Do you fear the darkness? Then brace yourself, cause it’s aboutto get dark.

That’s right, The Darkness is treading on U.S. ground andcausing a storm of musical genius.

At first glance, The Darkness seems to be mimicking a bad ’80shair band with skinny, white men wearing tight leotards andsporting an endless amount of hair. But don’t be fooled, the bandhas great guitar riffs that reminisce of old school AC/DC, but ismodernized to fit into any rock scene.

But maybe the best thing about this new U.K. band is the leadsinger’s vocal ability. Justin Hawkins’ high falsetto wails reallymake the audience pay attention to him, if the not-so-flatteringopen-chest leotards don’t.

Their new album, Permission to Land, featuring their smash hit”I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” is climbing up the Billboardcharts in the United States, was locked into the number 39 positionand sold over 165,000 copies by the end of January.

Maybe the reason why “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” is sopopular is because of the eye-catching video. Their futuristicmotives will hit home with any Star Wars fan, plus, who wouldn’tlove a giant, hairy, purple monster to dry you off after everybath?

This is not the only video with an outer space theme; in fact, Iwould go so far as to say they might be a bit obsessed with spaceships. Three other music videos, including a Christmas song,feature a flying space ship with the band mates as the bravecrew.

Even though the band might be flying in space, we love TheDarkness here on earth, especially in the States. The band hasrecently announced that they plan to start a stateside tourstarting on March 29 in Milwaukee and ending on April 19.

The band members include Justin Hawkins as the lead singer; DanHawkins on guitar; Frankie Poullain, the man with the sheriffmustache, on bass; and Ed Graham, the quiet, seductive type, ondrums.

If you haven’t checked out this band, do yourself a favor andturn on MTV or VH1 and see their breakthrough music. How canRolling Stone, Revolver, Blender, Spin, and Details all be wrongwhen they called The Darkness the best band in 2003 on theiryear-end polls?