The listener isn't greeted with a warm, polite handshake, but a sonic slap around the face, as a solid, buzzing bassline hurtles from the speakers, propelled by some particularly eager percussion. And so begins the new Whigs album, 'In the Dark.'
'Black Lotus' veers perilously close to Kings of Leon territory, and it's the first of several to do so. This is perhaps not entirely surprisingly, given the number of times they've toured with them. But what separates The Whigs from their uber-successful touring buddies is the delivery. 'Lotus' is delivered with more conviction and doesn't suffer so badly from the polished, major label stadium rock production of KoL's chart-friendly take on rock.
Across the eleven tracks on 'In the Dark', The Whigs demonstrate a keen knack for big, big choruses. Thankfully, this catchiness and accessibility is matched by some big, big guitars, with 'So Lonely' being a big, fuzzy grunge-fest worthy of Dinosaur Jr.
It's not all straight down the line rock 'n' roll: 'Dying' provides some respite in the form of a swampy psychedelic wig-out that owes a considerable debt to The Doors, and elsewhere, especially through the second half of the album, there are decidedly poppy leanings to some of the songs, in particular the almost mod-ish 'I Don't Even care About the One I Love', which is more Brit-pop than garage, albeit with frayed, fuzzy edges.
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All that said, I can't help but feel that this is a rather safe album. Without going so far as to deem 'In the Dark' a sell-out, it's evident that this is cleaner and tidier than its predecessors and hardly justifies the 'garage' and 'power trio' tags generally associated with the band. It isn't a bad album, but it is just a shade bland. The Kings of Leon's approach has definitely rubbed off, and there’s a sense than The Whigs have - consciously or otherwise - concentrated their effort into producing an album that will please the masses more than it will please the diehard fans, or themselves.
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