THE DARKNESS – Easter is Cancelled (2019 Canary Dwarf, Japanese release)
I’m baffled. I’m truly baffled this time, and I’ve followed The Darkness through thick and thin! From brightest days to darkest nights. From Stone Gods to Hot Leg. And for the first time, The Darkness have thrown me for a loop.
Easter is Cancelled sounds like their rock opera, their big concept album, with gentle acoustics turning into loud bombast. It looks brilliant on paper, but in practice it sounds more like Tenacious D. That’s it — this isn’t a Darkness album. This is what the D should have released instead of whatever Post-Apocalypto was.
Where I used to shout with glee as one gleaming riff gave way to another and then another, now I hear only fragments. Only portions of great tunes, not completely brilliant tracks front to back. The top track is actually one of the bonus songs, called “Different Eyes”. The guitar work on Easter Is Cancelled is consistently stunning, at least.
This review has been painfully hard to write. I take no pleasure in this. It took months of agonising to get here. I don’t want to hate The Darkness. I want to embrace them — all four of them! — with open arms and heart. Perhaps one day, I will again. With all due apologies to Justin, Dan, Frankie and Rufus, this one wasn’t for me.
2/5 stars
I would be neglecting my rock and roll duty if I didn’t report on the Japanese bonus track, “Dancing House”. It’s only a minute long and it’s…umm…about people dropping in for a party. It sounds like bad B-52’s. Really bad B-52’s. I cannot discern its purpose or reason to exist.
Hated this review? Then click here for a much better one by 2loud2oldmusic!