Product Description

In reviews of the album one could read names like Soundgarden or Helmet and to some extent they were right, because the crunchy, fresh sound of the two previous albums cannot be found too often anymore. Instead we get very distorted guitars (the brilliant steel-guitar has almost completely disappeared, big exception here is "Soulbender"), less straight rhythms and very different-sounding melody-lines, even certain Hardcore-ish influences cannot be overheard. So is Helpyourselfish an absolute break of styles and a weak album? No, not at all, they just sound quite a lot different and it takes a while before you get into their new orientation. But if you take this time, then you get a grown-up and not as fresh-sounding album, which still bears the D.A.D-character, because especially Jesper Binzer's voice still is so D.A.D and also the lyrics still contain the fun and irony that we all come to love so much over the years. The opener "Reconstrucdead", the energetic "Written In Water", the relaxed "Soulbender" (with its great atmosphere and steel-guitar), the pretty intense "Naked (But Still Stripping)" or the reminder of the "good old times" "Are We Alive Here???" (works very well live!), everything really good stuff, which you just have to take the time to get into (OK, a certain amount of willingness to compromise that a band also may and should develop, doesn't really hinder this process either), then they ignite just as well. 2005.