01. Every Inch Of You (3:05)
02. Nothin's Gonna Stop Us (2:45)
03. With A Woman (3:41)
04. Keep Me Hangin' On (3:01)
05. Living Each Day Blind (5:07)
06. Everybody Have A Good Time (4:48)
07. She Just A Girl, Eddie (3:47)
08. Forbidden Love (3:50)
09. Concrete (3:52)
10. Street Spirit (Fade Out) (3:07)
11. Love Is Not The Answer (3:42)

Musicians:
Justin Hawkins – vocals, guitar
Dan Hawkins – guitar
Frankie Poullain – bass guitar
Ed Graham – drums
+
Ian Anderson – flute

It's hard to discuss the 2012 album from satiro-hard rock band the Darkness without taking into account how the disc comes on the heels of much anticipation and hardship. The years after the Darkness released their last album in 2005, the sophomore effort One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back, were rough ones for the usually gleeful ensemble. They had parted ways with bassist Frankie Poullain during the recording process -- a fact that didn't sit well with fans -- and though the album sold well, its recording was delayed and purportedly costly. Further, while the band's 2003 breakthrough debut, Permission to Land, brought the group praise for its knowing mix of purposely over the top songs that toyed with such rock themes as cheating, big boobs, and partying on spaceships, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back wasn't as well received critically. The overall impression was that the Darkness were on a steady decline from the dizzying success of the previous two years. So, in some ways it was not surprising when, in 2006, lead singer Justin Hawkins entered rehab for alcohol and cocaine abuse. It was a shock, however, when in August of that year Hawkins announced he had left the band. His departure essentially spelled the end of the Darkness, as it was his operatic yelp, magnetic stage persona, and exuberant sense of humor that defined the band. So it was with heated anticipation that the public reacted to the news in 2011 that all four original members of the Darkness, including lead singer Hawkins and bassist Poullain, had reunited and would record a new album. Perhaps nobody expected the band to ever match the giddy, karate-kick high of Permission to Land, but the group's comeback album, Hot Cakes, is definitely worthy of throwing more than a few devil horns the band's way. While the Darkness have always reveled in the hedonistic clichés of heavy metal, at their core they are a pop band, capable of delivering some of the catchiest, most expertly crafted radio-ready singles this side of ABBA. For every AC/DC blues-rock, crotch-thrusting groove on Hot Cakes -- and there are a few -- there are just as many sparklingly slick, sugar-coated laser-beam melodies that light up the happy place in your brain. The beauty of the Darkness' approach is that their pop side and cock rock side pretty much come from the same inclination: get listeners moving. In that sense, this album will continue to draw the band well-earned comparisons to Queen -- which speaks mainly to the band's songwriting and musicianship. And while Hawkins does have Freddie Mercury's vocal range, his sweet lyricism often sounds tonally more like a mix of Queen guitarist Brian May's voice and ELO's Jeff Lynne. Tracks like the propulsive "Nothin's Gonna Stop Us" and the rousing "Everybody Have a Good Time" are deliciously catchy anthems that definitely bring to mind the contemporary pop/rock of '80s-era Queen. Similarly, cuts like the epic Boston-sounding "Forbidden Love" and the passionate "Love Is Not the Answer" are surprisingly earnest love songs that stick in your head as good as any hair metal-era MTV single. ---Matt Collar, allmusic.com

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1. One Way Ticket - (4:28)
2. Knockers - (2:45)
3. Is It Just Me? - (3:07)		play
4. Dinner Lady Arms - (3:18)
5. Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time - (3:46)
6. Hazel Eyes - (3:27)
7. Bald - (5:33)
8. Girlfriend - (2:35)		play
9. English Country Garden - (3:08)
10. Blind Man - (3:25)

Personnel
Justin Hawkins – Lead/backing vocals; Lead/rhythm guitars; Piano; Hammond organ;
 Mini-moog; Synths; Sitar
Dan Hawkins – Rhythm/lead guitars; Bass guitars; Tubular bells; Marching drums;
 Tambourine; Triangle; Backing vocals
Richie Edwards - Bass guitars; Backing vocals
Ed Graham – Drums

