Review D-A-D - Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark 2011

D-A-D, or Disneyland After Dark (sorry, copyright laws has forbidden them to spell that way - Dicniiland After Dark is how it should be), has been playing their way around the world since they were fromed in Denmark in 30 years come next year. Their debut EP was released in 1985 and their debut full-length in 1986 and with this eleventh studio album they reach their 27th release overall counting live albums, EPs and compilations beside the studio releases. As most bands they were the biggest in the end of the 80's and beginning of 90's and has since lost a lot of their popularity. Of course this is something they wish to change with the release of their eleventh studio album and to get back to the success of the past, but is this album good enough to do the job? After some 50 minutes of Dicniiland After Dark I hope I'm ready to give an answer to that question.

'Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark' introduce itself with the song A New Age Moving In, which is a classic heavy metal song in the spirit of how this band, as well as bands like Whitesnake and such, spoiled us fat in the 80's. A hoarse vocalist, heavy rock music sounding similar to engines in diggers and melodies with a striking resemblance to oil tankers. Heavy, simple and dirty. And this is how the music continues in song after song throughout the entire album, much like a tin roof - not entirely flat though, it dives up and down in shaped crests and gutters with paced melodies and super strong choruses. In ten years I've seen this band more or less completely as a joke and I've been laughing everytime I've heard their name. Disneyland (ooooooppsss) After Dark - HA! It's been enough to think about them to get a good laughter but on this album it actually feels like they've managed to put something together that captures my interest and sounds pretty similar to a rock ('n' roll) album. I'm just a bit sad that the album reach its climax already in the third song, with The End.

For some reason Jehovah's Witnesses has got the idea that I would care what they think and hands out their 'Awake!' and ' Watchtower' slave-like like I'm interested or something. Sometimes I browse through the "Jehovah-zines" only to amuse myself over the infinite number of stupidity they publish and considering how I've considered D-A-D before I remembered something I spotted in the November-issue. Now, has D-A-D become good entertainment with this album? To answer that we first have to ask if they are entertaining? I think so, they've always been that but this time in a good way - we're laughing with them and not at them this time. So, is it good entertainment then? Well, as 'Awake!' puts it: "much of the entertainment today glamorize illicit sex, violence and occultism - things you must keep away from". Now, as far as I can tell D-A-D doesn't glamorize any of those things on 'Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark' so I guess we can end this review with a top score right here then because that must mean we have some sort of ultimate evidence of how great they are - that they are good entertainment. Or? well… I don't think so. I need something more to say "yes - they are good entertainment!".

You see, in my book good entertainment isn't judged from lyrics or what a band stand for (but this may have an impact if it's something really stupid) but from how good songs a band create. And when D-A-D put together songs like the already mentioned A New Age Moving In and The End, or songs like Breaking Them Heart by Heart and We All Fall Down they make good entertainment. These are songs that get something going in you and you start to move along with the rhythm, but this of course is something 'Awake!' dislikes: "you don't want to go against your conscience only because you like the rhythm in a song". Nooo, absolutely not. it would definitely be something bad if you actually liked something that made you want to express other feelings than regret. So, fuck 'Awake!'! Fuck the whole Jehovah's Witnesses! I'm not going to care if I go against my conscience and like this D-A-D album despite they've mostly been a joke to me earlier. it's really nice 80's hard rock, which in it's heaviest moments go heavy metal and in it's softest do some sort of piano rock ballad thing. An album with a wide spectra. It has a wide spectra of influences, a wide spectra of tempos, a wide spectra of heavyness and a wide spectra of songs.

Instrumentally it's also wide and well developed. I only find vocalist Jesper Binzer as a weaker link as his voice sounds quite worn in some songs. Almost hackneyed. I think his voice is almost as bad as jazz trumpet player and vocalist Louis Armstrong, whom has a voice not far from a strangled skunk. Not all songs are this "skunk-like-vocals-ish" but overall I'd still say Binzer sounds quite well-worn in his voice. As I'm complaining anyway I'd also like to give the guitars in Your Lips Are Sealed a big question mark. I don't really get them, to me they just sound… unfinished. But that's the negative and besides this I can't see any reason to whine about things on this album. The songs are well-written, well-played and well-produced. The overall product is really good and 50 minutes of D-A-D 2011 (with their eleventh album) feels just right and just enough. And the best songs on the album is definitely worth some MB on your mp3-player (since no one has payed me to highlight their brand this week I go neutral).

So… feel a bit Danish? No, not me either… but this danish pyrus is something I can accept. Works just as well in orlando as it does in paris. And as good in Tokyo as it works in Sweden. 'Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark' - it deserve's a toast!

HHHHHHH

D-A-D Dic.nii.lan.daft.erd.ark

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