The Darkness are one of those amazing parody rock bands who also happen to be an actually great rock band.

Like Tenacious D or Spinal Tap before them, they have taken the band past parody into its own specific thing, with sell-out tours, legitimate radio hits, and in-band squabbles that aren’t scripted. The fact they’ve managed to do this for so long is quite impressive.

The Darkness have today announced their fifth album Pinewood Smile, which will be out on October 6, lead by the massive pop single, ‘All The Pretty Girls’, which sits in that sweet spot between mid ’70s Queen and Cheap Trick.

Speaking of Queen, the album features the band Roger Taylor’s son Rufus Tiger Taylor (yup!) on drums and harmonies, just to close the circle. Considering the album includes track with names like ‘Why Don’t The Beautiful Cry?’, ‘Buccaneers Of Hispaniola’, ‘Japanese Prisoner Of Love’ and ‘Lay Down With Me, Barbara’, it’s fairly certain this will be a winner.

Check out the new song below, as well as the troubling album art.

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the darkness album cover

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