Sometimes it's astonishing how far the opinions of one release go apart. In January sound check of Rock Hard, November Red by DANTE reaches a average grade of 6.4 as PowerMetal.de rates it at 7.87 (No. 5 in the ranking) in the same month. Well, this is not comparable exactly as shown in other examples (PowerMetal.de tends to give somewhat higher ratings and has more prog-affinity). However, in advance of my review it was surprising and it increased my curiosity further.

Admittedly, it took a while until I got warm with November Red. During the first hearing, I was not impressed. Fortunately that changed continuously and that’s the way it should be in case of good Prog. I guess I had to get used to the vocals, which are commendable independent and diverse, but at first the rough manner didn’t really fit to the rest for me. In parts of The Day That Bled singer Alexander Göhs even reminds me at Zak Stevens (CircleIICircle, ex-Savatage). Immersing oneself in this mixture of Augsburg-based DANTE there is quite a lot of to discover. This especially applies for the three over 10-minute tracks, of which the opener Birds Of Passage (Caught In A Dream) and especially final November Red (In Praise Of Dreams) are the highlights of the disc. Beautifully Broken is an emotional (not cheesy!) ballad and the jaunty Shores Of Time pleases with its power and the peaceful and then again faster and harder midsection.

Regarding technical abilities, DANTE have everything which is needed to create virtuosic (Power) Prog (including fine guitar/keyboard duels, further great keyboard ideas and a differentiated clear sound). Compositionally, it seems that there is still potential as the attention of the listener isn’t captured over the whole playtime of November Red. Songs like The Lone And Level Sands and Allan are nice, but just not compelling enough. With this little flaw erased in the future there’s no reason for DANTE being more popular as they already deserve it now! I hope the boys find their way and further steps. This is hard enough as they have to overcome the tragic passing of guitarist, bass-player and founding member Markus Berger earlier this year. Anyway they announced to go on, continuing the work within the meaning of the deceased colleague and friend.