Def Leppard Album: “X”

Def Leppard may be back, but for many of us, they never went away. Hysteria really turned me on to the band, and I can still remember the anticipation I felt before the release of Adrenalize, nearly 5 years later. I had that feeling again in the weeks leading up to the release of X, and I'm not disappointed.

Those who prefer the early days of Def Leppard (On Through The Night, High 'N Dry) may not be too impressed with the band in 2002. However, for any fan who loves Def Leppard for the quality of the music and the strength of their melodies, this album will give you the shivers.

1) Now - kind of an odd choice for first single, this one takes some time to grow on you. Melodically, it's not their strongest work, but it combines some interesting sounds and a big chorus to strong effect.

2) Unbelievable - excellent ballad, will make you "feel so damn good". Strong, soaring chorus with great vocal harmonies.

3) You're So Beautiful - another winner, but very poppy. Catchy chorus with unmistakable Leppard background vocals.

4) Everyday - sounds a lot like mid-90s Bryan Adams. This is not a bad thing. Lacks a huge hook, but very easy on the ears.

5) Long Long Way To Go - simply their best ballad ever! Joe's singing has never sounded so emotional. I still get chills every time I hear this song (after a few dozen plays). This will be the second single off the album, and should be a huge hit. You know that if one of today's boy bands did this song, it would get massive airplay, but wouldn't be nearly as good as this version.

6) Four Letter Word - sounds like something AC/DC would do. Classic rockin' tune, but not my favourite on the CD.

7) Torn To Shreds - my favourite song on X. Starts off quiet, but don't turn the volume up too high, or the next part will blow your speakers! The first verse slows it down a bit, but then comes the chorus. Pure ecstasy! Beautiful melody, and background harmonies the way only Def Leppard can do them. Simply amazing (but too short, less than 3 minutes).

8) Love Don't Lie - another strong mid-tempo ballad. Huge catchy chorus, pleasant acoustic background on verses.

9) Gravity - would have fit better on Euphoria. Odd-sounding percussion on this one. Not a fave.

10) Cry - the most non-traditional track on the CD, "Cry" takes a few listens to get used to. Lacks a big hook, but has some great guitar work.

11) Girl Like You - very poppy, upbeat, with another great Def Leppard chorus. The vocals occasionally sound a little strained and too high-pitched, but still a very good track.

12) Let Me Be The One - another beautiful ballad, but doesn't bring anything new to the table. The CD probably could have used another hard rocker before this track.

13) Scar - classic Def Leppard! Reminiscent of "Paper Sun" and "Day After Day" from Euphoria. Haunting guitar sounds building to the massive chorus where Joe finally gets to let loose with his trademark howling vocals. A fantastic way to end the album.

X keeps Def Leppard up with the times while still retaining their classic sound. This is not a metal band, and frankly, I don't think they were ever a metal band. They are a group of guys in their early 40s committed to recording strong, memorable music, and they have accomplished this goal admirably with X. If you are a fan of beautifully executed melodic rock, you won't regret picking up X.

Though I had some misgivings that the band for the first time recorded a couple of songs they did not have a hand in writing, I find this album to be a lot of fun and it sounds current, rather than microwaved 80's self-imitation that plagued Euphoria and Adrenalize. This album is full of catchy songs and may be a little poppy for many longtime fans but the grooves are infectious and you can feel they had fun with this record. Standouts are Now, Unbelievable, Long Long Way to Go (this ballad could be a breakout hit like Aerosmith's Don't Wanna Miss a Thing), Torn to Shreds and Love Don't Lie. With the promotion they are doing and with the quality of this album, this may finally be their comeback. Lep rules. Always have, always will.

Def Leppard have always had a knack for keeping their sound fresh -- usually no two albums have the same production style, save for the band's two weakest efforts,

in 1992 and

in 1999, each of which tried to capitalize on the popular style of the monumental and brilliant

from 1987. "X" is a re-energized, creative, poppish-sounding Leppard. The leadoff single, "Now," probably the dullest tune on the entire record, still manages to capture the essence of Leppard's engergetic vibe with a huge chorus and Indian style guitar solo, not unlike the sound on "Turn to Dust" from the underrated

album. Joe Elliott claimed "Now" was not the most obvious choice for the first single, and he was correct.

