The Darkness: Permission To Land : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Like many hard-rock revival-ists these days, this British quartet is immersed in the one-two punch of AC/DC and early Queen. But the Darkness have a secret weapon: unitard-clad singer Justin Hawkins, a man unafraid to perpetrate Tiny Tim-worthy falsetto shrieks in every song on their debut album. Make no mistake, though -- this is no irony-damaged novelty. Songs such as "Get Your Hands Off My Woman" and "Givin' Up" display industrial-strength riffs, vigorous hammer-on guitar solos and a rhythm section that swings like a wrecking ball. Ballads such as "Love Is Only a Feeling" are rendered with gusto undreamed by metal parodists like Satanicide. Permission to Land is the first retro-metal album that's worth more than a momentary chuckle. Eighties hard rock is alive and well in the hands of the Darkness.

ROB KEMP
(RS 932, October 2, 2003)