DEF LEPPARD

PAGE UPDATED IN 2020

Reviewed:
- The Def Leppard EP (1979, EP bootleg)
- On Throught the Night (1980)
- High n' Dry (1981)
- Pyromania (1983)
- Hysteria (1987)
- Adrenalize (1992)
- Retro Active (1993, rarities compilation)
- Slang (1996)
- Euphoria (1999)
- X (2002)

- Yeah! (2006)
- Songs From the Sparkle Lounge (2008)
- Mirror Ball - Live & More (2011, live album)
- Def Leppard (2015)

- Diamond Star Halos (2022)


THE DEF LEPPARD EP (EP)          1979         (Bludgeon Riffola bootleg)
I broke the rules with this one because I don't actually own an official physical release of The Def Leppard EP, just a bootleg CD-R copy. However, this EP is legendary and definitely worthy of being listed on this page. I have no idea if it was actually officially released on CD or not (can't find anything online), and the remaining vinyl copies out there are expensive as hell. Anyway, given that this was recorded in late 1978 and released in '79, the three tracks recorded here ('Ride Into the Sun', 'Getcha Rocks Off' and 'Overture') were ahead of their time and an early sneak-peak into what the upcoming 'New Wave of British Heavy Metal' scene was to offer. The music is raw, unpolished, heavy and METAL - something this band have NOT been since about 1983. Pete Willis and Steve Clark's guitar work is awesome, very Thin Lizzy-like, and Joe Elliot's vocals sound almost unrecognizable compared to his later work - but in a good way. 'Getcha Rocks Off' and 'Overture' would be re-recorded and appear on the band's debut in 1980 (On Through the Night). I don't know why 'Ride Into the Sun' never made it, as the riffage on it is killer! It would eventually be re-recorded further much down the line, but that's a different story. Basically, any serious metalhead should hear this thing. Listen to it on YouTube, download it, fork out several monies for a vinyl copy...just hear it one way or the other!
Adam's rating: 8.5/10


ON THROUGH THE NIGHT          1980          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'Rock Brigade', 'Sorrow is a Woman', 'When the Walls Came Tumbling Down', 'Satellite', 'It Could be You', 'Wasted', 'Rocks Off', 'Answer to the Master', 'Overture' 

Despite the fact Joe Elliot will punch you in the face if he hears you call Def Leppard a heavy metal band, this debut album sure sounds like heavy metal to me. That's because it is heavy metal, regardless of what Joe wants you to think. It does sort of piss me off that Joe deliberately ignores On Through the Night because it isn't as poppy as anything that came later (I'm guessing the only people listening to Def Leppard in 1980 were denim and leather-wearing metalheads) and almost seems ashamed of the fact Def Leppard played a big role in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal movement of the late 70's and early 80's. Hard to believe that once upon a time these guys were thrown in the same boat as Samson, Iron Maiden, Tygers of Pan Tang, Saxon etc., but it's true! 

I first picked up this record when I was around 14 years old, and the only Leppard album I'd heard prior was the big one, '87's Hysteria. So obviously I was quite surprised when the album I was hearing was more-or-less a straight-up heavy metal album, albeit with more hooks than the average NWOBHM band. Frankly, I always dug it. I mean, I like a lot of rock music, but part of me will always be a metalhead too, whether I like it or not. And dammit, I still dig On Through the Night to this day! It's probably one of my favourites of the NWOBHM, along with others such as Saxon's Strong Arm of the Law, Maiden's self-titled debut, Raven's Rock Until You Drop, Vardis' 100 M.P.H. and the Tygers' Wild Cat etc.. Like I said before, the Lepp's were better at writing hooks than the rest of the competition, but they were still heavy in the early 80's too. Guitarists' Steve Clark and Pete Willis were churning out all the metallic riffs you ever could've wanted in 1980, but they were great at putting in Thin Lizzy-esque melodic guitar harmonies all the same, and Joe Elliot (who almost sounds unrecognisable in comparison to how he'd sound on anything that came after) added a touch of glam rock in his vocal hooks. 