Beyond "Now," however, things on the CD get interesting, starting with the drastically pop sound of the boy band-like "Unbelievable," which will grow on you if you enjoy this band. "You're So Beautiful," "Torn to Shreds," "Girl Like You," "Gravity" and "Scar" have booming, often complex choruses, where the mix of voices almost sound like an instrument unto themselves. Though far from a hard-rock record, "X" does have songs that will stick in your head all day long, due to their catchiness. The usual Leppardized studio effects are present -- layered background vocals and huge guitars -- but the album, despite its radio-ready songs, doesn't quite contain the over-processed sound of "Adrenalize" and "Euphoria," and manages to have an updated feel.

For the harder rock fans, "X" still manages a few gems that won't disappoint. The tough riff from "Four Letter Word" has elements of classic AC/DC (see

), and Elliott's voice even sounds vaguely like Steven Tyler of Aerosmith (see

). With its classic-rock sound and melodic chorus, "Four Letter Word" is vintage Leppard. Another great rocker, and probably the most '80s-sounding of all "X's" songs is the awesome "Cry," a much-needed, raunchy guitar tune that sounds as if it were left off "Hysteria" back in the late '80s. Great riff, great bleeding chorus, hopefully a future concert staple.

"X" ends with one of Leppard's finest songs ever written, in a catalog of many classics. In the darker-themed tradition of "Billy's Got a Gun," "White Lightning," "Pearls of Euphoria," "Day After Day" and "Kings of Oblivion," "Scar" will leave fans with the hope that these guys might one day return to what I believe was a profound flair for creating gloomy-sounding yet melodic material, songs that really strike a nerve. Increasingly, despite Def Leppard's talent to write great pop songs, the band's best songwriting capabilities come through in edgier, darker material, stuff that doesn't just mope or rejoice about puppy-dog love for men over 40. "Scar" will appeal to longtime fans who have stuck by the band for many years. Here's hoping that more "scars" in the bands' portfolio continue to find their way in the studio.

It's obvious that the 1980s are over, so the bands that have survived the transition into the 1990s & now the new millenium are few & can be counted on one hand. Bon Jovi is one & they've made a rather successful move into more adult-oriented material, yet still maintain a somewhat youth-oriented fan base. But their British counterpats Def Leppard haven't been so lucky. The same people that like Bon Jovi might consider Leppard to be an artifact of a bygone era. Nevertheless, they insist on pressing on into the future, for better or worse, as albums like their newest one X prove.

While the reviews of X have been mixed at best, ranging from "not bad for guys on the threshold of 40" to "proof that they should be hanging it up", albums like 1996's ill-fated attempt at growing up SLANG are excellent examples of what bands from Def Leppard's time should be doing as they get older: tweak their signature sound a bit & bring themselves into the present day. If their fans don't agree with the band's wishes (as they refused to do with SLANG), then that's their issue. Those who've stuck it out from the beginning can be sure that Leppard can & will stay around & change along with the times, even if they've still got some things to learn.

1999's EUPHORIA was touted as a return to the panoramic sound of their blockbuster classic HYSTERIA (1987) & even had their old producer Mutt Lange helping out a bit. The fans responded by making it the band's biggest seller since 1992's ADRENALIZE (which was a much lesser album, creatively). I guess with Lange busy working on his wife's (Shania Twain) new album, he couldn't work with Leppard, so the band decided to do things themselves (with a little outside help), explaining X's reminiscence of SLANG more than HYSTERIA.

The album's first single "Now" was an excellent choice because it is one of the most HYSTERIA-sounding songs on the album. While Def Leppard's chances of having hits are smaller now, in a perfect world, this might be enough to bring the band back on top of the charts. Even with the absence of the "everything-including-the-kitchen-sink" production, it still sounds larger than life.

