Album Review: Def Leppard- Hysteria

Hi,
    My name is Surjo and I'm a professional musician. The music you're hearing (hopefully) is from my debut album 'The Key Has Turned' which you can buy here.

   The album for review today will be Def Leppard's 'Hysteria'. It is sort of depressing to review an album which was released in the year of your birth, and to acknowledge, that they had more musical innovation in their sound then than I have now. Nevertheless, the album was the first after drummer Rick Allen's horrific car accident which cost him his left arm. It was also the last album with Steve Clark before his death. The album is the highest selling Def Leppard album of all time with sales of more than 20 million.

'Women' starts off the album, with searing guitar and swirling keyboard sounds. The next thing that pops to mind is the drum sound, that'd characterize Rick's sound in all the years to come. Big synthesized snare drum sound. The lyrics are extremely provocative and sensible all-in-one. I can't imagine the conditions of recording this, because it has a perfection that'd be hard to achieve without digital trickery. The pre-chorus is incredible, both in terms of setting up the chorus, and also the words are off the hook. Bucketload of cool points. Oh damn, I nearly forgot, supremely cool guitar solos. 

'Rocket' starts with a rocket taking off (what else). Once that's done, it settles into one of the more innovative guitar riffs in rock. The contrast of the notes in the riff with the vocal melody and the chords make it an interesting picture. A whole lot of song references to start off the words. And of course, Def Leppard's stellar 5 part vocal harmony starts flexing it's muscles. More cool words in the chorus, really well structured. How many songs have a rocket launch countdown sequence in the bridge? A whole lot of reverse tape effects, to make it sound more alien. Cool points galore

'Animal' has words that to me, suggest the life of a top rock band on the road, or alternatively, a conquering army. The blood lust described in the song, is quite as amplified in only those two cases. The production on the album then would put most albums to shame even now. That vocal harmony might as well be an army. Joe Elliot really knows what he's doing. 

'Love Bites' starts off with the sci-fi, and then a really beautiful guitar arpeggio. Joe's vocals have a real quality to them, not rough, not soft, not throaty at all. The pre-chorus is hot, and then the chorus is lava. It's just too damn strong, the vocals really push it up several notches. The lyrics are quite strong too, exposing doubts that exist in certain kinds of relationships. Pretty creative wordplay on one or two lines there, which isn't something that I've thought of to associate with Def Leppard so far, so more cool points. 

A thousand cool points for the song title. 'Pour Some Sugar On Me'. One thing which is a trait of their music is that all their uptempo stuff has a lot of music packed in it, and a lot of excitement too. That's a rare trait to have so consistently. Ok, so as the song title suggests, it's a very suggestive song. The song is exactly what you think it's about, and then some. There's a reason why Def Leppard were able to enforce a topless-women-only-backstage policy. Because they could. Oh, and super cool drums and music. 

'Armageddon It' earns cool points for the title, and really has me thinking about the time invested into completing this album. It took some 3-4 years to finish this album if memory serves me right, and the amount of thought that's gone into the execution and planning of every aspect of the album is rather evident. Cool riff to start out the song. A lot of punny lyrics in this song, as a matter of fact the whole song is filled with entendres. Full fun. 

'Gods Of War' sounds heavy, and starts off heavy too. A lot of sounds of war, and then a key change for Rick Savage's bass to take us into the guitar riff. These guys write pre-choruses and pre-bridges it seems, and take their time getting to the monster choruses with the full blast of the harmonized vocals. The lyrics talk about the atmosphere, and the futility of war. The song ends with a lot of intrigue and mystery in the arpeggios and vocal harmonies. 

'Don't Shoot Shotgun' might be the only song which starts off with the vocal blast. Once the riff kicks in, you know one thing for sure, this band has the formula for stadium rock in their back pockets for this album. The pre-chorus is killer, with it's set-up to the chorus. Lyrics about a girl who can kill with what's she's been given. Standard that way, but the music is anything but standard. 

'Run Riot' starts at riotous pace, with a cool and frantic riff. The lyrics too seem to be encouraging breaking out just for a few moments and to explore the boundaries of one's physical and moral capacities. A whole album of infinitely singable choruses. Frantic pace, just frantic pace set throughout the song. 

'Hysteria' is the title track, and has the most steady, almost boring rock tempo, along with one of the most melodic guitar arpeggios. And a whole lot of innuendo in the words. It's a love song, but not a pretty please one. It's more like, you know I'm the bad boy you want to love type of love song. Of course, it's the title track of the album, and one of Def Leppard's most recognizable tunes, and with good reason. The music is very memorable. 

'Excitable' starts off with what could be some sort of Viagra commercial, and then the pounding drums start off. The riff is just lava on the hot meter. There can only be movement associated with this song, headbobs, dance moves and so on. It's just too cool to not move to. And yes, it's about a knockout girl again. I'm bobbing my head. 

'Love And Affection' finishes out the album, with a pretty cool riff. They do have a certain tendency as far as the note choice on the single note passages. The words are to do with the act of making love again, and they've toned down the suggestiveness a bit, for a more straightforward sincere narrative, and they're good at that too. The vocals again pull out all the stops. The level doesn't really drop throughout the album. It's not a greatest hits album, but it might as well be. 

Is it an album worth listening to? You damn right it is. Does it deserve all that it has gotten so far? Absolutely. A gem it was and a gem it remains.