Permission to Land

Isn’t a parody of bad pop metal just bad pop metal itself? It’s like spinal tap with slicker production and worse songs. I guess the point is that its ridiculous but i never need to hear this shite again.

Fun. Love the hit song. Just ok as an album. Very listenable.

Objektivno odron ali veoma zabavno ne zanima me.

Når jeg høre The Darkness tænker jeg mest på min gamle efterskole kammerat som havde den perfekte dårlig smags playlist med til festerne. Jeg syntes faktisk det er godt, langt bedre end jeg havde regnet med. Men det er for anstrengende og skabet i længden.

Et album der er ca. 25 år bagefter sin tid. Tænk sig at der har sidder en pladeselskabsmand, midt i Garagerock-Revivalens peak, og tænkt “vi skal da have en Glamrock-revival. Næsten 25 år senere holder det her album endnu mindre end det gjorde i 2003. 2 stjerner for indholdet. Jeg får lyst til at trække 1 fra for udgivelses tidspunktet. Men der findes lort der stinker værre

amazing guitar and i actually enjoyed the music

Shrill

2/5 no lo escucharia de nuevo. El falseto no ayuda a que el disco sea mejor, incluso se vuelve repetitivo.

This was better than I thought it was gonna be. I like the music. The songs are catchy. I really just cannot stand this guy when he sings in his falsetto, even though I respect he can sing six octaves higher than most men.

I believe!

Local lads to me! I've never really appreciated how much this sounds like full-on 70s hard rock Queen, which of course makes this album somewhat dated for 2003. It's good fun though, but not a serious record. Maybe it shouldn't be here. Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ ★★★☆☆(6/10) Total reviewed : 463 Already owned : 100 Purchased : 25 To buy : 3 Nope : 335

Such a great, underrated rock album.

Musically dated for 2003, though not bad. The falsetto is really, really tiring 2/5

What you'd expect is the 2003 idea of glam rock. Nothing special. But it doesn't destroy the genre either.

An album from 2003 with a cover that just screams vapid 70s nostalgia. There was really zero chance I was going to enjoy this How about if you're making a list of 1001 essential albums you focus on music that pushes art forward instead of gazing wistfully at the past?

Not dreadful. Just not good.

Bit of a rollercoaster with this one. Saw I got it and was like "oh it's a jokey one a bit like the Monkees yaknow". Then I didn't like the first one, but warmed and warmed to it until it peaked at Love is Only a Feeling. Earnest! Maybe, not sure. But I did like it. However, then I felt it slip back into juvenile again, like they could produce better music than they are currently doing. So it lands at a 3, but it was briefly a 4.

Never liked them but also never listened beyond the big hit. He doesn’t have to sing like that and the songs he doesn’t are actually tolerable, albeit kind of boring.

Permission granted 🫡

WOOHOO ANOTHER SHITTY BRITISH BAND! Why the fuck did they try to make a glam rock album this far after its peak in popularity? We're really gonna parade around the rotting corpse of this (mostly) abysmal sound that should have rested in piss a LONGGGGGGG time ago. Tongue-in-cheek or not, it doesn't make up for the fact this is neither funny or entertaining. It straight up sounds like shit. Like this is the most cliche boring thing to do with this already awful genre. Dude's voice is grating and the instrumentals are generic beyond belief. There's no experimentation of any kind or interesting ideas to at least make this somewhat interesting. Not to mention the fact this trash made the project over a number of albums I couldn't find in the full list is genuinely insulting. I feel bad for you Brits if this is the kind of bollocks that had been coming out at the time.

Good

it got worse 3/5

whatever. naked lady on an album cover for a band with no women always annoys the fuck out of me. men can make the music they want, and i did like some of it, but it's just annoying when the same men who would defend this album will call women lazy/boring/annoying/a whore for making music that is sexual in its lyricism or visuals...

Is this the hardest one can rock? Certainly up there. Not sure I believe in a thing called love but what a banger!

Does this album have any artistic merit? No. Is it one of the 1001 best albums of all time? Also no. But did I enjoy revisiting this ridiculous, overblown and very camp album 20 years on? Absolutely

Tried to have an open mind but I could have happily lived my life without hearing this and I can’t see this staying in this book very long….

