Hot CakesWind Up ***

In the seven years since their last album, The Darkness haven't exactly been locked in a studio refining and building out their sound. If anything, they sound like they've actually regressed to core principles. The familiar ingredients are here: big hair-metal riffs, route-one lyrics and an ironic cheesiness that always keeps you guessing as to what their real intent is. Nothing Gonna's Stop Us and Everybody Have a Good Time chug along with plenty of power and vigour, but missing somewhat is the sheer heads down, no-nonsense metal boogie approach of their earlier work. There's enough here to satisfy diehards, but whether they will expand their fan base with this is debatable. Their cover of Radiohead's Street Spirit suggests Wayne's World more than anything else. But it's still damn good fun. theactualdarkness.com

Download tracks:Nothing Gonna's Stop Us, Street Spirit