Rockfreaks.net

The Dark Romantics

Heartbreaker

Written by: PP on 13/09/2008 20:29:43

Imagine the perfect movie soundtrack for a James Bond movie, the kind of sleek, sexy, dark pop music with a distinct alignment to the more mysterious side of the indie rock scene. That's essentially how Lakeland, Florida-based The Dark Romantics' sophomore album "Heartbreaker" sounds like. Like its title suggests, this is an album's worth of love (or lack thereof) songs, written by a hopeless romantic, and the resulting sound is understandably relaxed, and chilled. It's simply perfect music for a movie scene where astonishingly beautiful women arrive with their escorts in limousines to an ultra expensive casino; the men are all wearing tuxedos and the women their best 'wear only once' dresses... it's easy to surrender your mind into that picture and think about "Heartbreaker"'s tunes supporting the scene.

A big part of what makes The Dark Romantics sound as sexy as that seductive dark-haired hottie in a black dress, whom you almost certainly see in nearly all Bond movies, is vocalist Eric Collins and his soulful voice. Especially "Never Been Loved" highlights his lush vocal style that's sure to make girls go head over heels for him.

There is one major flaw with the record, though. Ignore just how damn sexy and romantic the album sounds, and all you have is maybe one or two good songs where Eric's voice is the reason for the quality hike, and a whole bunch of dark pop rock filler material that'll really never make it back onto my playlist. Nevertheless, I bet this review made you slightly curious just over how an excessively romantic, sleek and sexy soundscape really sounds like, so do check it out for novelty's sake and save it for those moments when you're girlfriend arrives for that candlelit dinner you've been planning for so long. But don't expect to find anything more than that here.

Download: Never Been Loved
For the fans of: Franz Ferdinand, The Killers
Listen: Myspace

Release date 09.09.2008
Lujo Records