Tag Archives: eponymous

Def Leppard – Def Leppard

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Unmistakeable. Distinctive from the very outset, Def Leppard’s eponymous new release (earMUSIC) starts off with Joe Elliott’s unambiguous voice asking “Do you really want to do this now?” over a quiet build before a slick guitar lick leads us into some stabbed power chords and album eleven is up and running in their own inimitable style.

Let’s get the obvious bits and bobs out the way first… No, it’s not as classic as Pyromania or Hysteria (Vertigo/Mercury) – it was never, ever going to be; that’s like expecting Metallica to hit the stardust and repeat Master of Puppets (Electra/Vertigo) – but, no, it’s not as saccharine as Adrenalize (Mercury/Bludgeon Riffola), and no, it’s certainly not boring, staid or irrelevant. In fact, it’s interesting how the electricity and energy courses through, with ‘Energized’ lyrically appropriate about how the band seem to have taken a shot in the arm.

Freed from the confines of pressures imposed by others, and without the pressure of writing to appease a label, the Leps got together to jam songs for an EP and ended with their walls down, letting the tide of creativity flow around them, and a whole album in their laps, with songs ‘We Belong’, ‘Let’s Go’ and in particular the excellent ‘Dangerous’ pure top grade Leppard. On top of the traditional Leppard fare that litters the album, ‘Sea of Love’ brings some playful blues, ‘Man Enough’ grooves in with a huge finger-clicking, neck-bobbing funking bass guurrrroove, ‘All Time High’ runs with the Boss and ‘Battle of my Own’ borrows from acoustic Zeppelin .

Relevance has become a redundant concept for bands and that Def Leppard are still going strong a full 35 years after their inception is testament to the fact that, even during creative lulls there is sufficient quality in the band to keep hundreds of thousands of fans engaged and along for the ride; this is a band that give lessons in every song in how to write hooks and, in their sleep, knock out better choruses than most other bands can dream of.

Yes, to a large extent, you know what you’re going to get, but in this case that’s not a bad thing. There will be detractors, and the album does, in true Leps style, tail off a bit towards the end before ‘Blind Faith’ closes things off with class and nods to The Beatles.  But, hey facts, kids… Def Leppard is an hour of quality classic hard rock tunes, and the fact that you’re listening to the best Def Leppard album since their heyday nigh on thirty years ago, is more than enough.

 

8.0/10

 

STEVE TOVEY


We Came As Romans – We Came As Romans

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As expected, We Came As Romans (Spinefarm/Equal Vision/Caroline) continues the move away from the harder metalcore of the band’s origins, a journey the band instigated on 2013’s Tracing Back Roots (Equal Visions/Nuclear Blast/Caroline), as We Came As Romans seek to further establish a more hard rock, song-driven sound. ‘Who Will Pray’ and ‘The World I Used To Know’ are strong, earnest, electronic-tinged pop metal, while ‘Blur’ and ‘Regenerate’ espouse the values of wringing more forceful, heavier verses that lead into open fan-interaction-friendly choruses. When it works, WCAR produce punchy, catchy anthems not a million miles away from the furrow that more recent Of Mice And Men ploughs.

Self-titling an album is an interesting concept, effectively stating that this is the defining album; this is one that all fans and pundits alike should look to as the crucial release in a bands’ canon. It’s a dangerous approach, especially when said eponymous release isn’t a bands first and is used to promote a refinement or change in style, and WCAR is not an unmitigated success. In equal measures the album is also littered with faceless and patchy songs, that, while decent in their own right, stick no longer in the memory than last Wednesday’s commute to work, and in ‘Saviour of the Weak’ they have produced an insipid number that All Time Low would pass over.

The stylistic shift isn’t the issue, indeed it’s a progression and a step that WCAR are quite right to take, but while WCAR may establish a new identity, it actually sees the band lose some of its definition and competitive advantage, at points sliding them somewhat into the morass of eels of contemporary once-were-core hard rock bands. Despite the head-turning darker closing track ’12.30’, as a “statement” album WCAR falls short on the confidence and, in places, songs of a Hail To The King (Warners). While it achieves the aim in relocating the Michigan sextet more into the mainstream, a spot they seem comfortable in, it falls short in making a declaration of any real intent.

 

6.0/10

 

STEVE TOVEY