The reviews of X saying that Def Leppard is now offically pop are rather inaccurate. I'd say they've headed more towards the modern rock radar & while their age might strike some as the ultimate in trend-hopping, Leppard manages to do it better than most veteran bands. Songs like "Gravity", "Torn To Shreds" & "Everyday" sound like they might be something off the latest 3 Doors Down or Lifehouse album. But when you have guitars as loud as Phil Collen's & Vivian Campbell's & the husky vocals of leader Joe Elliott, you can tell who it's coming from, unlike those seemingly interchangeable bands.

The most obvious attempts at regaining HYSTERIA-era glories include the epic (5 minutes, the longest song on the album) "Scar", the proposed second single "Long, Long Way To Go", "Cry", "Let Me Be The One" & "Love Don't Lie", all of which contain the highly-polished-you-can-see-yourself-in-it melodies & overdubbed-a-million-times-vocal-harmonies. But such returns to glory days are not as shallow as they look because it's apparent that even though Def Leppard wishes to age gracefully, they could still pull off the sound that brought them to superstardom.

As for weak songs, there's a few & they're ones that have Leppard singing about themes that are definitely out of their age range. "Unbelievable" (produced by Swedish maestros Per Aldeheim & Andreas Carlsson, explaining its teen-pop overtones), "Girl Like You" (I'm sure the band has children their age by now) & "You're So Beautiful" (from a band who wrote the stunning "Love Bites", this is really disappointing) are maybe unintentional attempts at putting them back on the charts by catering to the younger audiences, but they don't work either way. The image of Def Leppard dancing to beats like these in a video is hard to fathom (but it would be pretty funny). The less said about "Four Letter Word", the better.

When fans hear about an album by an artist/band that's said to have them "maturing", their reaction is often to ignore it, preferring the sound they used before better. Naturally, Def Leppard has met that kind of response with albums all the way back to SLANG. As a fan, I must admit that the trilogy of PYROMANIA (1983), HYSTERIA & to a lesser extent ADRENALIZE was brilliant & made bombastic guitar riffs & Cinemascope production into top 40 material. But it's still something a band can't do forever & Leppard is smart enough to realize that, even if they're still unsure if it's commercially wise.

X may have Def Leppard in the middle of an identity crisis & wondering which audience they should be concentrating on (the kids or their parents), yet it's still refreshing to see that the band is around at all after more than 2 decades at work. The fact they're still aware of the importance of good hooks & melodies is admirable, now if they can just apply it to material that's appropriate for their age. Until that happens, don't X out Def Leppard just yet.

Joe and the guys have created another awesome set of tunes with "X". Following Slang, the guys took a turn back toward their roots with Euphoria. Similarly, "X" keeps to the classic Def Leppard sound. This album is very much reminiscent of "Hysteria".

One notable difference in this album is the lack of what I like to call "Def Epic" tunes. This refers to songs like "Gods of War", "Die Hard The Hunter", "White Lightning", "Pearl of Euphoria", etc. But the most noteable thing about "X" is that it is a "softer" (for lack of a better word) album. The album is not all love songs, but it does seem to have a softer feel than previous albums. As for the lyrics, while they add to that feel, it doesn't make them bad. Def Leppard isn't Iron Maiden, or any other band, and never wanted to be. I believe it is their intention to keep the songs and lyrics dynamic and changing. By that I mean that while some songs have specific messages and/or meaning (Gods of War, White Lightning, etc.), others are just "fun", and have no ulterior meaning or motive. That same dynamic mix is here, but the differences are far more suttle. The lyrics found here are primarily about human emotion, but you will find the range of emotions to be quite wide.

In the end, I rate this as one of the band's best. I would rate it the absolute best if there had been even one good Def Epic tune. Based on potential radio air time and chart topping potential, it is without a doubt their #1 album. I honestly don't understand why I'm not hearing these songs all over the radio.