Many of us probably became acquainted with My Darkest Days thanks to their single "Porn Star Dancing," a silly little novelty song about one fellow who can't talk any of his girls into doing nasty things. No big deal, though, because he can head down to his local strip club – where the ladies will do anything for money. It's a song that would have been easily forgotten and off my radar if not for some fancy guitar work that gave the song a harder edge and catchy rhythm. Turns out, as I later discovered, the shredding in that song was perpetrated by Zakk Wylde; the guitarist had offered his services to the band, lending the uninspired, misogynistic song some legitimacy. It still gets regular air time on rock stations (and probably strip clubs), largely because of Wylde's contribution.
Now, My Darkest Days has followed the success of “Porn Star Dancing” with their second album, Sick and Twisted Affair. After a few listens through the record, I wasn't surprised to discover that there wasn't much substance with a lack of Zakk. The album sticks to the theme of dirty sex and heartbreak throughout, offering little more than a thirty-minute version of what we've already heard. Songs seem to switch back and fourth between the message of "Dirty girls are great" and "Dirty girls broke my heart." Sound familiar? Perhaps that's because My Darkest Days was brought into the spotlight by Nickelback's Chad Kroeger, a similarly substance-free musician. The sad thing is that My Darkest Days is even more apparently a one-note act than Nickelback, and that's not an easy statement to make.
The first track off the album to hit the radio is, not surprisingly, very similar to "Porn Star Dancing." "Casual Sex," while bordering on catchy at times, is little more than another novelty song about wild, meaningless sex. Not that sex is anything new to rock n' roll, but back in the day musicians were a little more subtle about it. AC/DC's "Givin' the Dog a Bone" could come on the radio, yet parents wouldn't have to change the channel if kids were in the car. It was a song that everyone could enjoy, depending on your understanding of the rhetoric. "Casual Sex," on the other hand, leaves little to the imagination; a perfectly typical verse is "It's just your typical hardcore casual sex. We're single but we're lovers, crazy for each other… My heart will never break, I'm just here to break a sweat."
That dynamic tune sets the tone for the entire album, and My Darkest Days' sound is nothing original. Tracks like "Save Yourself" and "Again" could be mistaken as uninspired, rap-free Linkin Park. "Sick and Twisted Affair" and "Love Crime" are two of the heavier tracks, but have lyrics which could be interchangeable and never really connect to become a catchy tune.
As consistently same-y and forgettable as many of the songs are on Sick And Twisted Affair, that's not to say the entire effort was wasted. There are times in many of the tracks where the band comes close to really clicking into a quality song. A portion of the chorus for "Perfect" really takes off and, if they were to be matched with the riffs from "Stutter" and the solid guitar solo of "Love Crime," they could have a decent hit – they'd just need to find a new topic to write lyrics about.
In the end, Sick And Twisted Affair shows that My Darkest Days might have some promise for their next album, assuming that they expand beyond the party music theme and don't follow too closely in the footsteps of muse Kroeger. But if they don't, I'm sure they can make a hearty living by continuing to supply strip clubs with dance music.
Artist:
www.mydarkestdays.com/sata/
www.myspace.com/mydarkestdays
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Album:
Sick And Twisted Affair is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
