Review by Phil Rozier for MPM
Bearing in mind it’s 2025, my scene setting for this rock n roll experience, goes back to I think, the autumn of either 1999, or 2000. I say either or, I was 20 yrs old around that time. Alcohol, rock music, and nights out whilst entirely enjoyable most of the time, do all blur a little into a ‘period of time’ rather specific dates.
So I’m thinking 2000. Why? Well, my first experience of seeing The Darkness was actually pre Permission to Land. Imagine that! Their first, and arguably their most influential impact on the music scene at the time, had not yet been released.
So, pre ‘tongue in cheek comedic rock explosion in a cat suit’, I was at the Astoria in London, awaiting for The Darkness to rock up on stage.
You know what, I’m feeling unsettled. I don’t think it was 2000. In an effort to pretend be knowledgeable and set the scene, I’m also accepting my flaws and my patchy memory. I can’t help but feel somewhat inferior to Justin Hawkins and his Justin Rides Again YouTube channel. Being so articulate and rather intellectual (Justin, not me) I feel I need to at least try to follow suit and put the effort in.
‘Alexa, when did The Darkness play the Astoria for the first time?’
“The Darkness played the Carling Home coming show at the London Astoria, pre record label signing in 2002 and was considered to be a major turning point in their career’
Ah, so there you have it. It was 2002, pre record deal. And Justin was wearing Black leather chaps if I remember correctly. Stop it! I’m not asking Alexa to check to see if said chaps were leather or a modern day synthetic. Either way, it was pre famed catsuit, often subsequently adorned during live performances.
Jesus Phil, crack on, it’s late and I’ve not even got to the first track yet.
Shut it readers! No! Sorry! Don’t go!
I’m getting carried away…. But you must know about that Astoria show! Because…. It was out of this world! Probably five years into my gig career, The Darkness were actually something quite different. Pre this show, my experiences were ACDC, Metallica, Guns and Roses, Reading Festival, The Big Day Out to name a few (and of course Motorhead at the Portsmouth Pyramid Centre – don’t start me on that one… I wonder if the local police remember the car search and threatening arrest? Anyway, that’s for another day…)
The Darkness were new. Fresh. Notably younger than my previous entertainers. And (apart from Motorhead), English. I remember Justins very English voice captivating the crowd and drawing them closer. It was a hugely intimate show, where nearly every crowd member felt like they were on stage. In fact, to be honest, most of them probably were on stage at one point as these were the days of crowd surfing and stage dives! (Not sure my back will ever be quite right).
Anyway, this review is of the new album, ‘Dreams on Toast’, not of that show. But, needless to say, that’s where my relationship started with the band. Within a matter of what seemed like weeks after the Astoria show, the premier album Permission to Land, did just that. It landed. In August 2003 the best new classic/hard rock sounding album of a generation was released. It told brit pop to fuck off. It sunk grunge. And it reminded the world that a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshall stack still ruled the music world. And it fucking hit everyone hard. It woke up the old, and it revitalised the youth.
The Darkness headlined Reading and Leeds Festival in August 2004. This was just about one year after the release of a single, first album. Anyone else ever done that? Well, have you? No! Exactly. Let’s not forget how important that time was for music, and The Darkness, in my option, bought proper rock music back to the forefront of the minds of the lost. It presented something to love again. Thank you! Thank you Justin and the gang!
So, gushing over, it’s March 2025. What has just over 20 years of experience (and hard core booze and drugs) done to the fella’s from Suffolk.
I’ll refrain from covering the previous albums, but I will mention there has been quite a few belting tracks since Permission to Land. One Way Ticket, Open Fire to name a couple of my favs. Granted, there have numerous tracks that I have lost the names of, and the recollection of the music, but, to be fair, very few bands leave an imprint with every single song they’ve written.
So, here we go, let’s start at the beginning. ‘Rock and Roll Party Cowboy’. I think it’s got it! It has a thumping bass and clear drum beat. This has got atmos clapping and Dan and Justin getting the crowd going from the start. Defo a potential for a live opener. With typical comedic lyrics, it rather embarrassingly describes, well, me! And most other wanna be rockstars! Beards, Harley’s, loaded six strings, bottle of Jack. Although these days, I’m on the AG1 vitamin drink. The Jack is for the true rockers, not the imitation likes of this music journo, lol. A nice polite way to end the first banging track with the shouted ‘fuck off’. A little unnecessary, but then so is the excess that is The Darkness. Awesome!
