The Damned – Darkadelic (Ear Music) Album Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Damned, The Stranglers, and The Buzzcocks are, or were, all punk rock survivors because of their ability to reinvent themselves, to tangent onto differing musical paths and stay relevant to not just their fans, but to also hook into greater masses.

It’s been 46 years since the band’s debut (and arguably greatest) album ‘Damned, Damned, Damned’ was released ahead of The Sex Pistols, to claim fame as being the first punk band to release an album (The Ramones may disagree Ed). Their last studio album in 2018 ‘Evil Spirits’ was large on production (Tony Visconti), but light on guitar, and while it’s the same band line up this album (Rat Scabies and Brian Jones only rejoined for a covid postponed tour in 2022) there is a lot more darkness and dare I say it, rock n roll on Darlkadelic comparatively…

Three of the tracks “The Invisible Man” “You’re Gonna Realise” and “Beware of the Clown” (a fabulous Captain Sensible character assassination) have been released as online tasters and pretty much typifies how the whole album sounds, The Damned worked with producer Thomas Mitchener whose fame list includes The Futureheads, Gallows and Tyler the Creator and his diversity and youth has enriched the outcome

Listening for the first time to the remaining nine songs, several stand out as bangers: “Western Promise”  showcases Vanian’s vocal talents richly and invitingly, “Wake Up Dead” harks back to Phantasmagoria with its dark gothic promises, and “Bad Weather Girl” with its haunted organ hat tips to back the 1980s when The Damned had a real the sound-shift on The Black Album.

The trick with Darkadelic is to listen to the whole album repeatedly, it’s not perfect, but as you become its close friend, you start to appreciate each song’s subtle nuances. I can’t wait to grab a copy of the 2LP vinyl edition.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Simon Coffey

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