Darkadelic

Reviews

MICHAEL

Bass, guitar and drums are all on point, melding well with the keyboards,and the vocals are fine enough although less soaring than in former years. New boy Will Taylor sounds like he’s been playing with The Damned for years and forms a dynamic unit with his partner in the rhythm section, the master of the Rickenbacker - Paul Gray, whose seemingly effortless baselines both drive the songs and add trademark beautiful melodic runs, reminiscent of his playing on The Black Album.

D. Parkin

There are some cracking tunes here that still fit within the Damned canon. As others have commented there are many nods to sixties' influences here, and if they were a younger upcoming band then the lp would probably be receiving far more attention for it's musicianship and quality in the music media and in radio play. Dave Vanian’s sublime vocals sound better than ever, making me think he made a deal with some red, pointy eared bloke with a forked tail some time ago to keep sounding this good…The band as a whole sound completely at one, which is no mean feat as this album as actually recorded back in 2021, as we were limping out of lockdown, and with a new drummer. Amazon replaced product within 48 hours.

Robert Bachman

Darkadelic is a psychedelic gothic punk masterpiece! It is the sound of accomplished and seasoned musicians having fun and bouncing off each other and is to be applauded. Yery pleased with with replacement.

A long-term fan of the band, Darkadelic is arguably their most cohesive album for many a year and probably since Strawberries. The Damned recently played the whole of this album (bar the final track) live on their recent tour - before it was released.

The guitars are much more to the front than on their last offering, Evil Spirits, and Sensible excels throughout. The more you listen the more you realise there’s not one bad song on here, it’s a Damned fine album… The cover artwork is also excellent and, if you have the clear vinyl version with the cleverly designed slip mat, you can stare at the vinyl as it spins and find yourself drawn into a psychedelic’60s time tunnel as the music swirls around you! As with Strawberries, Sensible takes over singing duties from Vanian, although for only one song here.

Was it justified, in a word… yes! To subject an audience to a block of 9-10 tracks they’ve never heard shows real confidence in the material. Add to this the swirling ‘60s sounds of Monty Oxymorons keyboards which add the perfect flavour and atmosphere to the album and you have a Damned fine mix.

Once again The Damned have set the bar high!