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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Permission To Land
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 19 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 58 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Atlantic
Release Date: 16 September 2003
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock
Summary
'Permission To Land' is the debut LP for the rock four-piece from Norfolk, England (and we're talking the big, loud, stadium-rock end of the rock continuum, not the indie-rock end).
Also By This Artist: One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
CultureDose.net
There's no way you won't be listening to this CD on repeat for anything less than two weeks straight.
Read Full Review >Playlouder
It is that love, devotion, and unfaltering belief that makes 'Permission To Land' such an essential listen, and such a joy to behold. It is the sound of triumph.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
This is rock with a big fat drunken grin scrawled over its face in lurid red lipstick.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
What they do well might be best exemplified by "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", which most effectively pairs their sense of theatricality and grandiosity with their penchant for great pop hooks.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Even though Permission to Land isn't quite as metal as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s metal revival could have been.
Read Full Review >Launch.com
Permission To Land is actually good enough to motivate more than a few curious, intrepid listeners to give their dusty old Dokken albums another spin.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
When The Darkness make it work, which is very often, they pull it off with the most exuberance and joy that we've heard from a hard rock band in a very long time.
Read Full Review >Blender
The Darkness play old-fashioned metal with such elan that at times they ascend to pop music's Olympian heights. [Nov 2003, p.110]
The Guardian
At a compact 38 minutes, Permission to Land is over before it gets irritating, leaving you with an impression of overwrought headache-rock fronted by a gale-force falsetto.
Read Full Review >Mojo
The Darkness swoop dangerously close to parody, but pull off the dizzying, sublime soprano hi-jinks of I Believe In A Thing Called Love, the deft pop-rock of Friday Night and Love On The Rocks WIth Ice's overbearing machismo with the grace of seasoned circus acrobats. [Aug 2003, p.98]
Uncut
The Darkness are genuinely in thrall to the power of stadium rock in all its bombastic, unreconstructed glory. [Sep 2003, p.97]
Austin Chronicle
Campy? To be sure. Derivative? Absolutely. But cock-rock of this sheer magnitude and pomposity has been dormant at least since "Smells Like Teen Spirit" washed away "November Rain," so who really cares?
Read Full Review >ShakingThrough.net
It’s just that combination of sincerity and an ability to emulate the sound of its heroes (and, in most cases, do so with more proficiency than those heroes themselves) that makes Permission to Land a fun, diverting trip through the (admittedly guilty) pleasures of a wildly excessive decade.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
In all fairness, The Darkness aren’t just peddling 2003 versions of Unskinny Bop and Cherry Pie. They pride themselves on mixing in a bit of T&A humour with the right levels of lyrical wit, all to a foot stompin’, fist pumpin’ rock vibe, a la AC/DC.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Permission to Land is the first retro-metal album that's worth more than a momentary chuckle.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's that subtle streak of accomplished mischief that separates The Darkness from the multitude of marginal bar bands that still play this stuff for real.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
They might have a shelf life shorter than a pint of milk but, with a good tune underpinning each over-egged slice of rock pudding, are all the more thrilling for it. [Aug 2003, p.104]
New Musical Express
Just because it’s essentially heavy-metal karaoke, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy it.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 58 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
H Rob gave it a9:
Great album, with some top quality songs.
Pissed Off gave it a0:
The songs are excellent, but the overcompression is horrible. I don't want my CDs to give me a splitting headache, even when they used to be one of my favourites. What's the difference between badly-mastered good music and well-mastered bad music? Nothing. And that makes me incredibly angry. Score if it hadn't been so damn compressed: 8. Score now: see above.
jon b gave it a10:
The only real rock band!!! mark is talkin balls the darkness r not copyin queen they r there own music and just b acuse they r 80's rock it dosent mean they r copyin queen the guitar solos and justins voice complement each other and the new album received bad reveiws b cause the reviewers r all nobs!! the new album is loads betta i feel.
jennifer c gave it a9:
the darkness is one of my favourite bands and like their album Permision To Land i like all the songs on the record and like the beats and rythms of the guitar, bass and drums. i like justins voice on the record and love his voice and think it is different than any other voice from a man and like it. i recomend this album to all the darkness fans and think you will like it.
j1im b gave it a9:
excellent album. The best rock cd in a decade!
nils o gave it a10:
god!
Joe B gave it a9:
At first I was concerned, and didn't think that I'd like The Darkness, but I heard "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" and, well, loved it. The songs are campy and 80s knock offs, yes, but they're funny, entertaining, catchy, and admittedly poppy (the only good kind). Yes, Justin Hawkins voice is screeching, but it's funny, and not really annoying.
