Darkness
Hot Cakes

The stupid title and the related careless cover, the look and gaze of lost cocaine addicts of both frontman Justin Hawkins and especially bassist Frankie Poullain, the quick-fix blend of Queen+Ac/Dc+T.Rex blasted in your face without half measures, the improbable getups flaunted by the Mephistophelian Justin that even Freddie Mercury wouldn't dare, his saturated singing style filled with aesthetic falsetto flourishes... everything would conspire to pigeonhole the Darkness into the realm of the most vacuous and silly rock, good for spotty and horny sixteen-year-olds looking for a thrill.

But that's not the case: it so happens that the Hawkins brothers (there's also Dan, primarily on rhythm guitar) are notable musicians, that the ease of access of their music is achieved through a conscious, intelligent work on sounds and dynamics, on the creative layering of guitars, on highly personal and not at all trivial harmonic and rhythmic insights, and on professional attention to details.

The younger brother Dan Hawkins is a real powerhouse, the indispensable motor of the group. He hits hard on his Gibsons and ensures that the songs have drive and solidity in every passage. He seems like Malcolm Young's (Ac/Dc) cousin and Pete Townshend's (Who) nephew: the amplifier is set to minimal distortion... it's enough with the violence and decisiveness (and precision) of the pick to extract maximum aggressiveness. The volume of rock firepower ensured by this musician is such that in concerts his brother can limit himself to playing his instrument only sporadically, just for solos or in those sections where the need for two rhythm guitars is unavoidable, thus being able to focus more on singing and the entire varied entertainment arsenal: grimaces, jumps, running, costume changes, etc.

The Darkness's compositional skill emerges in the less commercial, filling songs, outside of the more superficial and easy singles. In this work from last year, their third career album, there is for instance the fourth track "Keep Me Hangin' On" which bursts forth with a hammering rhythm guitar and then almost immediately loads up with exotic turns of many other guitars, stops, and starts again when you least expect it, subtly turning the chords to give a different background to verses and choruses.

The following "Living Each Day Blind" is highly dynamic in its arrangement chiaroscuro. It starts defiantly with the lead guitar and then dissolves into semi-acoustic verses, changes skin again in the staccato choruses, and fills and empties in the instrumental bridges. Five or six different guitars come and go drawing a rich and complete panorama... it might be glam but very well produced.

Another peak of the album is the even more dynamic "Forbidden Love" which, after an acoustic prologue and a pause, instantly ignites into a detonating hard rock, virtuously changes some chords with each verse loop, hits hard in the brief solo, and then blows away like a locomotive.

These are the key episodes that make me enjoy listening to the Darkness and this third work of theirs, even more than the admirable Queen-style chorus of "Everybody Have A good Time" and much more than the party rock à la T.Rex of "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us", the two singles taken from the album, not to mention the (decent) remake of Radiohead's "Street Spirit", the only cover of the lot.

A magnificent hard rock band with glam tendencies, the Darkness are crafty yet brilliant, superficial but never banal in what they play, very interesting for those interested in production, guitar sounds, and arrangement. They have their ideas and uniqueness, I follow them with interest.