The Darkness "One Way Ticket To Hell.. .. And Back"

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It's out. I bought it. I listened. I like.

In brief, if you already dislike The Darkness, you'll really dislike this album. OK, that settles that.

As for fans here, well, this is a shorter record.. 10 tracks... less AC/DC, more Queen/Sweet/Def Leppard here.. a more ballad-y record, and not as much as rock album. However, while Permission To Land had some filler, this one has no filler at all. Sure, the softer songs may not grow on you as quickly as the louder ones, but they are their own little masterpieces as well. Basically, more orchestration, but still pratty, and Hawkins still lays on the "YAAAAAAAAAAAH" shtick a lot.. which, for whatever reason in hell, I enjoy. "Hazel Eyes" yes!!!

Can't say if this is a suprise late contender for a Top 10 2005 album of the year or not... this has been a pretty damn good year for all types of music, and it's not as if this year needed a Darkness album to help out.. however, I might be rating this highly in the coming weeks. Who knows.

Sorry, Ian, no Savage covers, nor any Savatage covers either.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Sunday, 27 November 2005 09:51 (twenty years ago)

I like the ballads on PTL. More of them will be a good thing. I don't know if this time round I'll be able to get past how hugely irritating Mr Hawkins has turned out to be as a person.

― THIS IS THE SOUND OF ALTERN 8 !!! (noodle vague), Sunday, 27 November 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

Well, even the PTL ballads were still "rock songs" -- just slower and more "power pop" sounding. Here they are given far more production and orchestration, with moments without any drums or guitars.. They've eliminated a lot of, ur, "masculinity" on this album.. in cruder terms they've "totally gone pussy/fag pop metal rock". In Yacht Rock terms, they beginning to glide towards Koko's dream, man (but just barely)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:46 (twenty years ago)

I've heard it, (If you haven't www.myspace.com/thedarkness)I enjoyed it. I like the single, Hazel Eyes, EC Garden, Knockers. The rest kind of blended together really. They obviously got Roy Thomas Baker to throw the kitchen sink production approach in and for the most part it works. Like the first post says, If you didnt like them before this won't change you mind, If you liked PTL there's a good chance you'll enjoy this despite the fact it's not as good.

Has the NME reviewed it? I refuse to even touch the cool list issue.

― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

Despite my liking it, it definitely feels like a sophomore slump album, as far as sales... "Bratty" bands that take themselves far more seriously than even their fans do shouldn't wait over two years to release their second record. Expect a lot of Hawkins quotes in the press talking about how stupid the public is for ignoring the album -- assuming the press will care.

(I still have this wild idea that Hawkins in the press is purely a "rock star" persona taken to the extreme, and that he's a perfectly fine guy outside all of that... which is why Noodle Vague's jab at the end there interested me.)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Sunday, 27 November 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

I wonder whether it's a persona too, but ultimately if you choose to come across as a dick then people are gonna think you're a dick. To be honest, if the songs are strong enough I won't give a toss.

― THIS IS THE SOUND OF ALTERN 8 !!! (noodle vague), Sunday, 27 November 2005 19:11 (twenty years ago)

Permission to Land is to Stay Hungry, as One Way Ticket is to Come Out and Play.

― a. begrand (a begrand), Sunday, 27 November 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

I enjoy this record tremendously!

― 57 7th (calstars), Monday, 28 November 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

more like One Way Ticket To Hell...No Return, See Your Travel Agent

also somebody oughta disembowel these morons soon or i'll do it myself

― ESTEBAN BUTTEZ~!!, Monday, 28 November 2005 03:47 (twenty years ago)

Any lyrics along the lines of the stupid/funny "Black shuck, That dog don't give a fuck" or "Get your hands off my woman motherfucker"?

― Dark Lord, Monday, 28 November 2005 04:51 (twenty years ago)

In English Country Garden:
"She said, 'Do you have a match?' and I said, 'Yes, my cock and Farmer Giles's prize-winning marrow'"

and "But a coach load of mutes would appear talkative chaps " on the single are my favourite two

― MitchellStirling (MitchellStirling), Monday, 28 November 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

Well, there's this:

Bald, slap headed and hairless
Bald he is destined to be
Bald, well tonight thank God it's him instead of me.
Thank God!

..and...

Girlfriend, I love you, I love you, I love you so much
I love you, I love you, I love you so much
I love you, I love you, I love you so much so much
Listen to my synthesizer!

― dali madison's nut (donut), Monday, 28 November 2005 09:14 (twenty years ago)

I still have this wild idea that Hawkins in the press is purely a "rock star" persona taken to the extreme, and that he's a perfectly fine guy outside all of that... which is why Noodle Vague's jab at the end there interested me.

i've interviewed justin a couple of times, and he's not really a dick... he just talks before he thinks, which is fabulous for a journalist, and he doesn't really seem to care if his comments will wind people up, which is fabulous for a journalist, and in fact seems to get a kick out of it, which is fabulous for a journalist. he is very funny, very sharp, very into wordplay, in an unself-consciously nedry way, like any kid who grew up with too many monty python albums, and loves joking and suchlike. he is resolutely uncool, and i kind of like that too.

― foxy boxer (stevie), Monday, 28 November 2005 11:16 (twenty years ago)

in an unself-consciously nedry way

OK, this was not a typo.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Monday, 28 November 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

Ahem.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 28 November 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:13 (twenty years ago)

That album title's genuinely funny, anyways. As long as the songs themselves are as funny as the ones on teh debut (mock-ironic heroin endorsements disguised as mock-sincere teen anthems, yee-hah!), I'll be a happy consumer. And ESTEBAN's displeasure can only make me happier!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

You talkin' to me? The stripey pants Savage/AC-DC lines were my favorite part of the last one. The Darkness covering Savatage's "Sirens," an early 80s indie metal banger based on novelty falsetto screams? Now you're talking!

― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:40 (twenty years ago)

The Darkness should just do a tribute album to the entire 1984-1987 Metal Blade/Enigma catalog.

― dali madison's nut (donut), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

(Not counting Voivod, as I think Killing Technology was on Metal Blade initially! I could be mistaken. Anyway, The Darkness just shouldn't and wouldn't touch Voivod. Never meant to be.)

― dali madison's nut (donut), Monday, 28 November 2005 18:43 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

I just revisited this album. I still do not like it. Didn't have much of any of the charm of Permission to Land.

I also don't get the AC/DC comparisons. or Queen for that matter, outside of the falsetto. To me it almost sounds like the Darkness heard Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" and said HEY LET'S MAKE A WHOLE ALBUM THAT SOUNDS LIKE THIS. but PTL is good.

― Where's Mexican Waldo? (Cattle Grind), Sunday, 21 March 2010 15:25 (sixteen years ago)

There's some songs on this album I really like - "Dinner Lady Arms", "Hazel Eyes" and "English Country Garden". But most of the songs are pretty forgetable or actually boring as hell, making it a pretty crappy album to listen to all the way through.

― everything, Monday, 22 March 2010 17:33 (fifteen years ago)

agreed. the title track is actually pretty good.

― Where's Mexican Waldo? (Cattle Grind), Monday, 22 March 2010 23:20 (fifteen years ago)

"Is It Just Me" and "Girlfriend" are my fav'rites

― billstevejim, Tuesday, 23 March 2010 05:24 (fifteen years ago)

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