plays out like a generic paint by numbers ballad.
"Under the Seven Skies" is overly ambitious, clocking in at nearly nine minutes, a good portion which is blown on instrumental noodling nonsense. The epic feel is strangely artificial when compared to the honest rock found elsewhere on the release. Tight progressive moments have been strung together with mismatched patches of sweet singing and boorish guitarplay. Atleast there was some innovation put to use here and not another tiresome retread.
"Goodbye to You" is watered down to the commercial pop country level. A storyteller's perspective is used here, musing on a relationship, third person style, and portraying an innocent sweetness in the vocal tone and approach. However, its repetitive to the point of exhaustion. The generic country pop feel makes matters worse. Average rock on
"Save Me" makes it just underwhelming. It's like they took a generic songwriting program and point and clicked their way into a track using existing templates. It doesn't suck, it doesn't stand out, it doesn't do anything but exist. Blah.
So
"Save Me" brings up an excellent point about this disc. It's mismatched, and often underwhelming, becoming buried in its commercial generic mindset. After so many years and such a good vocalist on their side, one has come to expect more for such a long awaited release. As it is,
"Under the Seven Skies" gives the listener a smattering of catchy hard rockin tracks and not much else. More boring yawns than enticing memorable moments, and what a shame it is too. The huge melodic bombastic pieces that made up the wealth of their early days is long missed and mostly gone. There are better albums overall out there, leaving
Dante Fox just a lingering memory on the dusty shelves.
Written by
Alanna Saturday, May 5, 2007
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