THE DARKNESS
One Way Ticket to Hell… And Back
Atlantic
· Where have all the good times gone?
Was it the fickle U.K. music press? Was it the pressure of living up to their holiday Christmas hit from two years ago? Was it the breakup? It’s tough to tell. What is apparent is that the sophomore effort from The Darkness just isn’t as much fun as their debut, Permission to Land.
After that record came out, The Darkness made it crystal clear that even though their songs were balls-out, over-the-top rockers in the style of vintage ’70s hard rock, they weren’t doing it with any irony. Whether you believed that Justin Hawkins’ wavering falsetto combined with AC/DC-meets-Cheap Trick riffage was kitschy or not, it was still one hell of a ride. With their latest effort, One Way Ticket to Hell… And Back, The Darkness are out to set the record straight. But instead of sticking their tongues out to prove that they aren’t in their cheeks, they seem to have swallowed them.
The first clue – the album opens with a minute-long pan flute solo. I know what you are thinking – big laughs, right? Not so much. The song eventually opens up with muscular guitar-chugging and enough cowbell to make Will Ferrell happy, but this glimpse at the ghosts of The Darkness past is short-lived. The rest of the album cribs ideas from the likes of Stevie Nicks and Toto – artists not known for their rock ’n’ roll prowess. The group still writes big dumb rock songs, with lyrics to match (whoever wrote "Aw crumbs, I’m all thumbs," should really go buy a rhyming dictionary), but in trying to prove that this whole endeavour isn’t a joke, The Darkness have sucked all the joy out of their music. Instead of sounding like arena-rock champs, they sound like bar-band chumps – the inclusion of irony-free bagpipe solos doesn’t help. I’m not opposed to bands trying to grow, but when their style is aping a sound that is already almost 30 years old, why bother?
All that said, One Way Ticket to Hell… And Back is infectious enough to grow on you, but if you felt guilty listening to Permission to Land, with its ode to spectral hounds and venereal diseases, then the cheese-peddling that goes on here should set off warning bells.
Looks like the joke is on The Darkness.
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