Easter Is Cancelled/ The Darkness.- hard rock

By Narendra Kusnur

Album: Easter Is Cancelled
Artiste: The Darkness
Genre: Hard rock, glam rock
Label: Canary Dwarf, Cooking Vinyl
Rating: ****

Imagine a hard rock band beginning an album with a song called ‘Rock n’ Roll Deserves To Die’, because its time has finally come. Well, with British outfit The Darkness, one wouldn't be surprised.

This opening track from its latest album Easter Is Cancelled  talks of how everything has become so cliched and predictable in the current rock music scenario. And, aided by Justin Hawkins’ high-pitched screaming and quick falsetto, they pull off a winner with this song.

The Darkness first made news in 2003 with its super-successful album Permission To Land. Hawkins was hailed as among the best vocalists of his generation, and his brother Dan Hawkins helped create a sound clearly blending 1970s hard rock, glam rock and early heavy metal.

Sadly, the band had its lows, with Jay Hawkins having addiction issues. He’s cleared of that now, and is in supreme form on their sixth outing Easter Is Cancelled.

The album began on a controversial note with religious purists protesting against its title and cover. Musically, it’s a much welcome return to form after  Permission To Land and its 2005 follow-up One-Way Ticket To Hell... And Back. The Hawkins brothers are aided by tight playing by bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor.

Barring a few drab portions, Easter Is Cancelled  has great songs, with easily understandable lyrics and plenty of hard rock energy. ‘How Can I Lose Your Love’ and the title track have a very KISS-like aura, and Hawkins controls his voice remarkably.

‘Live ’Til I Die’, perhaps the song with the most mass appeal, and ‘Heavy Metal Lover’, which talks of the glory of the early metal phase, have catchy, pop-like hooks. ‘In Another Life’ begins as a power ballad, and picks up tempo with Hawkins singing “In another life, I will make you mine”.

The tempo slows down on ‘Deck Chair’ and ‘Laylow’, with Hawkins showing his vocal prowess. ‘We Are The Guitar Men’ begins with an acoustic guitar stretch and builds up slowly. It's a highlight here, with the lines “Were it not for my guitar my hands would both be idle, my brain suicidal”.

The album concludes with the charmingly sung ballads ‘Confirmation Bias’ and ‘Sutton Hoo’. On the former, a live version, the falsetto goes into another zone as Hawkins sings “I love your eyes when they gaze upon me, I love your hands when they're applauding my achievements, Mine alone, I love your mind, you recognise my genius.”

Despite the controversy over the title and cover, this is a clean set of songs. The Darkness have surely come out of the darkness that plagued them over a decade.