The Darkness - Hot Cakes

The novelty act that merges Glam Rock with Queen has reunited and recorded yet another quirky set of misfits that somehow are songs. The same issue I had with the band with their breakthrough is still present but much less of an effect over the entire set of tunes. Hawkins voice get to a point where you just want him to sing the damn song straight up without the falsetto. With that said it would make the band more tolerable and enjoyable over an entire album but maybe that is the only thing they have so it continues to be on every single song that Hot Cakes has on it.

The band plays great music and this album has some really great riffs and solo's which are nice to hear being a Glam Rock fan as I am. The Bowie-esque "Every Inch Of You" that apes "Gene Genie" in too many ways and the ruins itself with the 'suck my cock' shriek of Hawkins is so frustrating that I get a little annoyed listening to it. Why bother writing a good song then making such a lame choice with a lyric of childish stupidity so it can't be played on radio nor when children might be around.

The second song is pretty typical awkward fare for The Darkness which isn't horrible but has too much going on within its borders. An excellent riff opens "With A Woman" that ACDC would be jealous of and man if only Bon Scott was here to belt out some lyrics to this groove. More frustration abound as the song "Keep Me Hangin' On" plays through. But here the band are pretty straight forward with less of the stupid stuff and novelty act schtick. Another really good song is "Everybody Have A Good Time" that could actually have a chance to be a hit for the group. The song has a great 70's flair and uses the Queen sound to excellent effect.

The very Saxon riff in the opening of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" is very cool but the lack of guttural aggression in the vocals doesn't turn this song into a monster. Think if Biff or Halford were leading this song and how bloody brilliant it would have ended up being. The deluxe version has some demo material that is pretty useless and a couple of bonus tracks "Pat Long Ladies" is good to be honest. It's too bad that Justin Hawkins has to be the singer and someone like John Corabi or Gary Cherone couldn't sing these songs because then this album would be freaking epic and complete masterpiece as musically there is a ton to love but vocally it all gets old pretty quickly.