9/10
Sorry for the long wait between blog posts, but I'm back with a review I've been waiting to do for a while now. This is a review of The Darkness' latest album entitled "Hot Cakes". And the cover art is already showing The Darkness' typical tongue-in-cheek style humor. Brilliant. Here we go.
01 Every Inch Of You: This song was the second advance song that The Darkness released. This is the one that came along with an awesome lyric video (see it here; probably not quite SFW). So this song has been out since May 31, so I'd listened to it a few times before I got the album. This song details Justin Hawkins' life in the band, and how he discovered that he wanted to become a rock star after hearing Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown". He also goes on to sing about how he's spent his whole life "defying the man". Actually, the chorus doesn't seem to have anything to do with the rest of the song. But it's an INSANELY catchy chorus. And Justin Hawkins' first trademark high pitched squeal comes at 0:45. This is a great song to open the new album with.
02 Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now: This was the first advance song that The Darkness released, and it was released way back on January 23. Man, this album has been a long time coming. This song has another really catchy chorus, and you'll easily find yourself humming along "Nothing's gonna stop us, nothing's gonna stop us" for WEEKS after listening to this song. And the repetition of "Fixing your hair" in the most out of place parts is fantastic. The Darkness really are amazing.
03 With A Woman: Here we go, the first song on the album that hadn't been released early. This features a very foot-tappy riff to start the song. The Darkness really do know how to write amazing songs. The line "I want to tell you I love you but it wouldn't be true" is a great line, and still features that tongue-in-cheek humor. The build up to Justin Hawkins screaming "With a woman!" is really well done. The layered vocals slowly singing "Loooooove" higher and higher is perfect.
04 Keep Me Hanging On: This riff doesn't sound quite like The Darkness' typical riffs, but they soon dispel any doubts and make it their own. The chorus takes the riff and makes it seem like the most natural thing in the world to have in a Darkness song. This song also showcases how well they can layer vocals, a tip of the hat to their fairly obvious obsession with Queen. Interesting. The solo in here sounds vaguely rockabilly-ish. Not quite as awesome as "With A Woman", but it's still definitely up there.
05 Living Each Day Blind: This song was also advanced released, but I'm not sure if the band really wanted to. About three weeks ago, The Darkness posted on their Facebook page that Amazon had their album up on their website for pre-order, and a couple of the songs from the album were available to stream on that page. All of the songs were ones that had already been released, except for "Living Each Day Blind". But The Darkness embraced the possible mistake, and promoted it. So this was the 5th song that was released in advance. This is a nice acoustic-y song, that's either talking about Justin Hawkins' childhood, or is just a made up story. The "What's stopping you from leaving here with me?" part of the pre-chorus is really good. And the actual chorus itself is very sing-alongy. It's very easy to imagine Justin Hawkins leading a sing along of the chorus with and audience, and then stepping back to point at the crowd to sing the "Living each day blind" part. I'm fairly certain this song will make it onto the setlist. Oh and of course, there's the finger snapping at 3:41, which can be transposed into the crowd clapping their hands. This should be on the setlist. Phew that was a long one there.
06 Everybody Have A Good Time: This song was the... 4th? 5th? (I'm losing track of the all now) song that was released in advance. It was released on June 28, and it has a really awesome and hilarious music video that features a stripping and dancing bear, and really funny credits at the end of the video (stick around for those, and you can find the video here). The opening riff for this song does sound like a very feel good riff, which this whole song is meant to be. This song is a really good showcasing of what a good singer and writer Justin Hawkins is (although it should be mentioned that Dan Hawkins and Chris McDougal also did a lot of writing on "Hot Cakes"!) The first time you listen to this song should definitely be watching that awesome music video by the way, so go and do that now! It's right here again! This song is the first of the album in which Justin Hawkins drops an expletive, found at 3:51, after which, the song winds down.
07 She's Just A Girl, Eddie: This song is about Justin Hawkins telling Eddie, a fella who has recently had his heart broken, that the girl is just that: a girl, and there's no point in feeling like it's the end of the world. This is (most likely) a good song for someone who has been heartbroken and wants to get over the person. The part about cavemen at 2:40 is hilarious ("sabretooth cave ladies chewed up and spat out our hearts"). Remember Eddie, she's just a girl. Because The Darkness said so.
08 Forbidden Love: This song sounds sort of tropical? Like it should be accompanied with coconuts and swaying hula girls. Anyway, this song is about Justin Hawkins being forbidden from loving someone, but it being forbidden only makes him want it more ("if you didn't want forbidden love, you shouldn't have forbade it"). The song also insinuates at the beginning that Hawkins (or the character in the song) is married, evidenced in the line "My in-laws would treat me like an outlaw", making the love even more forbidden.
09 Concrete: What an odd name for a Darkness song. Oh God the first 4 lines have the word "concrete" in them every line. And Justin Hawkins refers to himself as a "concrete lion". The final "looking for love" part of the chorus is amazingly well done. Then into the second verse, where we have possibly the best line of the album. Are you ready for it? "Carry your egg like a concrete penguin". Fantastic. I'm fairly certain that the band knew that the title would sound a little out of place on a Darkness album, and that's just their sense of humor shining through. I recently read in Classic Rock that they don't believe they're supposed to be a humorous band at all, but that's just The Darkness Sense of Humor Guarantee again. Which I definitely did not just make up... I might have just made that up.
10 Street Spirit (Fade Out): The 10th song of the album is a cover of a Radiohead song which has been a staple of The Darkness' live shows for a while now. Hawkins revealed to NME that "We included the Radiohead cover because it has been a live favourite for many moons, and we wanted to release a definitive recording of our interpretation" (NME). And their interpretation of it is very good. I've never heard Radiohead's version of the song, and of course it doesn't sound quite like The Darkness, but they've certainly made it their own again.
11 Love Is Not The Answer: Ah there we go. Back to having the word "love" in the song titles. According to this song, love is not many things, including your friend, the beginning, the end, and of course, the answer. But love will also make you stupid, and make you wait. This is a very well constructed song. From an English major's point of view, the continued repetition of "love is" and "love is not" makes for a pleasing song, both musically and visually. The build up on "for the faint hearted" is very good.
Oh no it's over! Well, I'm just going to have to listen to it again. I will also be doing a mini review of the bonus tracks from "Hot Cakes", so look for that in a couple of days (or maybe even today if you're very lucky - read: if I have nothing else to do). Of course, "Hot Cakes" isn't quite as good as "Permission To Land", but really, could they ever top that album? No, no they could not. But "Hot Cakes" is definitely up there, and it will easily stand the test of time. I think a good number of songs from this album will remain in the setlist for a long time. I give "Hot Cakes" NINE delicious buttery pancakes out of TEN. Excellent comeback album lads! And come over and tour in Canada. Please.
Favorite song: With A Woman
If you go to this link, you can pre-order the album from several locations, and I urge you to do so!
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