On songs like 'Hello America', 'Satellite' and the ballad 'Sorrow Is a Woman', you get traces of pop in the melodies, but they don't negatively affect the tracks themselves. They're catchy and heavy all the same, and they're just good songs in general. And since heavy metal was actually sort of popular in the UK by 1980, some of the bands were actually in the UK charts and playing on Top of the Pops at the time. A lot of these NWOBHM groups were quite hooky in their songwriting. Metal was a different animal back then; it doesn't have to sound like Mayhem ya know! And besides, there's enough stuff on here that prove this band were, at one time, playing as hard and heavy as guys like Saxon, Angel Witch etc., with songs like 'Rock Brigade', 'Wasted', 'Answer to the Master', 'Rocks Off', 'It Could Be You' and 'It Don't Matter' - all these songs kicks ass! Especially 'Answer to the Master', 'Rocks Off', and 'Wasted', I love those tunes in particular. The dual guitar attack on those tracks is on the same level as Iron Maiden's debut of the same year - in terms of sheer talent and playing, Def Leppard were among the best of the NWOBHM bands in 1980. And speaking of Maiden, on the long closing track, 'Overture', they even touch on that 'galloping' heavy metal rhythm that Maiden really cemented.

Honestly, I think this is easily one of Def Leppard's best albums. I get that some fans will probably think I'm an idiot for saying this considering the musical path the band took shortly afterward, but On Through the Night is a rock-solid heavy metal album whichever way you look at it. I always wondered what kind of a band they would have become had Mutt Lange not started to produce them...

Adam's rating: 9.1/10

HIGH 'N' DRY           1981          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: All. 

So now Robert John 'Mutt' Lange, who'd produced AC/DC's massive-seller Back in Black the previous year, had got his paws on Def Leppard, and this clearly had a huge impact on the band's eventual slick, mainstream sound. Now, I get that it's kind of stupid if I moan about a lot of the Lepp's records being too poppy. They found huge success relatively early into their career, and the band's sound progressed fairly steadily with each album - it's not like they went from On Through the Night and then to Hysteria overnight. It took a few albums. But I guess the metalhead in me just can't help but compare everything this band ever recorded to their first couple of albums. Sorry! On the plus side, notice hoe I said first 'couple' of albums. Yeah, High 'n' Dry is still metal, albeit metal with much higher production values. But the songs are brilliant! Hooky, catchy heavy metal with great, crunchy riffs throughout. Honestly, the band managed to retain a heavy NWOBHM style whilst simultaneously lending themselves to radio airplay. Of course, some of the other bands of the time would try and follow in Def Leppard's footsteps and fail miserably (I'm looking at you Saxon!), so it's probably fair to say that Mutt Lange knew what he was doing if he wanted these guys to make money. But more importantly, he knew how to make himself big bucks.

True, 'Bringin' On the Heartbreak' is probably the first signature ballad the band ever penned, and it was the first metal video to be aired on MTV, but it's a great track that still comes nowhere near the levels of wussiness as something from an album like Adrenalize. And the majority of the rest of this album is driven almost entirely by heavy, melodic riffs. The title song is a kick-ass cut all about booze (which would soon become Steve Clark's biggest vice...) and 'Let it Go' is an anthem, but a ballsy one. I also love how 'Bringin' On the Heartbreak' subtly transitions into Steve Clark's cool instrumental 'Switch 625'. 'Another Hit and Run' is a slice of melodic, Lizzy-esque brilliance. Maybe my favourite track on the album. 'You Got Me Runnin'' and 'Lady Strange' are relatively simplistic, catchy rockers, but they're just good songs in general. Good driving music! 'On Through the Night' (the song, not the album) is another anthem of sorts, that ticks all the boxes. Great riffs, great melodies, a cool galloping rhythm section and plenty of meaty riffs to digest. 'No No No', the last track on the album, was probably the last true metal number you'd ever hear on a Leppard record. I'd also like to add that Joe Elliot's vocals have dramatically improved too, with Joe sounding more like Joe! 

