Def Leppard - Euphoria | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../cd_images/euphoria.gif) |
Label: Bludgeon Ruffola Producer: Pete Woodroffe & Def Leppard Year: 1999 Total Playing Time: 50:56 m:s Review date: 11 August 1999 |
| Web site: www.defleppard.com & www.deflepparddirect.com - the official online store
Email: | ||
| Rating: 8.5 | ||
| Verdict: Back In Your Face & back in rockin' mode. | ||
| So here it is - the follow-up to the controversial "Slang". I'm not a big fan of "Slang", but I think it is an important record because it signalled that Def Leppard recognised that the formula was becoming jaded. Before you even start listening to the music, the band photo on the back of the CD is gonna grab your attention. Def Leppard have forgotten what age they are and have started to dress like some teenage "boy-band". Maybe they've spent too much time hanging out with Boyzone in Dublin. Still, Melodic Rock isn't about image its about the music. Take "Hysteria", "Adrenalise", "Retroflective" and "Slang", throw them into a mixing pot together with a band with a new found enthusiasm for that copyright "Def Lepp sound" and we find Def Lepp emerging with an up-to-date sounding album without compromising their identity. I suppose the enviable question is "How does it measure up against the might Hysteria?". That is actually a very difficult one for me answer. I used to love Hysteria so much that I think I've played it too often, because I now find it difficult to listen to it and to recapture the thrill I used to get. For me "Euphoria" comes close and it is certainly better than the post-"Hysteria" albums ("Adrenalise", "Retroflective" & "Slang"). Much has been made in the press of Mutt Lange's involvement, but from what I've read in interviews he had a minimal involvement (helping out on "Promises", "All Night" & "It's Only Love"). The truth is that the band have learn enough from the master be able to work along with Pete Woodroffe to create the "Def Leppard sound" whilst avoiding the "Adrenalise" pitfall of sounding like a Def Leppard parody. If you're looking for notable guest appearances then listen out for F1 driver Damon Hill on the final guitar solo of "Demolition Man"! "Demolition Man" is the opening tracking and is a full frontal assault on yer earlobes. The band comes out rocking with Lepp at their heaviest. An impressive start considering that I find Def Lepp's uptempo tunes to generally be their weakest. "Promises is Hysteria-style single material possessing all the Leppard trademarks. "Back In Your Face" is asong with attitude and the sort of good time tune that reminds of "Pour Some Sugar", "Let's Get Rocked" etc. "Goodbye" is ballad similar to Love Bites etc from Hysteria. "Slang" hasn't completely abandoned and a track like "All Night" with it's traditional DL chorus and a rapped verse would have been at home on "Slang". On "Paper Sun" a more moody approach is taken for "Pyromania" style track. "It's Only Love" is another ballad but this time more in the "Slang" style. With a title like "21st Century Sha La La La Girl" you just know i's going to be a throwaway rocker. Def Leppard might have started out life as a NWOBHM band, but are probably better know to the masses for their ballads. So "To Be Alive" is another slow semi-ballad that works well. "Disintegrate" is an intrumental that I could have done without. But the band redeem themselves with "Guilty" which has pulsating rhythm and those great DL choruses. "Day After Day" & "Kings Of Oblivion" hint at their more metal orientated past, but even some good guitar work can't stop them from coming across as rather average. Apart from the hiccup at the end with the last couple of tracks Def Leppard have given us a good album & one which I certainly have been playing to death. | ||
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