Def Leppard - Euphoria - guest review

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Def Leppard - Euphoria - guest review

Cover image of the reviewed item
Band
Def Leppard
Album
Euphoria
Style
Hard rock
Release date
April 1999
Reviewer
8.5
7.0
Tracklist
01. Demolition Man
02. Promises
03. Back In Your Face
04. Goodbye
05. All Night
06. Paper Sun
07. It's Only Love
08. 21st Century Sha La La La Girl
09. To Be Alive
10. Disintegrate
11. Guilty
12. Day After Day
13. Kings Of Oblivion
Guest review by
Hermann Langke
October 31, 2010
Every true rock fan or a metalhead must have had one defining moment in their lives. This moment generally comes about when seeing their favourite act live in concert or when inspired by their favourite bands launching their own band or maybe when purchasing the album which made them fans in the first place. In my case, this musically defining moment was when I bought Euphoria in 1999. I was only 10 then and I instantly fell in love with Def Leppard after watching their video "Promises" on our local music channel. I became glue-eyed, literally, when I saw them! But wait, I am not writing and ode to Def Leppard but a review for their 1999 album Euphoria and incidentally this was my first ever personally owned record!

The album opens with "Demolition Man" and I was blown away by it's opening riff. It almost sounded like a heavy metal riff to my tender ears! It is great song both musically and lyrically and in the middle parts gets really heavy, albeit in a pop metal way! "Back In Your Face" is an inspirational song which is, in a way, a testament to their tenacity and resilience that even after grievous personal losses, like the death of their former guitarist Steven Clark and drummer Rick Allen losing his arm in a car accident, they are still kicking and strong. It is also a jab to the critics who opined that Def Leppard are out of business following the grunge explosion of the 90's. Songs like "Paper Sun" and "Day After Day" are heavier than the standard pop metal thoroughfare but they, all the same, also cannot be considered as heavy metal songs. "Goodbye" is a superb love song which I could dedicate to a girlfriend I never had and it is also my favourite track from Euphoria. "Disintegrate" is an instrumental number and who would have thought that a band like Def Leppard would write an instrumental number!

Euphoria is a smashing return to form by a band that, believe it or not, was a front runner of the NWOBHM scene. It contains sappy ballads but also distinctively heavy songs and those that fall in between. Although Euphoria is light-years away from their original NWOBHM sound, it is, nonetheless, a classic in it's own right. I become a rock n' roll fan and later a metalhead solely because of this album and I know very well what this album means to me. Without it I wouldn't even have been writing this review.
Rating breakdown
Performance: 10
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 9
Production: 8
Written by Hermann Langke | October 31, 2010
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Comments

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Comments: 5 Visited by 41 users
Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473
Permalink
31.10.2010 - 06:27
Rating: 10
Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473


Thanks to the Staff for publishing it. This was my first ever personal Rock record! I am crying ! Still, thanks a lot!
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vezzy
Stallmanite

Posts: 3493
Permalink
31.10.2010 - 09:31
vezzy
Stallmanite

Posts: 3493


Took long enough to publish another one. I haven't heard a lot of Def Leppard, so I can't comment on the music, but as always, well-written...
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Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473
Permalink
31.10.2010 - 18:19
Rating: 10
Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473


Written by vezzy on 31.10.2010 at 09:31

Took long enough to publish another one. I haven't heard a lot of Def Leppard, so I can't comment on the music, but as always, well-written...

I was hibernating, actually!
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Daydream Nation
Account deleted
Permalink
03.11.2010 - 21:25
Daydream Nation
Account deleted
It's certainly not a bad record, but I kind of felt like they tried too hard to make it like an 80s Leppard album. That's the same kind of fault that's in their latest record. I'd honestly give it a 7 out of 10 because I kind of prefer albums with progression and a cohesiveness to the entire work and I don't see as much of that going in here when you compare it to Pyromania and Hysteria.

Promises, Paper Sun, Goodbye are classic, though. The solo for Promises still puts a smile on my face. Collen's definitely underrated. And Paper Sun's solo is one of Leppard's greatest moments. These songs I've mentioned are some of the best they've produced since Adrenalize. While I prefer the bold experimentation of Slang and the fun rock-n-roll nature of Yeah!, it's a worthy adaptation of the Leppard sound.

Plus, this is a well-written review. Thanks for sharing it.
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Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473
Permalink
15.11.2010 - 09:47
Rating: 10
Hermann Langke
Brahmastra Corps

Posts: 473


Written by [user id=100467] on 03.11.2010 at 21:25

It's certainly not a bad record, but I kind of felt like they tried too hard to make it like an 80s Leppard album. That's the same kind of fault that's in their latest record. I'd honestly give it a 7 out of 10 because I kind of prefer albums with progression and a cohesiveness to the entire work and I don't see as much of that going in here when you compare it to Pyromania and Hysteria.

Promises, Paper Sun, Goodbye are classic, though. The solo for Promises still puts a smile on my face. Collen's definitely underrated. And Paper Sun's solo is one of Leppard's greatest moments. These songs I've mentioned are some of the best they've produced since Adrenalize. While I prefer the bold experimentation of Slang and the fun rock-n-roll nature of Yeah!, it's a worthy adaptation of the Leppard sound.

Plus, this is a well-written review. Thanks for sharing it.

My pleasure!
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