This is maybe my favourite Def Leppard album. In my teens, I probably would've said On Through the Night was the better of the two, but these days I can't agree with that. I just find High 'n' Dry to be one of the best radio metal albums of all time. It's poppy enough that the hooks and melodies stay with you, but the riffs and guitar playing are metal enough to satisfy that side of me too. It's rare to find a combination that works as well as it does here. Mutt Lange's production is slicker, sure, but not to the point where everything sounds fake and processed. I can't think of many negative things to say about High 'n' Dry, but at the same time I'm struggling to give it anymore than a 9.2/10. I guess when you write hooky songs, you're kind of limiting what you can do in regards to songwriting. And obviously things would be taken one step further on their next album, but as it stands, I feel this is where the band got the pop metal balance in their songwriting spot-on. 

Adam's rating: 9.2/10

PYROMANIA          1983          (Vertigo)

- Standouts: 'Rock Rock (Till You Drop)', 'Photograph', 'Stagefright', 'Die Hard the Hunter', 'Foolin'', 'Rock of Ages' 

Pyromania was the first truly massive seller for Def Leppard, and an album that is regarded by many as one of their best. I'm inclined to agree, because I like all their 80's works, but I do enjoy the first couple of records significantly more than Pyromania. Musically speaking, this is a natural progression from High 'n' Dry, which obviously had a poppy, commercial sheen, but was still heavy and maintained their NWOBHM roots. Pyromania ditches whatever traces of On Through the Night that High 'n' Dry clung on to, and instead builds on the radio sounds it brought to the table. That's not to say this record ditches heavy metal riffage completely - the album's just so slick at this point that the debut record's roots are gone entirely and whatever heaviness the band had going for them prior is drawn more from it's follow-up, if that makes any sense. Guess I could've just erased this entire paragraph and just said "Pyromania is like High 'n' Dry, only poppier", or something along those lines... ah well.

Pete Willis had been sacked at this point, and in comes Phil Collen to accompany Steve Clark. I don't know how much this influenced Pyromania musically, but there's still a lot to like in regards to the songs here. 'Rock Rock (Till You Drop)' is a brilliant opener. It's a little more up-beat and shiny than anything from this album's predecessor, but it's cool. It rocks! 'Photograph' is one of the more famous numbers - massive choruses, those super-soft backing vocals they were sticking in all their tracks, wussy lyrics... but goddamn it, I never hit the skip button when it comes on! 'Stagefright' is pretty underrated. You almost never hear 'em play it live, despite the fact the chorus is massively memorable and sounds kinda similar in fashion to 'Photograph'. The song's riffs are much more metallic however. 'Too Late for Love', in case you couldn't guess, is obviously a ballad, but it's a decent one. Plenty of good guitar work from Clark and Collen to accompany the massive arena rock choruses'. If you got rid of those occasional keyboards, I do think 'Die Hard the Hunter' - probably the most metal track on this record - could have quite comfortably fit on High 'n' Dry (well, the production would have to have been different too). This tune is just underrated full-stop, and one of my favourites on this album. I do love the cheesy stadium hard rocker, 'Rock of Ages', although I can't tell if I love or hate Rick Savage's bass tones on it. It sounds fake as fuck, but at the same time, I couldn't imagine this track working without it. 'Comin' Under Fire' is a decent enough too, while 'Action! Not Words' is a solid, straightforward rocker, in case you'd forgotten at this point that the band could still pull those off when they wanted to. 'Billy's Got a Gun' is a moody epic.

I do have a problem with this record's production however. I actually liked Mutt Lange's work on High 'n' Dry - it sounded big-budget, but it was still quite organic-sounding. Pyromania on the other hand, sounds totally fake by comparison. Was Rick Allen even behind the kit on this album, or did they just use a drum machine?! 'Cos the percussion on this one just sounds totally inhuman. Then again, at the same time, it's quite hard to imagine this record sounding any differently...

