Songs From the Sparkle Lounge

Strike while the iron is hot

It is doubtful weather anybody can argue with that fact that the height of Def Leppard’s fame fell on 80's. The entire reputation of this band is based on two albums released in 1983 and 1987. It's not that their following records were completely horrible but the truth remains the same – Def Leppard's career goes downhill since early 90's. All their albums recorded after Hysteria, even when taken together, fall short of the former level. It is easy to find a few reasons why. Their guitarist died, their producer left and mass obsession with grunge, which has killed a lot of good Heavy Metal bands, came. However, it all just couldn't prevent Def Leppard from making attempts to revitalize their bygone fame. They tried to do it this way, that way and every way they could but nothing seemed to be helpful. Nevertheless, the light in the end of the tunnel started to shimmer in 2006 after the release of their ninth album called Yeah! It turned out to be a very brisk and powerful record and was praised by many fans of the band even despite it was composed only of cover versions. Strike while the iron is hot, said Def Leppard and quickly started composing new material for their new record Songs From The Sparkle Lounge, which was released this year.

Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is close to Def Leppard's classic sound

It would be quite logical to suppose that Def Leppard will try to revive the sound that made them so famous one more time. "The whole record's got a great 70's feel", said lead singer Joe Elliott. "On the album there are classic Def Leppard songs and then there's also tracks that are very new-wave influenced while others sound like middle-to-late 70's AC/DC." Overall, his words coincide with the reality. Def Leppard hit harder than any time before on Bad Actress, they kick up excitement on Hallucinate and try to use all the glam ockheavypop mastery they have on C'mon, C'mon. The album's opener Go sounds great too. When Elliot mentioned about new wave influences he obviously meant this song. It features a peculiar mixture of classic Def Leppard with contemporary pop metal trends. As a matter of fact Def Leppard are trying to keep up to the present times in terms of the sound production. It may be true that the material reminds 80's but the album's production work sticks to modern requirements. Everything looks really balanced, clear and powerful.

Def Leppard gain ground

The album, of course, features a few ballads, which, unfortunately, are quite far from being the best material here. In particular, Love sounds too simple and too naked for Def Leppard. It is a pretty nice song but it simply cannot reach the necessary level. It seems like Only The Good Die Young could have a chance to be the lyrical leader but it also suffers form some kind of a composer's sluggishness. It is Ok but nothing more than that. Overall, the general impression is as follows. Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is definitely better than their recent studio album X and many fans will surely appreciate it. The album has few really strong and exemplifying songs but it also has few mean ones that simply fail to produce a strong impression. Luckily, there are more good tracks here. Songs From The Sparkle Lounge is not Hysteria but it can fearlessly claim its rights to be the best attempt of Def Leppard to get back to their classic sound.