Dali Van Gogh – New Blood, Old Wounds

Dali Van Gogh
New Blood, Old Wounds
Label: Wormholedeath
Out: June 24th, 2022
Playing time: 19:58

Dali Van Gogh are a Hard Rock band from Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada), founded in 2008 by guitarist Isaac Kent. During this time there have been many line-up changes. The last big break was probably one/two years ago with the leaving of long time-lead singer John Scotto. He had to leave the band for health reasons. His job was taken over by the former co-lead singer Rachelle Moreau. Nevertheless, the band has released five albums so far, most recently “Under Her Spell” in 2019, followed by a few singles, the songs of which have now been collected on the EP “New Blood, Old Wounds”, released in June. 

The opener “Little Hell” starts with the famous opening bars from “Für Elise” (Ludwig van Beethoven – piano piece in A minor), which sounds here as if it were played from an old gramophone. But soon the Canadians rock out. Singer Rachelle Moreau is convincing from the start, with a slightly punky attitude.  But don’t worry, Dali Van Gogh are more Rock than Punk. And the heavy guitar riffs and solos dominate. On “Out For Blood” the singer sometimes screams her head off. Speaking of soul, in the somewhat slower passages she proves that she has a lot of soul in her voice. Heavily distorted guitars introduce “Bury The Lead”. Later, hard riffs are again in the foreground. And they can also do it quieter and highly melodic, as is proven on “Savanna”. On the original version of the single “Boneyard” John was still on the microphone. Later, the song was re-recorded with Rachelle. And a video was recorded for it. The guitars fry one last time. And Rachel can prove that she is a worthy successor. And how the EP began. That’s how it ends. With a few bars from “Für Elise”.

Baptism of fire passed. That’s how you can describe Dali van Gogh’s first EP with their new lead singer Rachelle Moreau. Certainly, she has had a big part in the singing before. But now in full time she does a very good job. And her three comrades-in-arms support her strongly on the instruments. For me, Dali van Gogh are a great new discovery. Now they have to prove that this also works on a full album.

Dali Van Gogh – Little Hell (Official Music Video): https://youtu.be/UTXZf366WgI

Lineup:

Rachelle Moreau – Lead Vocal, Keytar
Isaac Kent – Guitar
Lance Hicks – Bass
Johnny Moore – Drums

Track list:

• Little Hel
• Out For Blood
• Bury The Lead
• Savanna
• Boneyard