Pinewood smile

"Less seaworthy than its predecessor but delivered with the same freewheeling sonic brinksmanship, Pinewood Smile feels both rote and ready; a fully stocked tinder box with nary a match in sight. To be fair, Last of Our Kind was almost too good of a distillation of what makes the Darkness so compelling - at their best, they're a near perfect amalgam of Thin Lizzy, Queen, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC; both self-aware and hopelessly in love with the dumb pageantry of rock & roll".

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"No one expects woke-ness from the Darkness, but their reliance on making jokes at someone else's expense complicates, if not completely negates, their appeal of evoking a bygone era of tighter pants and looser morals. Pinewood Smile has got more jokes than ever, and it's the first time the Darkness don't evoke 1974 or 1984 so much as 2003-and they've never sounded more dated".

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"With a more modern approach, the band really demonstrates their musical range yet also stick to their roots of classic rock. The guitars and drumming in this album are definitely more aggressive and evident than any of their previous work, which makes the album completely mind-blowing. The Darkness has been listening to a lot of George Harrison and Guns n' Roses. Mix that with Bushby on this album, it really goes to show how they can play classic rock with a modern twist".

"Det er i singleudspillet 'All the Pretty Girls', i 'Buccaners of Hispanola' eller 'Japanese Prioners of Love', at englænderne finder frem til deres bedste ... Men der er 10 numre på 'Pinewood Smile', og fire af dem, det sidste den Beatles-inspirerede afslutter 'Stampede of Love', mangler simpelthen pondus og gennemtrængende melodier, og selvom resten er af samme idiotisk høje kvalitet, som The Darkness plejer at brillere med, er det gennemgående kun et album lidt over middel".

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