Review: The Darkness – Last of Our Kind

Canary Dwarf Limited (June 2015)

Reviewer: Peter Scallan

Ahhh, The Darkness return for Part 2 of Part 2. Their last album Hot Cakes received a mixed reception, although I must declare myself in that respect and say that it grew on me and I absolutely love it! The early video for ‘Barbarian’ indicated a slight shift in sound, being much heavier. However, with the record having been produced by Dan Hawkins, followers of his band Stone Gods may well recognise the heavier sound employed to great effect on that album.

Barbarian is the is the opening salvo on the album opening with a spoken word intro sounding a little like Stanley Unwin (check him out on Youtube for those of you too you too remember, which will be most of you!). It is a heavy duty riff with a razor sharp chugging guitar and riff through the verses before bursting into a Norse-like chorus. The next song varies the usual bastard offspring of Queen and AC/DC and opens like a track from the Cult’s Love album. ‘Open Fire’ is a fast paced rocker which also ferociously rocks along with Justin Hawkins varying his vocal style and using lower, raunchier registers in addition of course to his stratospheric screaming. Anybody playing this ing and it would be a filler, but with these guys doing it is killer. And who else could get away with the line ‘Gimme a hug in a sheepskin rug’? The acoustic opening of ‘Last of Our Kind’ reminds of the Hot Cake album and has another killer chorus with Justin using his vocal range to good effect over a monster chop. ‘Roaring Waters’ brings us full circle back to the being the bastard offspring described above and is glorious for it too. Big guitar riff a la the Young Brothers with a chorus of backing vocals Mr Mercury would be pleased with. The mood is lightened and the pace drops a little for ‘Wheels of the Machine’ which has a great mix of clean, dirty and acoustic guitars and Justin in full falsetto mood for the chorus.

With an opening of 70s style keyboards Yes would be pleased with, ‘Mighty Wings’ bursts into life with some neat twin guitar work before a grating riff Metallica would be pleased with cuts and introduces a Thin Lizzy style guitar riff for the verses. The song breaks down into a half-time beat for the chorus and definitely breaks the Queen-AC/DC comparisons. Having said that it would sit nicely on the Stone Gods album! Great stuff! And then we are treated to classic Darkness humour for ‘Mudslide’ with its spoken opening of ‘This ain’t no double entendre. This ain’t no euphism.’ Almost verging on Spinal Tap, it is another great rocking riff and another great chorus ending with Zeppelin-like acoustic guitar a la Led Zepp III. We are then treated to a solo section that would be more at home on a Deep Purple album. I can’t think of anybody else who would get away with this and the comic voice at the end askg, ‘Do you know what this is? It’s a fuckin mudslide!’ Classic Lizzy-inspired Darkness quickly follows in the form of ‘Sarah O’Sarah’. With its twin guitars and Celtic influenced drums and guitars for the chorus, it’s reminds me a little of Hazel Eyes from One Way Ticket for some reason despite not sounding anything like it! The opening of ‘Hammer and Tongs’ has a Faces feel to it and the use of the bottle neck and the twelve bar chorus only reinforce this. Classic rock’n’roll with a Darkness lyrical twist! The last song of the album comes far too quickly for me and Justin makes uses of the lower huskier style he has discovered on this album for this acoustic rocker. ‘Conquerors’ reminds me of classic 70s Elton John which the chord changes, especially on the instrumental interlude after the chorus. Apart from the massive vocal treatment the chorus gets! And disappointingly the album is finished all too soon come in just over the 40 minute mark.

Many Darkness fans have been raving about the new heavier sound the band has adopted and it really does work. I am not sure about the song writing credits as I have an e-copy but I would hazard a guess that Dan not only produced this album but heavily influenced the songwriting to very positive effect indeed! If you like the Darkness you will love this! And if you love this, do yourself a favour, and if you haven’t already, buy Dan’s non-Darkness effort the Stone Gods album Silver Spoons and Broken Bones because you will love it. Long live the Darkness!