Wasn't looking forward to this one but I've heard a lot lot worse over the last 270+ days. Just enough humour, daft guitar work and sheer chutzpah to knock it into the two star category.

What?????? Actually this wasn’t too bad TBH, one at least has to admire their pluck I suppose. “Friday Night” is also one of the weirdest/most unexpected songs I have ever heard, in a good way. Dreadful stuff overall, 1 star but much better than plenty of the other 1 star albums thus far. Tom.

Happy vibes for a Monday morning

Permission to Shit.

Zero fucks given, and played wonderfully

Bought this when it came out and didn't appreciate it till later. Some real bangers on here. Rounding up a 4.5

fine fine

I remember the singles, and enjoying them. Never did listen to the rest. a throwback to an era I don't have any nostalgia for. Still, more enjoyable than a lot of hard rock. Short enough not to be too annoying. 3.5 rounded down Heard before? Some Owned: No, 110/439 (25%) Will I get:

The last time in encountered The Darkness was as a snobby indie boy in 2003 and I performatively hated them: the look, the inflatable dicks at gig and Justin Hawkins whole vibe. Going back now as a less up my own ass 30 year old I was surprised at how much I enjoyed some of this. Givin' Up could be top end Status Quo and I Believe in a Thing Called Love is a classic. Half of the album is dull but the good stuff is very catchy.

Liked almost Every Song on the Album 9/10

One of the best songs ever and then the rest

💥🫯🪐🌙🔥

A loud and fun 70s style throwback. I Believe.. is one of my karaoke go-tos. A full album is a bit much of The Darkness for me, they work better in small doses. 3/5.

JL : 3, Love Is Only a Feeling

'Get your hands off of my woman, motherfucker / Get your hands off of my woman, motherfucker.' Glam rock that's as weird as anything you'd hear in a long time while also being no different from so much other rock music of the early 20-aughts including lame bands like The Killers & underrated acts like The Libertines, The Darkness are a fun, delightful group that grow on you b/c, deep down, their pop sensibility is all that really matters. This is to say that melodies reign supreme: 'Love Is Only a Feeling,' 'Givin' Up,' & 'Friday Night' are classics of dispensable triviality & deep joviality. The Darkness are at times too close to 70s radio rock for me to tune in ravishingly - I'm thinking of Boston, Journey, etc. - but I guess that's also a part of the play.

Really liked this album, but not quite a 4

It was fun, but got kind of old after a while.

The song "Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman" has always been a crazy fun song that I enjoyed from the release and would have no problems giving it 5 stars on it's own. The rest of the album is more like 3's and 4's. I liked him better with the extremely bad teeth and skin tight one piece suits.

Rejuvenated my faith in rock n roll back in 2003. Fun as fuck!

Justin Hawkins, national treasure. Glam metal with a sense of arch irony. Just wished I liked metal more than I do.

Bloody crap.

Fun glam rock

Speaks to both a recency bias and over-indexing of British music that this pastiche of 70s and 80s rock was deemed worthy of inclusion on this list. Permission to Land really doesn't hold up that well and it's schtick wears thin pretty quick.

Pretty mid hair metal. I believe in a thing called love is an awesome song

A 3 feels generous. Derivative and annoying vocals

Was alright, 2.5/5

2.8

nice surprise

this did nothing for me. i genuinely have nothing to say about it. in a way i suppose that is kind of impressive? it's certainly not BAD. hm.

Type of album that makes your most boring uncle think "at least somebody still understands good music"

Right up there with Spinal Tap.

Not at all to my liking. It's twice as good as anything ever put out by ABBA. But I'm going back to "Dopesmoker" (Sleep's great 2003 album that never bores me) and then Phosphorescent's "A Hundred Times or More" another great album from 2003 . 2 "times anything ever put out by ABBA" stars.

3.85 out of 5 stars for The Darkness. When this album came out, I said, "Finally! A band doing guitar solos again, with overtly sexual references. Reminds me of a glam version of AC/DC!" I liked it back in 2003 when it came out, and I still appreciate it today. I actually have the 20 year anniversary edition which adds on some demos and original versions of the album songs, which is interesting to hear how they evolved. I'm 100% positive there's going to be a lot of hateful reviews of these guys, but I enjoy their mixture of hard rock, glam, and solid blues rock foundation. It was a nice change of pace in 2003.

