The Darkness ‘Easter is Cancelled’ Review: Brit hard rockers get messianic on new concept album. 

It seems somewhat remarkable that The Darkness have never made a concept album before: with their grandiose riffs, flair for the dramatic and whip-smart wit, they seem a perfect fit for the format.

Better late than never, the UK rockers are back with their 6th album, the hilariously titled Easter is Cancelled. It’s a concept album that only they could deliver, with the press release stating that it “examines the role of the musician in the barbarous culture of the world today, and their almost divine responsibility to challenge the establishment — something that most rock ‘n’ roll artists seem to have given up on in favor of easy celebrity.”

TLDR: the album focuses on Hawkins as an alternate universe Jesus who survives the crucifixion so he and his bandmates can rock the world. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at the controversial album cover.

The opus kicks off with Rock and Roll Deserves To Die, opening with haunting mandolin before a beefy guitar riff enters the picture, with vocalist/lead guitarist Justin Hawkins lamenting the current tepid state of rock, fittingly ending to the strains of Happy Trails.

The band offer a lesson in dynamics on How Can I Lose Your Love, sounding like an unholy fusion of The Foo Fighters and Queen, with Hawkins lamenting “How can I lose your love/If I’m still trying to find it?”

Heart Explodes may be the band’s finest song since their 2004 debut Permission To Land. It’s a soaring power ballad that manages to be both ridiculously overwrought and deeply stirring, that perfect mix of whimsy and gravitas that the band excel at, while Deck Chair is an understated track, placing the main focus on Hawkins’ stellar pipes.

The title track is appropriately bonkers, an AC/DC styled rager where the frontman sends his otherworldly falsetto to heights that seem humanly impossible, punctuated by an Arabic flavored guitar solo.

Heavy Metal Lover is another instant classic, with Hawkins pining for a female metal fan (“You’re so metal, I’m afraid you’ll rust/But you fear nothing/In Satan you Trust”) with the song veering from 70s boogie rock to vintage 80s thrash and 90’s groove metal (with cowbell added for good measure). Rhythm guitarist Dan Hawkins work here is stellar, pulling off every stylistic shift with ease while bassist Frankie Poullain and drummer Rufus Taylor (son of Queen drummer Roger Taylor) operate in lockstep throughout.

Choke On It is a breakup song of the first order, with a spy guitar riff augmenting biting lyrics (“I wish the course of love went smoother/You’ve bitten off more than you can chew/I hope my heart was a tasty hors d’oeuvres”) and a chorus that induces instant head-banging.

The album ends on a majestic note with We Are The Guitar Men, with Hawkins and co. resigned to their fate as old fashioned rockers “Give me a guitar, an extension of my soul…She  completes me, makes me whole/We are the guitar men/Long live rock and roll” ending with a nod and a wink to Van Halen’s Eruption.

Rock and Roll will never die as long as The Darkness are standing. They are the heroes we need, yet don’t deserve. Easter is Cancelled is a welcome reminder of their peerless musical powers.