Returning with a monster of a riff.
While Jack White is a man of many, many talents, he’s still at his absolute best when he’s playing monstrous rock songs that feel classic and brand new at the same time. You can hear that in the punk attitude of The White Stripes’ “Fell in Love with a Girl,” the landslide crunch of “Salute Your Solution” by The Raconteurs or stop-and-start hits of “Sixteen Saltines” from his solo work. You can add “Fear of the Dawn” to that list of excellent, addictive riffage.
The title track of one of two albums he’s releasing this year brings with it a monstrous snarl of a guitar riff, an absolutely filthy tone that sounds like a creature rising from the muck to stomp its way through the landscape. White adds a bit more edge than usual to his voice too, letting the music guide him into a blustering growl. And to stop the track from getting stuck in the dirt, his needly solo shoots out like spikes launched at the sky. It’s the most fun White’s sounded like he’s had in years.
Fear of the Dawn is out on April 8 via Third Man Records, and White’s second album for 2022, Entering Heaven Alive drops a few months later on July 22.