REVIEW: D*A*D – SPEED OF DARKNESS (2024)

The opening of “God Prays To Man” is sleazy, and it’s fun. Yet the lyrics deal with the end of the world.

Welcome to D.A.D.

The Danes are celebrating their 40th birthday.  That in itself is remarkable. What’s even more ridiculous is that until they released a greatest hits record earlier this year, we had not come across them.

Why that should be is a huge failing given that they are a supreme rock band. “Speed Of Darkness” – their first album in five years makes that clear.

“1st, 2nd And 3rd” chugs along with its massive chorus (they all chug along with massive choruses) and a solo that would make Slash blush. This seems to be par for the course with these boys.

“The Ghost” is darker. Think H.I.M. if you like, but you will not resist it by the second go-around.

For a band that has been together as long as this one to sound so relevant is astonishing. Much of that is due to the skill on display in tracks like the title cut, or the slower, almost bluesy “Head Over Heels.” You would have to have never listened to hard rock in the last 40 years not to hear Aerosmith in the superb “Live By Fire.”

With 14 songs and almost an hour of music, as if to give the lie to the nonsense that people don’t listen to albums anymore, “Crazy Wings” broods, and there’s a sense of fun and almost defiance about “Keep That Mother Down” – and its soaring euphoria is made for live shows.

On that Greatest Hits, there was a striking array of sounds. “Strange Terrain” touches on metal, and, typically, they follow it up with something else entirely with “In My Hands.”

There’s something anarchic about a band that just does what it likes. The almost punk energy of “Everything Is Gone Now,” the hard rock confidence of “Automatic Survival,” and the thunderous “Waiting Is The Way” are just three examples that, if the Foos had them, they would be coming to a stadium near you.

After 40 years, you are allowed to reflect too, surely? The last one, “I’m Still Here,” does that, offering advice to their former selves and doing so brilliantly.

I’m not convinced there’s anything that D*A*D can’t do brilliantly.

So look, whether you are a long-term fan or, like me, a relatively new convert, it’ll be obvious that “Speed of Darkness” is exceptional.

The rest of you: don’t make them the best band you’ve never heard of.

Rating: 9/10