Now a little over fifty years since the release of their debut album, the Residents have released their latest album. The new album, Doctor Dark, is the band’s first proper studio effort since 2020’s Metal, Meat and Bone. While the group did release a soundtrack to their feature film Triple Trouble three years ago, Doctor Dark is a new opera from the group. Metal, Meat and Bone was a solid effort but Doctor Dark is a different piece of work: it’s not only an opera but also serves as a compelling thought piece.
Note: If you have not heard Doctor Dark and would like to listen to it blindly, read this review after listening to the album. It’s recommended that you do listen to this album and read the album’s liner notes/libretto, which have information that’s not in the songs.
The album’s story
Doctor Dark is an opera told in three acts about three characters: two metalheads named Maggot and Mark and an unorthodox doctor named Anastasia Dark (aka Doctor Dark). In the story, Maggot and Mark make a suicide pact, which goes wrong when Mark survives and Maggot doesn’t. Although he survives, Mark’s face is horrendously disfigured. At the same time, Doctor Dark is sentenced to life in prison for assisting in the deaths of several people. Through a series of events, Doctor Dark is able to have his sentence overturned and he eventually gets to meet Mark. With his disfigured face, Mark isn’t sure if his life is worth living anymore.
Doctor Dark is based off of two real life incidents. Mark’s story is inspired by James Vance, a teenager who attempted to kill himself in 1985 with his friend Raymond Belknap. While under the influence of drugs and alcohol, the two made a pact to end their lives together. Belknap died while Vance lived. Several years later, Vance’s family would file a lawsuit against heavy metal band Judas Priest in 1990 for inserting subliminal messages in their music. The Priest album in question, 1978’s Stained Class, had a cover of a Spooky Tooth song called “Better By You, Better Than Me.” Vance’s lawyers were alleging that there were messages within the band’s cover of the song. While the band admitted to inserting random messages in their music, the case was dismissed and the band were found not guilty.
The titular character’s basis is a little more well known as he is based off of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, a euthanasia proponent that gained notoriety in the early 1990s.
In this story, Doctor Dark is described as a man who has “the gift,” with the gift being for people having the ability to choose their death.
In the case of Vance, his face was severely disfigured much like Mark’s face was after the suicide attempt.
The music
Not a whole lot can be said about the music on Doctor Dark, though this is not a bad thing. Compared to the group’s previous works, all of the songs here sound mostly the same. This is somewhat similar to the group’s 1989 album God In Three Persons, which used a “talking blues” method of telling the story. This is the case for Doctor Dark, with character motives and thoughts being told in song. As a result, it’s difficult for some of these songs to stand on their own without the context of the album. If anything, all of the songs from Doctor Dark have a bleak and grim feeling to them. This is made possible with the help of the brooding production and the dramatic orchestration.
The meaning
Doctor Dark also works as a thought piece about life and death. In the case of a man like Dr. Jack Kevorkian, there are some people who believe they should be allowed to decide when they want to end their life. Still, there are some people who hate the thought of people having a decision like this. It’s an album that brings up a lot of questions. It’s somewhat similar to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Half a Life.” In the episode, Lwaxana Troi (mother to the Enterprise’s counselor Deanna Troi) falls for a man from another planet who is turning 60 soon. She’s later horrified when she finds out that the man’s culture as a tradition where the citizens must commit suicide by the time they’re 60. While not a spot on comparison, Doctor Dark is of the same ilk: it’s an album with an issue that makes you think.
Conclusion
As a whole, Doctor Dark is an impressive piece of work from a group with a fifty year career. The album has it’s strong points, with the creativity behind the story and the questions it brings up. If any downsides, the album does get repetitive after a while musically speaking. It’s also not the easiest album to listen to. While the Residents have always been an avant garde group, the realistic nature of the subjects touched upon here might make this difficult from some listeners to come back to. Still, there’s something to be appreciated about Doctor Dark. Thematically, it’s similar to that of the psychological themes of Pink Floyd’s The Wall and the poverty found in Lou Reed’s Berlin. It’s hard to say if people will remember this album like the group’s previous work. For now, there’s a lot to appreciate about Doctor Dark.
Rating: 7/10
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.