Def Leppard - Songs From The Sparkle Lounge
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Although Def Leppard started to build up a name for itself in the 80s, the band can’t be considered as a pure metal band. Instead, the mixture of glam, AOR and hard rock has worked out pretty well for the five British gentlemen throughout the years. And while their previous album consisted of merely covers, it’s now time to show the world some new material of their own.
On to the new album; it’s actually pretty easy. Just picture a pretty logical mixture of AOR, glam rock, hard rock on a big stage with a good mixture of both heavy, rocking guitar riffs on the one hand and a sensitive ballad on the other hand. Opener ‘Go’ provides a strong, heavy opening which continues on ‘Nine Lives’. The melodies are very recognisable, which makes it easy to sing along after a few times of listening. ‘Love’ is a (how surprising) ballad without that many surprises and after that it’s mainly decent rock songs.
Decent, yes, that would be the best word to describe Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. The thing is, there isn’t really much to talk about. There’s nothing on this album that makes you want to call your friends about. “Wow, dude, you just gotta check that riff on the second song. And the vocal lines on the eighth…..just amazing.” Get the picture? It’s all pretty much done before and I think that if the name of Def Leppard weren’t on it, Songs From The Sparkle Lounge wouldn’t get that much attention.
Besides that, lyrical-wise the album is a disaster. Cliché after cliché passes by (‘Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose’, ‘Love, love why do I keep searching high and low’) and forgive me if I’d expect a little more from a guy in his late 40’s but it’s unoriginal, uninspiring and without any credibility.
So, aren’t there any highlights on the album. Yes, there is, namely the song ‘Tomorrow’, in my opinion the only song that is full of originality without loosing the typical sound of the band. The guitar is nice and groovy and especially the vocal lines in the chorus are very strong so we can all conclude with a decent thumbs up.
