Customer Reviews

One Way Ticket to Hell & Back

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

Great Sweet Queen, wipe the Slade clean. Justin Hawkins and his bandmates in The Darkness have given us an exuberant reminder of why - when it was really great - the kind of arena rock that you loved in the 70's was fabulous. In fact, even the syrup-stringed ballad ("Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time") isn't a total embarrassment. There's even a couple of hilarious one-offs to make sure you never forget that The Darkness can make light. You get "Knockers" (complete with the most outrageously funny second verse I've heard in years) and the ode to that middle-age scourge of crotch-rockers everywhere, "Bald." (Hey, is this a knock at Rush? Remember "I Think I'm Going Bald"?)

That is the beauty of The Darkness and "One Way Ticket To Hell...And Back." This is serious rock by a bunch of guys who have no problem NOT taking themselves all that seriously. My main quibble with The Darkness remains that their voice is still not gone beyond a too-easily identified composite of other bands. You'll hear an awful lot of Sweet and Queen here, and dabs of Slade, Boston, AC/DC, Def Lep etc, and the final third of the CD loses momentum. But then, if you can muster up the charisma of Freddie Mercury and the harmonies of the mighty Sweet, as The Darkness does on the title cut and "English Country Garden," I'm not going to be the one to tell you it's a bad thing. Add to the mix Roy Thomas Baker's usual kitchen sink approach to the production (sitar, bagpipes, pan flute, tubular bells and a pitch-perfect Brian May sound-alike opening guitar on "Hazel Eyes") and you can't help but get swept up in the ride. Besides, would any of the cocaine-cowboy bands of the seventies even dared to open their album with an anti-drug song AND the sounds of line-snorting?

Best Songs" "One Way Ticket," "Knockers," "Hazel Eyes."

Ah, the dreaded second album, the album that will separate the one-album-wonders and the bands with staying power. Having to have your second album be as good as your debut is hard enough, but it's going to be particularly challenging for The Darkness. With their ultra falsetto singer and screeching guitars, The Darkness are a complete throwback to the pre-Nirvana 70/80s. Some view The Darkness as a novelty act, and see the success of their debut album as an anomaly. So needless to say, The Darkness have a lot riding on their second album, it's either going to make them or break them.

Much to the relief of the band and their fans, "One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back" (2005) totally rocks. It has all the ingredients of a great old-school rock album: in-your-face head-banging arena rockers with kick-ass solos, a touch of the theatrics, and a balled or two that isn't to too corny. The Darkness have avoided the pitfalls of many sophomore slumps which include re-making the debut or letting creative aspirations run wild. "One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back" is cut, more or less, from the same cloth as the debut. It's the same retro style of AC/DC meets Queen, but Roy Thomas Baker's production has given the songs an authentic touch of the theatrical operatic aspirations from which the band first strived for on their debut. The mellotrons, flugelhorns, sitars and saxophones added to the mix work well. At times, the channeling of Queen and the added orchestration may be a little overdone, but the album is still a thoroughly enjoyable listen.

The critics have given "One Way Ticket to Hell and Back" fair reviews. But much like Queen, The Darkness could very well turn out to be a band of the people, rather than the critics. Fans of the debut, old-school metal, and Queen should be very pleased with this album.

Great! It's like when KISS made Destroyer. Critics and fans
didn't appreciate it. This is a great effort and shows these
guys are no one hit wonders. Slick production and keyboards
and backing vocals make this a classic rock album. The Thin
Lizzy celtic "hazel eyes" is my favorite. "Dinner Lady Arms"
sounds like a rocking Raspberries song. The title track and
"Is it just me?" are good rockers like the first album. It's
like Queen meets AC/DC. It's got everything a true fan of rock
n' roll would love. Give it a chance. These guys are for real
and I hope stay around a long time. Rock n Roll needs them!!!!

God, I loved every bit of the 1ST LP. Everything. This new one, I dunno; Roy Baker Thomas making them out to be the next Queen? Production overkill and some really lame songs make this 2nd effort a puzzle. I was sure the band would come out with both guns blazing, but so much of this sounds like outtakes from Sheer Heart Attack. What gives? No one great song like the 1ST LP. Next time around fellows; ditch the producer, crank the guitars up to 11, get rid of queen crap, and friggin' rock like we know you can...please

...but i think that's just cause they were trying to go into a more queen/elo/meatloaf direction (in fact queen's producer helped produce this.) there is still some 80's vibes on a couple tracks, but this record is predominately 70's operatic. which is in my opinion a good thing. different from the first album to a certain degree, yet still very much the darkness. more sophisticated and radio friendly, but still classic.

1.) One Way ticket To Hell-- this track seems to have the same riff as i believe in a thing called love at the begining of the chorus, which ensures its success since the former was a hit. isn't that what "ac/dc" does? the same thing over and over so the hits keep on flowing? yep.

2.) Knockers-- most people think this is the best song on the album. i like it, but it's not my favorite. cute lyrics. something about the guitar melody in the chorous reminds me of 70's "aerosmith".

3.) Is It Just Me?-- One of my favorite tracks! very 80's chorus and good lyrics. this song could've been big around '84, '85. around the time "van halen" were churning out hits like jump and panama, though this track doesn't particularily sound like those. it just has that fun happy 80's metal edge that reminds me of that time period.

4.) Dinner Lady Arms-- justin's voice is in top form on the album, and this track definitely demonstrates that. the verses to this track have a very british new wave contemporary sound to them. lovely chorus!

5.) Seemed Like Such A Good Idea At The Time-- beautiful ballad. interesting vocal arrangement. i would've liked to have heard a little more guitar work, but still quite lovely.

6.) Hazel Eyes-- kind of sounds like if "the who" met "big country". 70's classic rock meets sweedish new wave. again, this is most people's fave track. not mine, but still i like the guitar riff.