Not my thing

Fun listen, recognized a few songs. The singing is a bit repetitive, but I liked the heaviness of the rock and would check out their stuff again.

sounds like Mickey mouse singing

a versatile and quite skilled vocalist, but the instruments aren't particularly remarkable, and only a few of the styles the band try to copy really land well

It's probably been 20 years since I last listen to this in full. It's still as just big, stupid, brilliant fun as it was back then. Singing along to Growing on Me and the other bangers put a big old smile on my face. Great stuff

Pretty good.

Musically, its ok. Its some generic hard rock with generic guitar solos. I kinda liked the heavier songs. However the singing here is on another level gratting. Hes singing like someone is constatly hitting him in the balls with a baseball bat (Not good). Atleast it doesnt take itself too seriously. Or I hope its the case. Overall, its forgetable but decent. A 2.5/5 if ive ever seen one. Doesnt deserve to be on the book.

el disco debut de moderatto ingles siento que la idea de traer de regreso el glam rock y hair metal de vuelta era interesante mas en la época donde teníamos a las bandas de nu metal entrando uno de los puntos mas altos y por otro lado en Inglaterra aun no se terminaba de ver la influencia de los strokes que llegaria unos años depues con todo eso the darkness entro con éxito como i belive in a thing call love y dejo claro que aunque eran buenos músicos ellos querían divertirse un disco que no me encanta musical mente divertido pero la voz en ciertos momentos no termina de convencer

1. 3.5 2. 4 3. 3 4. 4.5 5. 4.5 6. 2.5 7. 3 8. 3.5 9. 3 10. 3

So much recognisable stuff on here. It's not my favourite genre to listen to, but bonus points for nostalgia

kind of bland

Kul och ösigt!

Kul band och album med en energi som höjer dem över mängden!

Coolt med mörker! Stark fyra.

Genuinely shocked at how much I loved this camp, ridiculous hair metal gem

Every time I hear "i believe in a thing called love" I'm like, whatever happened to this band? Their sounds is very early 2000s. First time hearing the whole album, and their sound is very reminiscent of 70s big hair rock. I didn't discover new songs I like, but not a bad album. 4*

I Believed in a Thing Called Love is alright, but overall this is just not the band for me.

Nope

Sick riffs annoying vocals at times

I was an early Darkness adopter. The dude's voice paired with the great riffs - it was just fun, during a time when music was all over the place, with indie rock, emo, pop, hip-hop, all being extremely popular. Amidst all the new sounds, this throw-back rock was a perfect way to spend an hour. My friends and I went to see them live when they were touring this record, and they were FANTASTIC. Justin really had it all - a great voice, great chops, great showmanship. *** Not having heard this one in a long time, I was eager to dive back into it and I have to say - it had me from the first note. That super-crunchy guitar tone- I was headbanging the whole time. My family thought I was insane for about 40 minutes today. It was glorious. Sure, the A side is a bit better than the B side, but - it still rules. I can't believe I'm doing this but - FIVE STARS

Would not have guessed '03 for this one, it sounds like 80s rock. It's not a bad sound, I already knew "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", which is a fine song but not one I listen to often. They do sound like they're trying to imitate a lot of better bands though.

As the music is quite nice, this voice, the falsetto is not really nice. I cannot listen to this in album length...

Decent but forgettable a strong start was muddied by a lot of fluff. Wasn’t really over the moon about any of it

Musically, pretty damn decent. It's standard fare hair metal, even if The Darkness missed the peak of the genre by about 20 years. I enjoyed the energy of the instrumentals, and I can *theoretically* envision both a time and place I'd listen to this, but don't mistake that sentiment for this album being anything approaching groundbreaking or worth putting on this list. In short: completely listenable but highly replicable instrumental work. The vocals are a different story. The falsetto is overblown and poorly done. You can do falsetto well (see: the BeeGees and Smokey Robinson), but this is not one of those instances. It detracts greatly from this album, and almost forces the mind to tune out. I Believe In A Thing Called Love is a song that I did at my Brother's 30th birthday karaoke bash as a joke, which pretty much encapsulates what this album is to me: lighthearted fun, but not something to ever be taken seriously. 5/10 but rounding up to 3 stars for its fun instrumentals and general listenability (outside of the falsetto). Favorites: - Get Your Hands off My Woman - Growing on Me - I Believe In A Thing Called Love - Friday Night

Nothing special about this album. Contains some good moments it is more forgettable than anything. Not one I will be coming back. After about 6 songs of him wailing and singing falsetto I quickly lost interest and it became background as I cleaned my room up. Low 5/10

There are some really good moments in some of these songs. I liked this more than I expected. I believe in a thing called love is my absolute favorite!! Ummmm it's a 4 for me.