Obviously I think this album is pretty overrated on the whole. While I do agree that it's one of this band's better outputs, I don't like the production on it, and the some of the harmonised vocals can be a little too much for me at times. That said, individually I do like most of the tracks here. Most are pretty great, actually. And I can understand why Pyromania is so highly regarded - giving it any less than an 8 just seems wrong somehow, even to me. 

Adam's rating: 8/10

HYSTERIA          1987          (Mercury)

- Standouts: Everything, in moderation. 

And here it is - the Def Leppard album that still makes up about two thirds of their live set to this day. Pyromania was a huge success, and no doubt you already know just how well Hysteria - aka the hard rock version of Michael Jackson's Thriller - did (51st best-selling album in the US right now, apparently). It more-or-less made the band the biggest thing in music for a short while, and spawned seven big singles. And lets not forget some of the crazy shit that happened during the recording of this record, the biggest incident being Rick Allen losing his freaking arm in a car accident, meaning he had an improvised electronic drum kit made which meant he could play with both his feet and one arm. Yeah, can't think of many other bands with stories like that one! 

Anyhow, this was quite an important album for me personally, it's one of the one's that I credit for the kind of bloke I am in terms of my tastes. It may not be my favourite Def Leppard album in 2020, but it was one of my favourite records of any genre during my school years. I remember getting the album when I was around 13, then replacing my original CD copy with the 2006 Deluxe Edition when that was released - I kind of wish I'd held on to my first copy, but ahh well. I got into the band because of 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' from Hysteria; that song is arguably the band's signature song, and easily gets the most play on the radio, but I always thought it rocked. And when you're 13 and just getting started with rock, some songs just leave a lasting impression, so I immediately went out and bought Hysteria!

Of course, musically Hysteria is essentially Pyromania taken even further. The songs are no longer primarily focused on riffs, although if you really concentrate on Collen and Clark's guitar playing throughout this album, you can hear some good stuff scattered here and there on the tracks. Nah, this is a poppy hard rock album, with ultra-slick production from Mutt Lange. And the fact it had seven singles kind of says it all really. These songs are massive, designed to fill stadiums. And that they did. You only need to listen to, well, any of the singles here to understand why this band were such a big deal in the late 80's. From the pumping glam metal anthem 'Women', the hook-laden pop rocker 'Animal', the glam rock tribute 'Rocket', the sappy, MTV-ready ballad 'Love Bites' and the power ballad 'Hysteria', it's quite obvious that Hysteria is gonna be full of all those multi-layered vocal harmonies from the get-go. Just to let you know, I like all these tracks, regardless of just how obnoxiously the band were selling out at this point. I also really like 'Armageddon It' - it's one of those songs that just features a near-perfect chorus. Another track with a near-perfect chorus that springs to mind is Rush's 'Limelight', but that's a different story. And obviously there's 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', which is kind of like the strip club anthem of the 80's. Is that a compliment? Probably. Some of the songs on here that weren't released as singles are really good too. 'Gods of War' has some stupid sound effects and the multi-layered vocal parts sound silly at times, but musically the song's gold - a really solid hard rock arena anthem. 'Don't Shoot Shotgun' and 'Run Riot' are totally underrated compared to the rest of the album too. The latter kind of gets me pumped up with those rhythms! 'Excitable' is pretty dumb and repetitive, but did you really expect anything more? Not a duff track on here, frankly. 

This album's not perfect. It is poppy as fuck. The production is slick enough to the point where it probably never needs to be remastered, because everything is so crystal clear. And to be honest, I kind of have to be in the right mood to hear it in full these days. Also, I think if I'd heard On Through the Night or High 'n' Dry before Hysteria, I wouldn't be giving this thing anywhere near the rating I settled on. My ears are almost always going to be tuned more toward a heavier sound over the processed, silky smooth sell out record - that's just the way I am. But nearly all of these tracks still resonate with me as an adult, and they meant so much to me in school that if I gave Hysteria anything less than a 9/10 I'd feel like I'm doing myself a grave disservice! And if you are going to review this album purely on the grounds of what the band were trying to do, which was make a chart-topping, poppy arena hard rock album, you can't really fault it. It's one of the best of all time in that regard.

