The Darkness’ 2003 album “Permission to Land” should have been the biggest record in a long time. This album should have sold 5 million copies, and the band should have been playing arenas all over the States. However, my vision of grandeur for the group went unfulfilled. The throwback to the glory days of British heavy metal meets Queen should have taken over, but it only stepped up to sell 750,000 copies in the States (and did reach the top of someone’s year end album countdown, much to the chagrin of wannabe critics everywhere).

The four piece band has made the previous album sound archaic, and enlisted former Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker for the new record. The new album has its moments, but lacks the quality bombast that made Permission to Land a winner. At times, the new record sounds overproduced, and the charging rockers are more grandiose and mellow.

The album starts off well, with the title track. The New Age flute sound gives way to someone presumably snorting a line of powder. In the song, guitarist Dan Hawkins and unitard sporting lead singer Justin Hawkins trade off guitar crescendos, and falsetto lyrics.

Other key tracks include the Meat Loaf “Bat out of Hell” style “Is It Just Me?”, which features great guitar work from the younger Hawkins; and the puzzling title “Dinner Lady Arms”, which is an ode to the flabby arms of serving ladies. The lyrics are ridiculous, but that is the appeal of the band. The music continues to be a throwback to the days of T.Rex and Sweet, and the explosion of the mid-70’s British rock scene, and is so far different from other things on rock radio, it makes you take notice. However, the overproduced tracks such as “Hazel Eyes”, and “Seemed Like A Good Idea at the Time”, lack the raw fun of tracks on “Permission to Land”. As in some cases, too much production is not always a good thing.

It used to be thought of that the Darkness were just a novelty band in most of the world. Now, the band is just flaunting their style in the listeners’ face, much to this reviewer’s delight. Unfortunately, for American music listeners, they still see the band as a novelty group ala Spinal Tap.

It’s too bad that most Americans don’t get the joke. Even with the flaws of “One Way Ticket”, the band proves that they are still more entertaining than 95 percent of the bands out there.

GRADE: B