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DANI HART
Slaying Bluebeard
2025 Independent Release

Surprise, surprise, surprise, surprise. Yep, 4 times the surprise for this tasty little EP.

For those not familiar with Dani Hart, she is a glorious Chilean singer songwriter and entrepreneur who has been deeply involved in the music industry, collaborating with such acts as H.E.A.T for many of her young years. Slaying Bluebeard is her 2nd EP, the first, Let The Children, was released in 2017. By the looks of it and from a previous KNAC.COM POST by our own Larry P, Slaying Bluebeard was written, in the can and planned for a release in the summer of 2024. Yep, this EP was talked about a year ago. But for the life of me I can't ascertain why the delay? Or maybe this is a re-issue?? A release delay??? I have scoured the internet to no avail. Maybe one day Dani will clue me in. Regardless of the backstory these 4 songs are about as perfect as you can get and if you are a fan of early Y&T and DOKKEN's "The Hunter", which seems to play in mind on repeat when I listen to Dani's EP, then you my friend are in for a definite treat.

The EP dives right into the deep end with an absolute rock classic "Running", replete with the prerequisite needle drop and 'woah woah woah', before the band slams into the catchy rhythm of the song's chorus. It is simple to see why Dani is not only a scathingly good rock n roll vocalist, but a vocal coach as well. After the first instance of the "Running, Running, Running" chorus the listener is hooked and humming along. I really appreciate the breaks, especially the pre-solo, which is outstanding as are the John Sykes influences that are abound in the playing. The outro solo and chorus get lodged in your psyche and when that last 'bedah dah' hits you can pick your jaw from the floor. A staggering intro to a solid EP.

Next is "After I'm Gone", a cigarette lighter love song akin to the SCORPIONS' "Still Loving You" and Y&T's "Rescue Me". Back in 1984 would easily have had slews of teenagers, not only pining over Dani, but declaring the song's origin was definitely written for their latest break up. Dani's vocal with the slight echo in the production is haunting and the last minute is heart wrenchingly beautiful with Dani's wailing "After I'm Gone"! And the nifty soloing, sigh. I'm not crying, you're crying... The reprise is a nice touch as well.

"No More" is Track 3 and features the bass master himself, Billy Sheehan. "No More" is very reminiscent of a lost Trick Or Treat/FASTWAY song and that is a really great thing. As with DOKKEN's "The Hunger" in the background, I can see Sammi Curr prancing about singing this as he explodes high school kids in the movie's climactic scene. As for "No More" it is a mega arena rock classic in the making, the chorus is a banger. The catcalls from the guitar are befitting, the 2/3rds point break down just ramps up the excitement for the last minutes outro chorus. Definitely a favorite on the album. Check out the video on KNAC.COM HERE.

"Millennial Tribe" wraps the EP and it harkens a SAIGON KICK vibe with an "American Woman" a la Lenny Kravitz guitar riff. This one is just OK as a whole compared to the others, but the solo and vocals are top shelf, it is just a little too mid tempo, but again not too shabby. The break down at the 3 minute mark certainly could be a perfect arena call back.

In summary, Slaying Bluebeard is a damn good EP and like the short and sweet nature of the EP, so is this review. Slaying Bluebeard is well worthy of your dollars, if you can find it anywhere in physical ,media formats, but a download would suffice I'm sure. My review was a digital version, and I do wish it was a physical copy as I would have loved to have read the liner notes and geeked out over the supporting musicians. Just like the mystery behind the album's release delay so is Dani and her band, her website is pretty barren and the internet isn't talking about her all that much, which is a damn shame as we as a rock community need this record and need Dani to keep making music.

4.0 Out Of 5.0