Like I said before, I have the 2006 Deluxe Edition, and I also have a crummy old used vinyl copy too. I'd like to say go out and buy the deluxe version I own because it's the definitive release with all the added B-sides which came with the singles as bonus tracks, plus an added CD with live tracks and remixes. But I can't really do that, because the album's been re-released about a million times, now with various 30th anniversary editions that have even more content. 

Edit: Yeah, I ended up buying a mint condition copy of the 30th Anniversary Edition boxset in 2021. I found it in my local record store for £65, which really didn't seem like a bad deal given the prices of this thing online (I didn't just pick it up without any thought). I can't be bothered to tell you about everything that's in it, so scroll to the bottom of the Wikipedia page if interested. It is an extremely nice package, 'nuff said.

Adam's rating: 9/10

ADRENALIZE          1992          (Mercury)

- Standouts: 'Let's Get Rocked', 'White Lightning'

Ahh geez, I can't say I was looking forward to giving this one a listen again, for this updated review. Given how successful Hysteria was, I guess the only logical thing this band could do was to go even poppier. Yep, even without Mutt Lange producing, Adrenalize manages to be even slicker than it's predecessor! The biggest change however, is the fact Steve Clark had sadly passed away in 1991 to his alcohol addiction. Some riffs here and there that he'd demoed were used on this album, but the bulk of the guitar work was recorded by Phil Collen.

Maybe I am a hypocrite. I like Hysteria, so what do I have against Adrenalize? Well, like I was saying in my Hysteria review, I don't think I would hold that album in such high regard had I not heard it at such a young age. So I kind of like it by default, as stupid as that sounds. As for Adrenalize though, I don't outright 'hate' it - it's not really a bad pop rock album, it's just not something that I personally dig (certainly not as downright awful as some of the later Leppard albums). I do somewhat like 'Lets Get Rocked', even if the lyrics are some of the cringiest you'll ever hear. And if you wanna see one of the worst music videos of all time, go watch it on YouTube right now. As for the song itself however, it's a fun party anthem. 'Make Love Like a Man' is alright too, I guess. Again, it's cheesy stadium rock, and that's just what this band were aiming to achieve to be at that time. The moodier 'White Lightning' is actually very good, with Elliot doing an admirable vocal performance on what is a surprisingly lengthy, seven-minute ride. 'Tear it Down' is solid while 'Personal Property' is a tolerable 'rocker', if it even qualifies as such a term that is.  

Naturally though, a fair chunk of this record is made up of sissy, sugar-coated ballads, full of all those multi-layered backing vocal harmonies. I really don't care for 'Tonight', 'Stand Up', 'Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad' and 'I Wanna Touch U' (replacing 'YOU' with 'U' is an easy way to immediately lower people's perception of your own IQ...). They all sound the same to me, but if Hysteria is the album you critique Leppard's discography by, then you'll probably enjoy them. Sometimes even I forget that once upon a time, this band recorded a Thin Lizzy-esque NWOBHM album in 1980 called 'On Through the Night'. I actually wonder sometimes how much of Leppard's fanbase have even heard that album, or High 'n' Dry too for that matter...

