THE DAMNED

Punk rock cards on the table: I fucking love THE DAMNED. Always the most creative and mischievous of the UK's first wave of punk bands, they have been a reliable and almost constant presence over the last four (and now approaching five) decades. Admittedly, THE DAMNED have taken a few forms and unexpected incarnations over the years, but their recent past has been both celebratory and musically vibrant. With Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian steering the ship, their last few albums have been almost as definitive as their first, glorious few; establishing the legends' current lineup (now featuring returned bassist Paul Gray, who played on righteous classic "The Black Album" in 1980) as a comparable force to the band that made masterpieces like "Machine Gun Etiquette" and "Strawberries".

THE DAMNED have a gentler way about them these days — punk rock ferocity is only an occasional presence here — but their songwriting skills have endured and their enthusiasm for the psychedelic and the darkly dramatic is as intense as ever.

Most importantly, when THE DAMNED are at their best, their records are fun. Not banal, lowest common denominator fun, but big, colorful, eccentric fun, with very loud guitars. Opener "The Invisible Man" is a snappy little garage rock number, but it veers off the rails for a glorious burst of freeform acid-rock abandon, and you can almost hear Vanian's eyes twinkling. "Beware Of The Clown" lampoons the empty-headed conceit of politicians, via one of the catchiest tunes THE DAMNED have written since the '80s. "Wake The Dead" combines Sensible's motoring psychedelia with Vanian's gothic theatricality to gorgeously chilling effect.

As with much of 2018's "Evil Spirits", "Darkadelic" sits neatly in that sweet spot where the indulgence of the band's most adventurous works is fused with the stripped down, snot 'n' roll ethos of their pioneering 1977 debut, "Damned Damned Damned". For fans of THE DAMNED's fast and furious mode, take your pick from the sprightly, Farfisa-laced "Follow Me", the dosed-up mod rock of "You're Gonna Realise" and (my choice) the hell-for-leather racket of "Motorcycle Man". "Girl I'll Stop At Nothing" goes off like a pilled-up rocket, too. Extra points for the sound of Captain Sensible jumping headlong into the guitar hero vortex, as the song whips and winds to its ragged end.

After the likeable but slightly lightweight clatter of "Leader Of The Gang", "Darkadelic" dips back into the shadows for "From Your Lips": a top-notch slice of prime Vanian macabre, with bubbling organs, bittersweet harmonies and a particularly splendid solo from Sensible. As a grand finale, "Roderick" raises the purple curtain in richly melodramatic, none-more-DAMNED style. A pitch-black ballad with a sonorous but laconic Vanian vocal and a dash of occult chanting, it's the kind of quietly insane thing that few of this band's peers were ever capable of matching. 46 years after their first album came out, THE DAMNED are very much themselves and as joyously uproarious and confounding as ever. I still love the old bastards.