7.) Bald-- excellent track! everyone must admit this. reminds me of something from "the scorpions" era. good old fashioned power metal. silly lyrics, but it just goes to show with incredible vocals and an amazing song, the lyrics can be pure silliness and it doesn't damage the song at all.

8.) Girlfriend-- i like this song a lot! very 70's rollar boogie. reminiscent of something "sweet" would've done.

9.) English Country Garden-- excellent track! very meatloaf/queen inspired. once again is demonstrating the strong 70's flavor. clever lyrics as well.

10.)Blind Man--very very obviously inspired by "Queen". very slow, but very lovely. and an interesting pick to close the album to.

this c.d. is very fast paced, the songs flow into one another nicely, and the songs are wonderfully produced. i don't skip any tracks, which is a good sign cause i'm notorious for being a song shuffler. i smell a success. good job blokes!

I love this album, but don't really know why. The Darkness once again takes their Sweet meets Queen sound and comes up with an album of songs that simply will not leave your head. The Queen comparisons are even stronger on this disc as long time Queen Producer Roy Thomas Baker does the production chores on the album. Instrumentally these guys are nothing spectacular, but put all of the parts in the right places in order to come up with a winning formula. The band never takes itself too seriously and some of the songs, such as "Knockers" and "Bald" are hilarious. The title track rocks with a song about cocaine (band leader Justin Hawkins recently entered rehab for his problem with it. "English Country Garden", "Hazel Eyes", "Blind Man" "Is It Just Me", "Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" are all solid rock songs. Justin Hawkins uses his upper register falsetto more on this album than on the first, and your mileage will vary as to whether you find it annoying or enduring. Overall I really enjoy this disc, and it is a great one to crank up in your car.

This left me speechless and that is hard to do. It has been years since something so perfectly executed musically and artistically has been able to make me listen, sit back, feel and go WOW! I am 40 and have been blessed to live and SURVIVE the late 70' and 80's. I love bands like Queen, ELO,Styx,Journey, TRiumph, Zeppelin..ya know what I mean???? Blazing harmonies...production, production, the vocals, whew! (Freddie would be so proud of this piece...the last 3 tracks were unreal....this showcased the vocals like no other.) Although I was a fan from the debut, and people laughed and said the Darkness? And I said, "no you don't understand, I play, sing and these guys ARE talented, you wait, they are going to explode", I have picked winners, I saw JET when they couln't give tickets away, The Foo Fighters when they played a small little venues and now THIS PERFECT ALBUM----YES, GAVE ME THAT FEELING OF LED ZEPPELIN 4!!!! Orgasmically perfect in every way

BUY THIS AND WATCH OUT, THE BEST IS YET TO COME FROM JUSTIN AND THE BOYS. THIS BAND IS HOT, THEY ARE YOUNG AND TALENTED ....

JOYSTYX KNOWS.....THANK YOU TO THE DARKNESS FOR REMINDING MY SOUL TO ROCK!

3.5 stars

I loved the Darkness' first cd (Permission to Land), so I was hoping for more of the same on this new cd. The first four songs on this new cd continue in the same vein, more or less, as the songs on "Permission to Land". But then things get very schizophrenic. From the fifth song on, the new cd seems to lose momentum, or the momentum changes. What the last half of the cd sounds like is nothing so much as a collection of stylistically diverse B-sides/bonus tracks, most very good, some not. Track five is over-produced with a string section nearly drowning out the band.

The last half of the cd is pretty enjoyable overall. It's just a more uneven listen than the first four tracks, which flow together seamlessly.

The Darkness are back with a vengeance! After striking the world with their first album "Permission to Land" it was quiet around them for a while. Occasional rumors about Frankie Poulain leaving and Justin starting a solo-career licked our ears, but that was all. After two years, they have returned and are ready to slap modern rock in the face and rock your socks off.

I flung the CD in the stereo, pumped up the volume and lay on my bed. After a short silence I heard sniffling, grunting almost, and I knew it. This was the new Darkness album. So typical to open with that full force that is "One Way Ticket". Silly lyrics, power chord riffs. Then the solo came and I had to listen twice before I came to the conclusion they were busting a solo on a sitar... So they've started to experiment with instruments. Bagpipes, piano, tambourine, violin, they all came by and proved to be really fresh with that old Darkness sound. A great surprise.

80's rock is still the biggest influence on these glamrockers. Queen elements come back in a lot of the songs, which is exactly what we need today; skillful music. The drums keep a basic rhythm most of the time, treating us with a nice break from time to time. The guitars are still rocking hard with catchy riffs and over-the-top solo's. The biggest change must be the bass, since they replaced Francis with Richie Edwards. The bass appears to be more present now and it sounds fitting, listen to the song "Girlfriend" and you'll definitely notice.

The lyrical side of the Darkness is still amazing. They tell us all we need to know to laugh, to cry and to agree. Sometimes silly, especially in the combination with the falsetto voice, but that's not all, girls and boys. They managed to really seize me with the song "Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time", a true ballad about sincere heartbreak.

All I can say is that they pulled it off again. The album features high-pitched voices, gut-busting sitar solo's, rockballad's and songs about turning bald... All I can say is check it out, because it's definitely worth your 14 bucks. Also check out the new vid, it's hilarious.

These guys don't go by the "norm". That's what's so great about them. Its such a shame that these guys broke up. Justin Hawkins is in a new band named "Hot Leg". They're still working on their first album. Anyway, there isn't anything wrong with going in a different direction than the other bands out there. Do we really need another raspy voice singing about how bad his life is? No. We need these guys who sing diffent sounding songs (diffent from other bands as well as diffent from their other tracks) about drugs, relationships, and don't mind a little profanity. Buy this album and their last one. They're awesome