When all is said and done, I can't be too harsh on Adrenalize. It sold in the millions once again, and if arena pop rock's your thing, then it's probably a good album. I'd say I can tolerate about 55% of this album, hence the rating. It wasn't quite as bad as I had remembered, though I have only upped the score by a mere 0.5. 
Adam's rating: 5.5/10


RETRO ACTIVE          1993          (Phonogram)
- Standouts: 'Desert Song', 'I Wanna Be Your Hero', 'She's Too Tough', 'Only After Dark', 'Ride Into the Sun', 'Action'

Rather ironically, I think this compilation of rarities is actually one of the better discs in Def Leppard's catalogue. Most of the thirteen tracks here were recorded around the Hysteria and Adrenalize periods, and a lot of them rock harder than what you heard on either of those records - which is probably why they were left off them! 'Desert Song' and 'Fractured Love' are both excellent, moody, driving hard rock songs. 'Action' is a cover of a Sweet track from the 70's. If I'm honest, I never really checked out Sweet, although I do know that they were an influence on Leppard, and this cover is not bad anyhow - same can be said for the rockers 'She's Too Tough' and 'Only After Dark'. 'Ring of Fire' (not a Johnny Cash cover) is also a decent, up-tempo hard rocker. What is definitely cool however, is the re-recorded version of 'Ride Into the Sun', a golden oldie from The Def Leppard EP. Who would've thought this band would actually return to a track from their NWOBHM roots?! And this new version has actually been beefed-up a fair bit, with better production, a more intricate guitar solo and improved vocals from Joe. Naturally, there's a bit of sappiness to sit through as well - you get electric and acoustic versions of both 'Two Steps Behind' and 'Miss You in a Hearbeat', and whichever version you listen to, they're still generic, sissy power ballads. I guess a Def Leppard album wouldn't be complete without at least a couple of ballads to please the middle-aged women out there, who spend all day tweeting Joe Elliot and Jon Bon Jovi!

I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by Retro Active when I first listened to it, especially considering just how poppy Adrenalize was. My original rating was an 8, which honestly was a little too generous, but either way this one is definitely worth checking out.
Adam's rating: 7.2/10

SLANG          1996           (Mercury)

- Standouts: 'Truth?', 'Gift of Flesh' 

Take a look at Slang's album cover and immediately you'll notice something's wrong. For starters, the classic logo font is missing, and the whole thing looks much more serious than usual. And yes, this was a deliberate move by the band to let listeners know that they'd changed this time around. This was the mid-90's - arena rock was dead and minimalistic grunge and alternative rock was in. So, I guess this is Def Leppard's answer to the state of rock music in the 90's. Even the Stones were doing the same thing around this time, with Bridges to Babylon. Phil Collen was no longer on his own, Slang was the first album to feature guitarist Vivian Campbell... yeah, the same Vivian Campbell who played on the first handful of Dio albums. 

Naturally, this is a pretty unpopular album with Leppard fans, because it's quite different to the tacky, glossy and cheesy sounds of Adrenalize. Hell, let's just say some fans despise it. There's no multi-layered backing vocals, and parts of Rick Allen's drum kit have actually gone back to being acoustic, meaning they don't sound so fake anymore - which is quite refreshing really. I do still get some of the poppy vibes of the last couple of albums on the title song and 'All I Want Is Everything', but for the most part this is a relatively straightforward and radio-friendly 90's alternative rock album. The thing that makes it sound like Def Leppard are Joe Elliot's instantly-recognisable vocals. I'm not gonna go out of my way to call this is a genuinely 'good' record, but I really don't think it's one of their worst either. I actually quite like the songs 'Truth?', 'Gift of Flesh', 'Turn to Dust' and the grungy 'Deliver Me'.  I will admit that 'Breathe a Sigh' is a fucking awful, smooth pop number that I have to skip when it comes on, but I found most of the songs on here to be listenable at the very least. I guess there's only so much I can take of the ultra-slick, processed stadium rock the band is known for that when they decide to do anything even remotely more simplistic and bare-bones, I immediately warm to it. As I stated however, Slang isn't a particularly good album. Aside from Joe's voice, it's quite a faceless and generic 90's rock album, but I do at least find it to be mostly okay, with some pretty good numbers here and there. 
Adam's rating: 6.1/10

EUPHORIA          1999          (Mercury)

- Standouts: 'Demolition Man', 'Day After Day', 'Kings of Oblivion' 

