Darkness - Dreams On Toast

by Zena Grieg

published: 8 / 6 / 2025

Label: Select Label
Format: CD

Flamboyant and semi-parodic latest album from heavy rock band The Darkness proves to be an album with attitude

Review

Brit-Award-winning hard rock band The Darkness, formed in Lowestoft in 2000, captured public attention in 2003 with their chart-topping debut album ‘Permission To Land’. Reuniting after a split-up, the band went on to release further albums and to tour extensively. Following up on their 2023 feature film documentary ‘Welcome To The Darkness’, the band have now brought out their eighth album. ‘Dreams On Toast’ is a colourful, unexpected mix of flamboyant rock with infectious hooks, interspersed with ballads and countrified songs. Songs to listen out for in this ten–track collection include: the swaggering rock and roll opener ‘Rock And Roll Party Cowboy’ with its thumping riff; soulful, country-tinged, tongue-in-cheek ‘Hot On My Tail’; anthemic ‘Mortal Dread’; the sparse, soaring ballad ‘Don’t Need Sunshine’; ‘The Battle For Gadget Land’, a full-on rocker with synths and blaring guitars on the obsession with tech, with its laconic lines: “ We sell batteries, triple A-s/Adhesive strips to secure toupees/If we sold windows they’d be double glazed”; ‘Cold Hearted Woman’ with its country vibe showcasing lead singer Justin Hawkins’ impressive array of vocals; crowd pleaser rock-and-roll classic Darkness track ‘Walking Through Fire’; and the acoustic, cinematic closer ‘Weekend In Rome’. Semi-parodic, theatrical, ‘Dreams On Toast’ is an album with attitude bound to appeal to loyal fans.

Track Listing:-

1 Rock & Roll Party Cowboy
2 I Hate Myself
3 Hot On My Tail
4 Mortal Dread
5 Don't Need Sunshine
6 The Longest Kiss
7 Battle For Gadget Land
8 Cold Hearted Woman
9 Walking Through Fire
10 Weekend In Rome