Dark Stares are from St Albans. They’re a rock band. A proper rock band, citing Led Zeppelin as a leading influence. And when they rock, they do a pretty credible job of it, too, with a solid rhythm section underpinning a sprightly bass and some chunky guitar. They sing songs about whiskey and the like. ‘Long Live the King’ is a full-fuzz riff-based slab of guitar-driven beef in the vein of QOTSA that’s hard to argue with, and there are two other tracks in a similarly solid vein that auger well for the band on this, their debut release.
But when they go downtempo and sensitive, as they do on ‘We Are The Kings Tonight’ chucking in a slightly funk-tinged clean guitar than nags away but never really threatens to launch any kind of attack, it all goes horribly limp. They probably think they’re showing their sensitive side, but we’ve got Maroon 5 for that. Still, to paraphrase Meat Loaf, three outta four ain’t bad.
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Dark Stares Online
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