From the moment the pan flute fanfare on "One Way Ticket" kicks off One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back, it's clear that the Darkness still believes that more is more. If anything, the band believes that even more is even better: with the help of producer Roy Thomas Baker, they make their second album incredibly glossy and expensive-sounding, with layers of sitars, marching drums, bagpipes, and tubular bells on top of their already-powerful guitars, drums, and keyboards (and, of course, Justin Hawkins' formidable falsetto). But while the band's excess succeeded on Permission to Land, it loses some of its potency here: nothing on One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back is as immediate as "I Believe in a Thing Called Love." The band's debut celebrated and inflated the rock clichés of sex, drugs, and partying; this album's best songs are about longterm relationships, getting clean, and balding. The soaring power ballad "Dinner Lady Arms" highlights the good-natured streak running through a surprising amount of the Darkness' songs, while "One Way Ticket" is an episode of Behind the Music, complete with cocaine snorting, turned into a pop single. More than occasionally, though, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back just sounds unremarkable, despite the songs' elaborate sonics. Tracks like "Knockers" -- which should be a fool-proof Darkness song just based on its title -- and "Girlfriend" sound like they were made from bits and pieces of Permission to Land rejects, while overblown-yet-slight ballads such as "Blind Man" and "Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time" sound too much like stale Meat Loaf. Still, there are moments when the Darkness still sounds like the smartest, dumbest band around: "Is It Just Me?" has a chorus that rivals their best; the flamboyant Celtic rocker "Hazel Eyes" shows off both Justin Hawkins' over-the-top vocals and his brother Dan's over-the-top guitar licks; and lyrics like "English Country Garden"'s "I cherished you and you tolerated me" show that the wit that made their debut so much fun isn't entirely missing on this album. Not so much a letdown as a comedown, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back just shows that the giddy highs of Permission to Land aren't so easy to get the second time around. --- Heather Phares, allmusic.com

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1. Black Shuck - (3:20)
2. Get Your Hands Off My Woman - (2:46)
3. Growing On Me - (3:29)
4. I Believe In a Thing Called Love - (3:36)
5. Love Is Only a Feeling - (4:19)
6. Givin'up - (3:34)
7. Stuck In a Rut - (3:17)		play
8. Friday Night - (2:56)		play
9. Love On The Rocks With No Ice - (5:56)
10. Holding My Own - (4:55)

The Darkness
    Justin Hawkins – vocals, lead and rhythm guitar, synthesizer, piano
    Dan Hawkins – rhythm and lead guitar
    Frankie Poullain – bass
    Ed Graham – drums

Upon its U.K. release in summer 2003, Permission to Land, the debut album from spandex-clad retro metalheads the Darkness, was a surprise success, hitting the British charts at number two (behind only Beyoncé's Dangerously in Love). After hearing Permission to Land, it's easier to understand why the British public went crazy for it, and for the Darkness. The album is more or less straightforward pop/rock with some '80s metal window-dressing, and the Darkness themselves live up to traditional notions of what a rock band should be: louche, decadent, and harboring a don't-bore-us-get-to-the-chorus mentality. While the band is far from ironic in its homages to Kiss, Judas Priest, and Queen, the Darkness certainly are campy (and with a list of influences like that, they'd almost have to be), with a uniquely British sensibility, personified by singer Justin Hawkins. A one-man campaign to bring back the unitard as fashionable rock gear, Hawkins sings about sex, drugs, and Satan with the voice of a castrato, backed by arena-sized riffs and rhythms. The Darkness would be an utter failure if the band didn't write good songs, but miracle of miracles, they do. The first two-thirds of Permission to Land is nearly flawless, an eerily realistic simulation of '80s metal and '70s glam that manages to sound familiar but not rehashed. "Black Shuck" revels in pseudomystic gobbledygook like "Flames licked round the sacred spire"; on the great single "Get Your Hands off My Woman," Hawkins sings "woooomaaan" higher than most women probably could. "Growing on Me" (which includes the great lyric "I want to banish you from whence you came") and "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" are tightly crafted songs that would sound good in almost any style, while "Givin' Up" is one of the jauntiest songs about heroin ever written. Even the prerequisite power ballad, "Love Is Only a Feeling," stays on the fun side of cheesy, adrift on clouds of strummed guitars and gooey backing harmonies. The album has such a strong beginning and middle that it's not entirely surprising that Permission to Land runs out of steam near the end, although "Stuck in a Rut" is a crazed enough rocker -- complete with demonic laughter -- to nearly rival the album's earlier songs. Softer songs like "Friday Night" and "Holding My Own" make the collection unusually ballad-heavy; if anything, the Darkness could stand to rock a little harder. Even though Permission to Land isn't quite as metal as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s metal revival could have been. It's hard to say whether or not the Darkness will take off in the States the way they did in their homeland; Hawkins' over-the-top vocals aside, the band may be hurt by the fact that most metal and hard rock popular in the U.S. is more concerned with brooding and angst than with having fun. But having fun is what Permission to Land is all about, even if it's just a guilty pleasure. --- Heather Phares, allmusic.com

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