Jack White - Fear of the Dawn

Album Review

Apr 11

Jack White

Fear of the Dawn

Fear of the Dawn is not a right turn for White; it’s a realignment to his core values as a pivotal icon in Rock history.

The first of two albums coming in 2022 from Jack White is incredibly frantic, urgent, and energetic - White hit the studio in a full-out sprint.

While his previous record, Boarding House Reach, got claustrophobic from too many ideas in too many places - Fear of the Dawn accelerates to a top speed and hits the cruise control. This generation’s last living rockstar flexes his rock n’ roll credentials with an epic and fun record.

White feels free from any restraints on Fear of the Dawn. It’s full expression with no thought to over-editing or holding back. It’s raw, it’s real, and it’s bizarre at times. What would a Rock album from Jack White be if not a little weird?

The opener, “Taking Me Back,” sets the tone - we’re not screwing around here.

We’re going to have guitar solos everywhere.

We’re going to have quintessential White snarls and sneers on the mic.

We will have Jack White showing the rest of the Rock world he is all we have left.

The opener blends nicely and keeps the pedal floored into track two, the title track, “Fear of the Dawn,” - which might just be the most direct Rock song in the White repertoire.

If you’re driving to these songs, you’re going to be speeding.

Fear of the Dawn explores but never strays too far from the path of an ice-cold rock n' roll album. There is a massive amount of attention within each tune being pulled in different directions, but all roads lead to the same compelling and pressing feeling.

The album sometimes comes across as Jack White running around the studio in one long jam session. Trying to jam as many sounds and instruments into each off-kilter bar. "Into the Twilight" clings too long to a riff that just doesn't have enough meat on the bone to fill our belly.

At other times, White and company may have fallen in love with riffs that don't have that much to give in the first place. While "Eosophobia" adds a needed dimension on the record - reprising it again five tracks later without changing it a great deal didn't serve a purpose to the overall story.

One thing is for sure, White isn't sitting down for one second during the entire recording of Fear of the Dawn. It has determined inertia pushing it forward, maybe not always knowing which direction it's going but always picking up momentum down the mountain.

Fear of the Dawn is not a right turn for White; it's a realignment to his core values as a pivotal icon in Rock history. It's the heaviest album in his career and where he feels most at peace with the sound he's created.

The outro, "Shedding My Velvet," draws lyrical inspiration from Italian philosopher Thomas Aquinas, who said, "better to illuminate than merely to shine." On it, the song swells and morphs and sprinkles a little from each tool in his toolkit; the dancing keys, the ripping guitar riffs, and the vocal bite. It neatly wraps up a sweaty 40 minutes, with a clean guitar looking back over the record with a smile.

Aquinas's message was that it is better to pass on what we have learned to others rather than to just contemplate. With Fear of the Dawn, Jack White presents a lesson on what makes a great rock n' roll record and subsequently makes the collective consider what a sparse state of affairs Rock is in.

Rest assured - Rock is in good hands as long as White remains rightfully at the forefront.