This album is stupid and fun and entertaining. The guy's voice is maybe too over the top.

Best comment, "Tiny Tim does metal" Glam rock rarely does anything for me and this album did not disappoint. It was energetic and sounded OK but not willing to invest anymore time.

It defies all I thought I knew about myself, but I'm split between 3 and 4. I feel like I'm attending an 80's rock concert held inside a giant purple piano. Inside a dream. Glam rock lights dark caverns with me I don't know existed. Not sure I like what creatures I'm finding in there, but as Mike said, "embrace the excess."

A total ripper of an album. Tons of fun to listen to, but good god, Justin Hawkin's falsetto is grating. In small doses it can enhance a song, but he doesn't do that (I don't think The Darkness does anything in small doses). It's such that it drops the album from a 4 to 3.

This is a great glam rock album. Energetic and guitar fronted, with great solos. But damn, I do have the wrong haircut for this!

Сара 3,5 Марко 3,5

70's hard rock style plus falsetto vocals and you can tell they were having a good time. Nothing super memorable here though I do remember the track "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" being everywhere when this came out. Don't feel like anyone had this sound around 2003 so they were obviously doing their own thing. This was a fun listen not super deep lyrically by any means then again sometimes you just need something lighter hearted.

3.2

Britain discovers hair metal about 2 decades too late. I say hair metal and not glam rock because after glam rock went through the United States in the 70s and 80s, we morphed it, and PERMISSION TO LAND is closer to the hair metal variation. Pleasant enough hooks, but needs a vocalist whose voice is not so annoying. There is no vocal virtuosity of Sebastian Bach or Rob Halford, or the instrumental prowess of Mick Mars or Eddie Van Halen, but The Darkness certainly has the cockiness and confidence of the hair metal era down pat. Having said all that there is nothing special here that isn't done better by something on the order of tens of thousands of hair metal bands over the past 40 years. Absolutely not an essential album for a list like this. Anyone that argues that it is, is being disingenuous. How about just put more of the real deal from the peak era (spoiler: 1980s) instead of this? Motley Crue's DR FEELGOOD perhaps? Oh, right, because The Darkness are British, and the bands that defined this space were probably American, or were Def Leppard, who is already represented on the list. /smh I am assuming that these guys must have been holding Dimery's dog hostage.

Tää laulajahan oli todella uskomaton. Jos hän olis ollu mielenkiintosemmassa projektissa, niin olisin rakastanu tätä kaikkee. Nyt lähinnä tuli välillä hymyiltyä ko tuli oikein hyviä kiekaisuja. Voi ku papparokki loppuis...

Tää on se mitä portion boys luulee olevansa. Tää on se mitä jack black on. Levyllisen verran vähän niinku söis liikaa metrilakua kerralla. Mutta jos oisin saanu puolittaa niin ois ollu nelonen.

Tässä on hyvän levyn aineksia, mut mulla ei vaan lähteny. Olin jo muutaman biisin jälkeen ihan valmis jättämään kesken, mut toisaalta ei tää nyt sinällään huonoakaan musaa oo – meikästä vaan vähän hajutonta ja mautonta.

Laulaja teki tästä mielenkiintosta :D muuten ihan peruskivaa tykitystä

*Räväkkä falsettikirkaisu* God damn! Olin unohtanut kuinka hiton kova tää on!!! 🔥 Todella vahva debyytti. Aika vähän tosin tunsi musaa jonka olkapäillä tää jämäkästi seisoo sillon aikanaan, mut upeesti poimittu kyllä elementtejä edeltäjiltä ja silti tosi tunnistettava oma saundi! Nostalgian siivittämänä pyöristyköön vitoseen 🙂‍↕️ ”Let the music smother me” ❤️‍🔥

Glamrock-falsettikiekuminen ei inspiroi, mut hyvä meininki muuten. I believe in a thing called lovehan oli tuttu klassikko!