D-A-D — Helpyourselfish (review)

D-A-D — Helpyourselfish album cover Album · 1995 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Helpyourselfish" is the fifth full-length studio album by Danish hard rock act D-A-D (previously Disneyland After Dark). The album was released through Medley Records in March 1995. It´s the successor to "Riskin' It All (1991)". After touring in support of the hugely successful "Riskin' It All (1991)", D-A-D went on a 3-year hiatus where they didn´t give interviews or made any public appearances. From the day they released "No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims" (1989) until the last show on the tour supporting "Riskin' It All" (1991) in July 1992, D-A-D had been on an almost constant recording/touring schedule and they were probably burnt out and needed a break. Behind the scenes the band worked on reinventing themselves after they were dropped by Warner Bros. Records (their international recording contract), after "Riskin' It All (1991)" only sold 60.000 copies in the US. Internatinally it was a pretty big success though selling around 450.000 copies.

Part of reinventing themselves meant that D-A-D dropped most of the humour elements from the previous releases (although the title of the album would suggest otherwise) and considerably turned up the heaviness of their music, and as a result "Helpyourselfish" is arguably the most heavy release in the band´s discography. Bringing in Paul Northfield (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Dream Theater, Geezer, Queensrÿche...etc.) to produce the album brought a more meaty heavy riff approach to the songwriting, and although D-A-D were still primarily a hard rock band, they did touch heavy rock/metal territories on this particular release (tracks like "Reconstrucdead" and "Blood In / Out" are examples of that). They´ve included melodic rock songs like "Unowned" and "Prayin' to a God", and a ballad like "Flat" to balance things out, and "Helpyourselfish" is a release featuring enough variation to entertain all the way through the 51:11 minutes long playing time.

It´s fully understandable (especially in retrospect) that D-A-D felt the need to evolve and change their music to better suit the times, as both "No Fuel Left for the Pilgrims" and "Riskin' It All" were in many ways connected to the 80s glam metal/hair metal scene (although they are essentially just hard rock albums), which in 1995 was almost totally dead and buried. I think "Helpyourselfish" showed a bold, well playing, and inspired act, but also a band who wasn´t completely comfortable with the heavier direction their music had taken. "Helpyourselfish" features a couple of really great songs and especially the opening duo of "Reconstrucdead" and "Written in Water" plus the title track stand out as bring highlights. The album is unfortunately frontloaded with the best tracks and there are some more unremarkable tracks the longer you get into the tracklist. still a 3.5 star (70%) rating isn´t all wrong.
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