Released on April 16, 1996,[3] As Good as Dead is a concept album about dead-end, small-town life based on the band's origins in Zion, Illinois.

Ahead of the release of As Good as Dead, frontman Scott Lucas was informed by Island that the album needed to sell at least 100,000 copies for the band to remain with the label.

In a four-star review, AllMusic stated that with As Good as Dead Local H stood apart from other rock bands signed in the wake of Nirvana, noting that in exploring the album's "litany of bitterness over a life that's being wasted before your very eyes," frontman Scott Lucas was one of only a few artists who could approach the "emotional resonance" of Kurt Cobain.

[2] Similarly, New Noise Magazine stated in a five-star review that it was a mistake to lump Local H in with other bands signed in the wake of grunge, writing, "As Good As Dead matches the sentiment of the era, but comes from a much more sincere place.

"[8] Robert Christgau of The Village Voice awarded the album an A- rating and complimented the band for their "isometric power—that sense of tremendous force bravely exerted against implacable reality.