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Steve Hackett - Darktown CD (album) cover

DARKTOWN

Steve Hackett

 

Eclectic Prog

3.78 | 360 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Bonnek
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars After Defector I skipped all things Hackett till I heard this inspiring album. It's not very consistent, but at least it sounds fresh and exciting.

The funky slap bass and dark industrial influences on Omega Metallicus grabbed my attention right away. Also the slow marching pace of Darktown would work excellently as sinister cinematic music. Hackett adds some spoken word in an uncannily low and gothic voice, zombie rap! The sky clears on the sunny-sweet Man Overboard, by itself I'd discard it as too mellow but here it works quite well. I have less compassion for the music hall stylings of The Golden Age Of Stream, although it has its moments.

The last thing the album needed at this point was r&b, but the "soul of MTV", that plastic-packed sentimentalism is featured on Days of Long Ago. Maybe it is a competent song in this particular style of music, but it's something I have no affinity with at all. Dreaming With Open Eyes stays in similar silky lounge atmospheres. But this time it's more jazzy and not bad at all, also the vocals at the end are quite tasteful. Twice Around The Sun is an average romantic guitar solo and is better skipped, just like the two ensuing tracks. The harsh Darktown Riot, a reprise of the second track, gets me back into the album's realm. In Memoriam is a sentimental closer but remarkably convincing. Around minute 3, it subtly cites the lead guitar theme from King Crimson's Epitaph.

Darktown is a very eclectic and slightly uneven album. It would rate it at 3.5 stars, but given that he has stronger albums 3 will have to do.

Bonnek | 3/5 |

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