The Darkness
Easter Is Cancelled

We always know what to expect from a new Darkness album.

Whether this is a good or a bad thing, it's up to you to decide. The Hawkins brothers, now on their fourth post-reunion album, decide to make a few small changes with this new "Easter Is Cancelled"; nothing revolutionary, mind you. The cheeky attitude is still there (the title should suffice as confirmation, but if it's not enough for you, the album has been described by the authors themselves as a "concept album about the theory of multiverses"), but this time there's a little something extra, something that suggests an unprecedented desire for growth.

On production (perhaps to guarantee more autonomy) is guitarist Dan Hawkins (also at the controls for the successful "Last Of Our Kind" four years ago), and the sound in some episodes benefits profoundly, returning to the glory days of the first two albums: "How Can I Lose Your Love" would not have been out of place on "One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back," "In Another Life" is a true heir to the old classic "Love Is Only A Feeling" and will surely be a live must.

For the rest, the British rockers try to dare a little and the operation works quite well; the single "Rock And Roll Deserves To Die" opens with acoustic guitars, flutes, and sudden hard rock bursts, building a vaguely prog structure that slightly confounds but fully convinces. "Deck Chair" is a dark and reflective episode, quite surprising to find on a Hawkins band album, but the real surprise is "Heavy Metal Lover," a fantastic track that combines the cheeky attitude of the British quartet with an ambition in song construction that's truly unusual, with stunning citations of certain extreme metal and the usual great taste in riffing.

Even where things stick to the more "canonical" side (between AC/DC, Queen, and the like), the game works this time ("How Can I Lose Your Love," "Heart Explodes") and it travels briskly through catchy and fun riffs, Justin Hawkins' usual impossible falsettos, and torrential, delightfully over-the-top solos.

This is a nice comeback for The Darkness: fun, charmingly over-the-top but with a hint of ambition that surprisingly does well for the sound of the now veteran British hard rock band.

Best track: Heavy Metal Lover