Released: Oct 4, 2024 via AFM Records
Produced by: Nick Foss
Length: 53:52
Genre: Hard Rock
“Corporate rock for corporate …”
Good thing mobile phones weren’t in wide use yet in the early nineties. That way, the debauchery that went down in a certain student dorm to the sounds of D.A.D. Draws a Circle (1987), No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims (1989), Riskin’ It All (1991), and in darker moments Helpyourselfish (1995), too, isn’t captured on any photo or video. Really, really good …
And that legendary show in Graz (Orpheum) in 2006 in front of about 27 people… Memories, memories, memories.
After the commercial flop of their attempt to break across the pond with Riskin’ It All, this crew of hardy Nordic veterans somehow vanished from the collective memory of the average hard rock listener. They kept their superstar status back home (Denmark) and across the neighboring Scandinavian countries, reaching roughly down south to Munich. Further south they’re rarely seen, but yours truly will definitely see and hear them this November in Munich or Milan (list of dates).
In the last decade of the previous millennium and the first decade of this one, the band regularly put out albums in their trademark style, but after 2011 they kind of ran out of steam, with only A Prayer for the Loud in 2019 and this year’s Speed of Darkness following, the latter coinciding with the band’s 40th anniversary. If any readers want to find out what it’s all about, I can recommend the fantastic live album Psychopatico from 1998.
The style D.A.D. (short for Disneyland After Dark) play is a wildly idiosyncratic mix of AC/DC riffs with country undertones, punk (on the earlier stuff) and incredibly entertaining, incomprehensible lyrics. Those are penned by bassist Stig Pedersen, known for his crazy stage costumes and his two-string bass.
So where does the new album (the cover might look very familiar to fans of Helloween) fit into this story? Right in the middle. The music hasn’t changed much since the Riskin’ It All days, it’s just gotten a bit slower, a bit more predictable and a bit less fun. The ingredients are still the same, but the jota stew somehow doesn’t taste as good anymore. The cabbage isn’t sour enough, there’s too little garlic and pepper, and too many potatoes. What am I even rambling about, honest to God?
The album passes without any major highs or lows, everything is kind of linear, and what sticks out most is the slightly sugarcoated, sterile production, which does the music no favors at all. It kicks off fairly punchy with God Prays to Man, soon followed by the super commercial-sounding The Ghost. Credit where it’s due to Jesper’s (Binzer, lead vocals, guitar) voice, which has stayed unblemished despite all the mileage and millions of smoked cigs, plus the stubborn simplicity of the riffs, rhythms and song structures, and the still-deranged lyrics.
The riffs from the fingers of the Binzer brothers (Jacob is on lead guitar, smugly self-dubbed Mr Magic Fingers) have always been fat and punchy, but here they get stunk up by the corporate production. Corporate rock for corporate vaginas, that phrase keeps rolling around my brain the whole time I’m listening.
Still, there are a few things on the album that recall the best times. First off, I have to mention the ultra-riffy Keep That Mother Down with a fantastic solo, with which Jacob almost earns and deserves his nickname. Another such gem is the closing little ballad I’m Still Here, which conjures up sweet memories of similar masterpieces from the early albums.
Since I’ve already named the other three, let me add that drummer Laust Sonne, reportedly a trained jazz drummer, is bored out of his mind on this album. Laust replaced original drummer Peter Jensen in 1999, which is also the only lineup change in the band’s entire history.
The guys will probably play in front of 60,000 people at summer festivals again with this album and fill the biggest sports arenas in Denmark, but elsewhere it’ll slip past most ears, because it has too many chewed-over D.A.D-isms and the garage cynicism has kind of vanished.
But the live show is going to be insane!!!
Rating: 6.5/10
Sweet picks: Keep That Mother Down, Live by Fire, I’m Still Here, Everything Is Gone Now
Author: Igorac
Tracklist:
01. God Prays to Man
02. 1st, 2nd & 3rd
03. The Ghost
04. Speed of Darkness
05. Head Over Heels
06. Live by Fire
07. Crazy Wings
08. Keep That MF Down
09. Strange Terrain
10. In My Hands
11. Everything Is Gone Now
12. Automatic Survival
13. Waiting Is the Way
14. I’m Still Here
Lineup:
Jesper Binzer – Lead vocals, guitar
Jacob Binzer – Guitar
Stig Pedersen – Bass, backing vocals
Laust Sonne – Drums, backing vocals
Jacob Hansen – Mastering
