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The Darkness Album: “Permission to Land [Japan]”
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Permission to Land [Japan] |
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Release Date:2004-04-06
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Type:Unknown
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Genre:Rock, Hard Rock, Metal
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Label:WEA
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Explicit Lyrics:Yes
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UPC:825646165766
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Review - :
Upon its U.K. release in summer 2003, {^Permission to Land}, the debut album from spandex-clad retro-metalheads {$the Darkness}, was a surprise success, hitting the British charts at number two (behind only {$Beyoncé}'s {^Dangerously in Love}). After hearing {^Permission to Land}, it's easier to understand why the British public went crazy for it, and for {$the Darkness}. The album is more or less straightforward {\pop/rock} with some '80s {\metal} window-dressing, and {$the Darkness} themselves live up to traditional notions of what a {\rock} band should be: louche, decadent, and harboring a don't-bore-us-get-to-the-chorus mentality. While the band is far from ironic in its homages to {$Kiss}, {$Judas Priest}, and {$Queen}, {$the Darkness} certainly are campy (and with a list of influences like that, they'd almost have to be), with a uniquely British sensibility, personified by singer {$Justin Hawkins}. A one-man campaign to bring back the unitard as fashionable {\rock} gear, {$Hawkins} sings about sex, drugs, and Satan with the voice of a castrato, backed by arena-sized riffs and rhythms. {$The Darkness} would be an utter failure if the band didn't write good songs, but miracle of miracles, they do. The first two-thirds of {^Permission to Land} is nearly flawless, an eerily realistic simulation of '80s {\metal} that manages to sound familiar but not rehashed. {&"Black Shuck"} revels in pseudomystic gobbledygook like "Flames licked round the sacred spire"; on the great single {&"Get Your Hands off My Woman,"} {$Hawkins} sings "woooomaaan" higher than most women probably could. {&"Growing on Me"} (which includes the great lyric "I want to banish you from whence you came") and {&"I Believe in a Thing Called Love"} are tightly crafted songs that would sound good in almost any style, while {&"Givin' Up"} is one of the jauntiest songs about heroin ever written. Even the prerequisite power {\ballad}, {&"Love Is Only a Feeling,"} stays on the fun side of cheesy, adrift on clouds of strummed guitars and gooey backing harmonies. The album has such a strong beginning and middle that it's not entirely surprising that {^Permission to Land} runs out of steam near the end, although {&"Stuck in a Rut"} is a crazed-enough rocker -- complete with demonic laughter -- to nearly rival the album's earlier songs. Softer songs like {&"Friday Night"} and {&"Holding My Own"} make the collection unusually {\ballad}-heavy; if anything, {$the Darkness} could stand to rock a little harder. Even though {^Permission to Land} isn't quite as {\metal} as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s {\metal} revival could have been. It's hard to say whether or not {$the Darkness} will take off in the States the way they did in their homeland; {$Hawkins}' over-the-top vocals aside, the band may be hurt by the fact that most {\metal} and {\hard rock} popular in the U.S. is more concerned with brooding and angst than with having fun. But having fun is what {^Permission to Land} is all about, even if it's just a guilty pleasure. [This Japanese release includes bonus material.] ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
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![The Darkness Album: “Permission to Land [Japan]”](http://www.poprockbands.com/covers_yaD/the-darkness/2004_170_170_Permission%2520to%2520Land%2520%255BJapan%255D.jpg "The Darkness Album: “Permission to Land [Japan]”")
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