DARE – Blood From Stone [Japan HR/HM 1000 Vol.5 series Limited Release] (2022) HQ

Universal Music Japan did it again, a new campaign of their ‘HR/HM 1000‘ series – the Limited Release reissue of long time out of print albums from their Hard Rock / Heavy Metal catalog at the price of 1000 Yen = about 8 USD.
Now it’s time for the second 2022 batch, ”HR-HM 1000 Vol.5”. And as part of these there’s DARE second outing “Blood From Stone“.
Dare delivered a superb AOR debut album, but for this second effort leader Darren Wharton decided to go for a Melodic Hard Rock direction… and what a killer record it is in this genre.
By 1989-90 Melodic Hard Rock was ruling the Rock scene and Wharton, perhaps also influenced by his previous stint with Thin Lizzy, opted for a more muscular musical approach, so “Blood From Stone” turned to be a rocking affair.

Wharton’s vocals here are harder, grittier, filled with passion n’ pain, whilst guitarist Vinnie Burns finds more room to deliver his melodious yet sharper riffs & solos, all but negating the need for Brian Cox’s artistic keyboard additions.
Yeah, “Blood From Stone” is the ‘different’ album from all Dare discography, so if you’re looking for crunching guitar riffs, big rhythm section and arena choruses check out tracks like ‘Wings of Fire’ and ‘We Don’t Need A Reason’.

Then ‘Surrender’ is influenced by the American hair metal scene, ‘Chains’ has a British hard rock pedigree on it, and ‘Cry Wolf’ and ‘Live To Fight Another Day’ are strong pieces of Melodic Hard made 1990.
‘Lies’ is a superb power ballad, ‘Breakout’ is one of my favorites with its huge, layered chorus, and for the end there’s some Thunder / Bon Jovi – that’s meaning equal British / American sounds – in ‘Real Love’.

“Blood From Stone” is an album that cries out a proper remaster. Dare’s recording label brought in a big-budget producer in Keith Olsen… but gave him absolutely no budget. The result is a slightly muddy sound, but the songs are so awesome that to be honest, I don’t care.
This reissue of the album sounds much better to my ears, and I think it’s the best version you can get, as I doubt “Blood From Stone” will be remastered in a near future.
A MUST

ＵＮＩＶＥＲＳＡＬ ＭＵＳＩＣ ＪＡＰＡＮ 【UICY～79892】
Ｈ Ｒ / Ｈ Ｍ １０００ ＳＥＲＩＥＳ

01 – Wings Of Fire
02 – We Don’t Need A Reason
03 – Surrender
04 – Chains
05 – Lies
06 – Live To Fight Another Day
07 – Cry Wolf
08 – Breakout
09 – Wild Heart
10 – Real Love

Darren Wharton – vocals
Vinny Burns – guitars
Brian Cox – keyboards
Nigel Clutterbuck – bass
Greg Morgan drums

BUY
www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICY-79892