The Darkness Detail New Album, Release Brutal First Single 'Barbarian'

by Daniel Kreps

Glam rock revivalists the Darkness will return with their fourth LP Last of Our Kind on June 1st, the band’s first album since their 2012 reunion set Hot Cakes. In addition to the new album announcement, the Darkness also unveiled the bloody animated video for first single “Barbarian,” a tale of medieval violence that’s light years away from the glammed-up, oversexed rockers that singer Justin Hawkins penned on the band’s previous albums.

The Darkness’ Party Rules

The tongue-in-cheek “Barbarian” retells the real-life story of Viking Ivar the Boneless’ Great Heathen Army and their gory defeat of Edmund the Martyr’s East Anglia in the ninth century. Where Hawkins once warned “Get your hands off of my woman, motherfucker,” he now sings “Harbingers of pain, Edmund the Martyr cut down by a Dane.” While the lyrical content has changed, the Darkness’ knack for big time hooks has not.

As Hawkins says in a statement, the song features “not one but two dramatic monologues, a guitar solo that has been declared ‘irresponsible,’ a riff that weakens lady-knees and a chorus that makes grown men shit directly into their pants… So yeah, classic Darkness.”

Last of Our Kind is the first Darkness album to feature drummer Emily Dolan Davies; according to the band, original drummer Ed Graham “departed under mysterious circumstances.” The new album was written in Ireland and recorded at Leeders Farm in Norfolk, U.K., with guitarist Dan Hawkins overseeing the production. The band will also embark on “a small but perfectly formed tour” in March.

Last of Our Kind track list

1. “Barbarian”
2. “Open Fire”
3. “Last of Our Kind”
4.”Roaring Waters”
5. “Wheels of the Machine”
6. “Mighty Wings”
7. “Mudslide”
8. “Sarah O’Sarah”
9. “Hammer & Tongs”
10. “Conquerors”

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