Review Summary: Cool band, but who let the karaoke artist in?!
How important are vocals in music? The question has been asked time and time again, every time a singer’s unique stylings help improve (Queen, The Doors, AC/DC) or detract (Fall Out Boy, Limp Bizkit, KISS) from the musical side of things. And while a definitive consensus has not yet been reached, a strong case in favour of the importance of good vocals could be made merely by pointing in the direction of British rockers The Darkness.
Viewed by most people as a novelty band, due to lead singer Justin Hawkins’s outrageous sense of dress and even more outrageous falsetto, The Darkness do however have a lot more to offer to the music world than just the one hit.
I Believe In A Thing Called Love may have forever become associated with this Suffolk four-piece, but as their debut
Permission To Land indicates, there was more to The Darkness than superficial mock-70s cheese.
In fact, the British rockers’ debut is so strong that they would spend the rest of their (short) career trying, and failing, to recapture its greatness. In its ten short songs,
Permission To Land seamlessly fuses monster hard rock riffs and blistering solos, courtesy of Dan Hawkins, with brother Justin’s cheekily over-the-top mixture of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant, and Frankie Poulain and Ed Graham’s AC/DCesque rhythm section, to produce a unique sound, which falls a mere half a step short of launching a hard rock renaissance. And those few short inches can be attributed to one simple thing: the vocals.
In short, the thought in one’s mind when listening to this album is: “cool band, but who let the karaoke artist in?” Justin Hawkins’s absurdly ridiculous falsetto, clearly delivered tongue-in-cheek (the guy can sing, as he proves sporadically throughout the album) completely undermines his bandmates’ competent, straightforward performances, and it is only a testament to the songwriting’s strength that the album remains firmly above average for 80% of its running time.
In fact, even despite the risible vocals, there is very little to loathe in this sprightly half-hour. The band stake their claim as a valid hard rock act on the back of these ten songs, and even the occasional limp moment does not detract from the overall quality of the record. And while there is much to be entertained by in the singles, it is predictably in the deep cuts that real gold is struck.
The first half of the album is nearly flawless.
I Believe In A Thing Called Love stands out, of course, but paradoxically becomes the least essential track on this “side”, as is the norm with lead singles. It
needs to be heard, for culturally contextual purposes, but it pales in comparison to the competent Zeppelinian swagger of
Black Shuck, the AC/DC-lite sound of first standout
Growing On Me or obligatory power-ballad
Love Is Only A Feeling. This flawless section comes to a head in absolute album standout
Givin’ Up, an unapologetic middle finger to critics of Justin Hawkins’ heroin habits delivered over a rollicking beat, and topped off with a deliciously profane chorus section.
Unfortunately, this album’s main blessing is also its curse, as after
Givin’ Up the tracklist hits a definite slump. Atypically poppy
Friday Night – a potential Eurovision contestant – and more serious slow closer
Holding My Own still manage to capture the listener’s interest, but bland, expendable filler such as
Stuck In A Rut – so unremarkable that it goes unnoticed – or
Love On The Rocks With No Ice – as bad as the title indicates, despite a decent riff – subtract half a point from
Permission’s overall ranking, and, together with the cheeky, novelty nature of vocals, keep it one step short of hard rock immortality.
Still, for a representative of “pure” hard rock in the 21st century,
Permission To Land is a remarkably strong album. It is only a pity, then, that the group have not managed to stay afloat in a sea of Nickelbacks and My Chemical Romances, quickly fading away after a largely disappointing sophomore effort. But while
I Believe In A Thing Called Love will likely be the song to maintain them relevant for VH1 specials to come, real hard rock lovers would be advised to give the whole of the group’s debut a spin, to see just what The Darkness were capable of.
Recommended Tracks
Growing On Me
Givin’ Up
Friday Night
Good to be back. Now to break 300.
