Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Darkness, The
Label: Canary Dwarf
Release: 2015
Length: 41:27
Rating: 4.5/5
British satirical rockers The Darkness are striking for the second time since the band’s reactivation in 2011. The more-than-solid third studio album and comeback record »Hot Cakes« showed that The Darkness had held on to each and every trademark and trait that catapulted them to the top of the rock scene at the start of the millennium. Sadly, the band’s star burned out just as quickly not long after.
»Last of Our Kind« feels even more mature, even more focused, gritty, concise, and even more varied in ideas than any previous The Darkness album. Put song after song side by side and it’s easily the most mature and compact work of The Darkness’ whole career. There are practically no dips in quality between tracks that serve up a serious dose of rock variety. This is an album that’s written, at a full 100%, for all the true fans of the band.
The Darkness remain extremely lucid buffoons. Justin Hawkins keeps his incredible vocal punch, with plenty of extreme vocal lines aimed at the highest registers possible, right at the edge of human capability and imagination. In that sense Justin remains the key element that brings originality and uniqueness to the band’s musical dossier. His voice works just like it did at the start of the career, a good 10 years ago.
The album opens with the track Barbarian. It’s a biting, tongue-in-cheek musical retelling of a 9th-century story about the attack of the Danish Vikings, led by »Ivar the Boneless«, on the east coast of England and the beheading of the Anglo-Saxon king Edmund (then king of East Anglia). This happened, mark it down, on November 20, 869. One of the best songs on the album right out of the gate, with a penetrating, predatory riff and an utterly lucid chorus melody, an achievement that stands shoulder to shoulder with the band’s most recognizable hits from the second studio album.
The basic premise of the band’s musical ID stays unchanged. It’s another ring showdown between AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, UFO and Queen. United, of course, through The Darkness’ one-of-a-kind recipe, which creates a fresh first-class rock parody. Barbarian, Open Fire, the »Zeppelin-esque« Roaring Waters or the title track are practically competing over which one will steal the spotlight from the others, thanks to the well-crafted, full-blooded charismatic guitar phrases they’re built on. An adrenaline rush that only rock’n’ roll of the noblest pedigree can produce. Even when things calm down in Wheels of the Machine, the band’s delivery keeps incredible dynamite and conviction. This song has a slight whiff of southern rock, but once again it’s the exceptional Justin who holds it up, dosing the track with a fresh, lucid bag of falsetto lunacy. Mighty Wings delivers the album’s darkest and heaviest moment in the verse, while the pre-chorus and chorus flip the mood on its head, creating another great contrast of atmospheres. The AC/DC-style Mudslide, alongside Barbarian, provides another of the album’s most fun and goofy moments. Thin Lizzy could have used the acoustic Sarah O’Sarah on one of their own albums. Hammer & Tongs brings a detour into boogie rock, and »Last of Our Kind« closes in a ceremonial, rock-anthem fashion with the mid-tempo Conquerors.
Want a proper rock firecracker to the forehead? By the quickest route possible? Sparkling, lucid rock’n’roll fire? There’s no better pick for that right now than the new The Darkness album! It’ll fill you to the brim with adrenaline, and listening to the verses and Justin Hawkins’ vocal excesses will leave your cheeks aching from laughing. »Last of Our Kind« is an excellent new The Darkness album that proves the quartet still has the stallion power and then some. Given how polished the songwriting is, it signals that The Darkness are only now approaching their creative peak.
Lineup
Justin Hawkins – vocals, guitar
Dan Hawkins – guitar
Frankie Poullain – bass guitar, vocals on the track “Conquerors”
Emily Dolan Davies – drums
GUESTS:
Trevor Weston – monologue on the track “Barbarian”
236 The Darkness fans – vocals on the track “Last of Our Kind”
Production
Dan Hawkins
Track list
1. Barbarian (3:34)
2. Open Fire (4:01)
3. Last of Our Kind (4:09)
4. Roaring Waters (4:38)
5. Wheels of the Machine (3:07)
6. Mighty Wings (5:46)
7. Mudslide (3:25)
8. Sarah O’Sarah (3:52)
9. Hammer & Tongs (4:02)
10. Conquerors (4:55)
