Last time I reviewed an album by The Darkness on this blog, I claimed that Last Of Our Kind was a great album to listen to if you were previously on the fence about the band and wanted to get into them with a blend of awesome Rock music and toned down silliness. Pinewood Smile successfully amplifies both factors, resulting in a collection of great Hard Rock songs that you can't take seriously if you listen to the lyrics. However, worst album cover in the world aside, this could well be my favourite Darkness album to date.
Things are off to a good start with album opener/lead single, "All The Pretty Girls". It's a punchy Rock track with catchy vocal hooks/guitar riffs and a uniquely amusing take on the popularity Rock stars gain as they progress through their career rather than your standard "I wanna bang all the chicks and they wanna bang me back" approach synonymous with most over-the-top artists. From there, the album only gets better with a tightly packed wealth of pure Rock and humorous lines, both equally well crafted and blended together.
Other singles "Solid Gold" and "Southern Trains" bring the thunder with their heavy riffs but also contain lyrics laced with profanity in a charmingly British manner whilst other Hard Rock filler tracks throughout the album such as "Japanese Prisoner Of Love" and "Lay Down With Me, Barbara" are a bit more subtle with their humour, relying more on subverting or parodying Rock tropes in Spinal Tapesque fashion rather than dropping F-bombs like Tenacious D. The album utilises both types of funny songwriting well and thankfully they don't try to awkwardly blend them in single songs.
Despite blending humour and quality Hard Rock better than any previous Darkness album, this is still an issue for those of you (like myself) who will always prefer good music over funny lyrics in your Rock albums. Full disclosure: "English Country Garden" is my all-time favourite song by the band and that track contains comically obscene lyrics, although since they're mostly indistinguishable, the awesome music is at the forefront of my mind when I listen to the song. Compare this to tracks that I mentioned earlier where you can very clearly hear the chorus to "Southern Trains" and you might find yourself removed from the experience of listening to a great song due to the funny lyrics.
My favourite song on the album is "Buccaneers Of Hispaniola", a track that screams epic from its name to its riffs throughout; the kind of song that would sound amazing being played whilst charging into battle. Thankfully, that song is entirely reliant on being a great Rock tune and will probably be the next single if the band choose to release one. Other decent songs on the album like "Stampede Of Love" have some great musical moments but I feel like I can't let myself enjoy it as much because it's clearly meant to be a joke song at the end of the album, hence the pointless "frenzy" during the last 20 seconds.
Aside from subjective criticisms about jokes not landing, there's nothing really wrong with the album in the same way that previous reviews have looked at weak songwriting or Pop tendencies. At this point in the band's career, they're still allowed to churn out albums that work without needing to experiment (that's their NEXT album) and this album is still very much The Darkness at the top of their game. Falsetto vocals are still being used effectively in comparison to Permission To Land and the rest of the band are still kicking ass despite going through more drummers than a runaway car ploughing through a queue outside the carpel tunnel syndrome clinic.
Pinewood Smile might sound a bit sillier than their previous album but I feel like the music is tighter too. If there were more tracks like "Buccaneers Of Hispaniola" that were more about rocking hard and less about mildly tickling your funny bone, I probably would've preferred it more on a personal level. However, as objectively as I can see it, this album's still damn good and deserves an 8/10. I recommend this album to people who like Hard Rock but aren't looking for their new favourite record, as it's the kind of music best enjoyed now and then rather than as one complete package.
It's refreshing to hear a new Rock album by an actual Rock band made with a proper Rock producer after multiple albums by stadium fillers like Foo Fighters and Paramore designed to sound more like Pop. Hopefully there'll be more of these coming out around the time of my next review and less of Villains or Beautiful Trauma...that's the new Pink album with that song that's being played fucking everywhere at the moment.
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