A great strong start. What’s next? ‘I hate myself’. It’s hard to try to be original when describing music. Music isn’t anything new. In fact, Alexa also told me this evening that music has probably existed alongside humanity, and there is evidence of instruments existing for over 40,000 years. Therefore, it’s engrained in humans to draw musical comparisons to previous experiences. So on that profound note…. Queen. Has some of Roger Taylor’s influence infiltrated young Rufus on the drums? It certainly sounds that way. I like it. It is more Queen than The Darkness, but, that’s cool. It’s upbeat and banging.
Track 3. Whooahhhh. Who bought the country to the rock party? ‘Hot on my Tail’ is as about as country as it gets. I’m assuming on purpose. As if it’s The Darkness’s tribute to that acoustic driven, brushed snare, piano keyed rocker. Again, notes of Queen in the vocals, and Dolly Parton in the swing of the track, or is that actually swagger. Either way, it’s alright as a country track.
Track 4. ACDC called, they want their riff back! ‘Mortal Dread’. You guessed it, a solid rocker of a track that sounds so familiar. I like the group vocal chorus with the higher notes to follow. Pretty typical of the band. It lacks some of the memory invoking impact, but still something to rock along to. A toe tapping rocker.
Its noticeable that the 10 track album runs through pretty quickly. Only one song exceeds the 4 minute mark, and a few tracks fall sub 180 seconds. I like that. Maybe I get bored, but, I’m more of a fan of the shorter, faster tracks, compared to some of the longer master pieces of 80s/90s progressive rock that take up over 10 minutes of your day.
But, maybe due to that shortness, the tracks do begin to come and go a little. Blasting through my head, and leaving before they get time to settle. Track 5 has been and gone, then another Freddie Mercury-esque number plays through. A talented voice, as always, but sometimes talent isn’t quit enough to prevent my interest from falling away.
That said, my mind isn’t distracted to the point of wanting to go and do the washing up (it rarely is), nor is it yearning for different artistic tastes. I just want to skip track sea check out ‘The Battle For Gadget land’. The next track on the album. Track 7 has a mix of nearly spoken verse, in the type of English accent that only the Lowerstoft man can accomplish, mixed with a more ‘sung’ chorus. There’s probably a technical term for that, but, what ever the term should be, it doesn’t detract from the fact that this track is probably more suited to particular tastes that are less basic than mine.
So, track 8, is being called for by the aforementioned track 3. ‘Cold Hearted women’ sounds like an extension of track 3. The country influence is strong with this one. As it happens, I don’t mind a bit of country. I prefer when a rock band perhaps uses country influences, and still has a harder rock edge to it. The Darkness’s country inspired music is less inspired, and more ‘it’s just country’. But, fair play. If that’s what they wanted, then, they’ve got it. And I still can’t help but nod my head and tap my foot, even if I’d prefer not to be.
With just under 6 minutes of the album left, we are just 2 tracks to go. ‘Walking Through fire’. Yea, go on guys, this is more of what I was expecting. Far be it for me to assume what a band might be creating as part of their artistic desire, but this track is definitely more ‘oh yea, that’s a Darkness track’.
So, my evening is nearly up, and ‘Weekend in Rome’ is actually a softly sung, beautiful track that suits an album end. Slower, quieter, amazing acoustics with overdubbed speech assisting in the storey telling. The track is epic, reminiscent of the closing score of a classic movie.
So, there we have it. Dreams on Toast. Album number 8th of the 4 piece rockers. I’m not sure what the boys have in store on their current tour (I’ll be finding out later!), but, I’m not sure the giant tiger riding over the crowd that I witnessed in Wembley all those yers ago is still part of the gig. The Darkness have created some amazing shows over the years. Their apparent love of classic rock, is perhaps somewhat torn on this latest effort. Country, Queen (I say Queen as a verb as I’m not sure they can be singularly categorised), Rock. I don’t know where The Darkness stand in this latest creative record. I’m not sure whether the band does. I’m not sure whether that matters.
It’s music, and it’s varied in nature. And I definitely know I prefer the world with The Darkness in it, than without. After all, who wants a world where all there is, is light. The Darkness still needs it’s space.
DREAMS ON TOAST TRACK LISTING
- Rock And Roll Party Cowboy
- I Hate Myself
- Hot On My Tail
- Mortal Dread
- Don’t Need Sunshine
- The Longest Kiss
- The Battle For Gadget Land
- Cold Hearted Woman
- Walking Through Fire
- Weekend In Rome
DREAMS ON TOAST
NEW ALBUM OUT MARCH 28TH 2025
VIA COOKING VINYL
PRE-ORDER HERE
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https://the-darkness.tmstor.es