Slang wasn't exactly a great album, but I gotta hand it to 'em - they tried something different, even if most of the fans hated it. 99's Euphoria is an apparent return to their signature sound, and by that I mean a return to the poppy sounds of Adrenalize, and Hysteria to an extent. Did you really expect to hear a return to the style of High 'n' Dry, or even Pyromania?! Whatever. This album at least starts off okay, with 'Demolition Man' (no relation to the Police track of the same name) kicking it off in a fun manner. And I only just found out that popular 90's Formula One driver Damon Hill, of all people, plays the last guitar solo on 'Demolition Man'! Turns out Damon is or was a neighbour of Rick Savage - and apparently a musician too - but I hadn't heard Damon's name in probably well over a decade (until I got back into watching F1 these past couple of years that is), so that was a shock. Speaking of Sav, what the hell was going on with his look at this point?! He looks like he was modelling himself on Ellen Degeneres with that hair and that suit! Meh, if he was happy looking like a lesbian talk show host, more power to him.

Uh, getting back to the music, 'Back in Your Face' is not too bad either and 'Paper Sun' is tolerable stadium rock. As you can probably expect though, calling Euphoria a 'return to form' is being way too kind. Some of the stuff on here is straight-up pop cheese; doesn't even come close to being described as rock. 'Goodbye' is as poppy and slushy a ballad can be. 'All Night' is some boyband-sounding trash, and I had to skip it after precisely one minute and forty seconds. 'It's Only Love' is a slightly-less-embarrassing pop number, but that's barely a compliment because it still sucks. 'Fucks sake, '21st Century Sha La La La Girl' (that was a mouthful...) sucks too! It has a decent riff in it, but again, this is comparable to the kind of crap the Backstreet Boys or 5ive were churning out in the late 90's. 'To Be Alive' is yet another garbage ballad. Surprisingly, the last few tracks aren't complete train-wrecks. Phil Collen's instrumental 'Disintegrate' is a nice hard rock piece full of riffs and solid guitar licks. At least Phil was keeping in touch with his roots! 'Guilty' is not a good ballad by any means, but it's little ballsier than the others at least, and did give me a 'Hysteria mixed with Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen' vibe, for some reason. I didn't skip it, so that's gotta be something! And look! 'Day After Day' is fairly solid too! As is 'Kings of Oblivion', it's just a shame you've gotta sit through a lot of crap before you can actually get to these tracks.

All in all, I don't like this one much. Opener 'Demolition Man' gave me hope to begin with, and is as good as any of the better tracks from Adrenalize. Plus, there's a handful of other tracks that I think are okay, but overall Euphoria is definitely a pop album more than it is hard rock. The songs range from pretty good or simply just alright, to downright bloody awful! I've owned this album for maybe more than a decade and only ever listened to it two times prior to now - once when I bought it, once when I first reviewed it in 2017 and one more time for this updated review. And I can't imagine I'll be listening to it again anytime soon. 
Adam's rating: 4.8/10

X          2002          (Mercury)

- Standouts: ABSOLUTELY NONE! 

Holy fucking shit this is bad. I mean, really bad. Bad to the point where X might just be the worst album in my entire collection. True, that Lou Reed and Metallica collaboration album is a complete and utter monstrosity - but I do find it hilarious all the same because of all the nonsensical lyrics on it, so at least it has that going for it. X on the other hand, is completely embarrassing and certainly not funny in any way shape or form. And I thought Euphoria was pretty poor overall; X makes it seem like a masterpiece by comparison! 

This is Def Leppard in full boyband pop mode, despite most or all of them being in their forties by 2002. Aside from maybe 'Four Letter Word', absolutely nothing about this album even remotely 'rocks' - it's like they literally drained every last droplet of pop from Adrenalize and Euphoria and used them to create an album that is almost entirely pop. God knows what the recording sessions were like - I mean, why were Phil Collen and Vivian Campbell - who are obviously both good guitarists - even needed? Joe Elliot could've simply fired the rest of the band and used session musicians because this is not the work of a fully-functioning, competent rock band. Hell, this is largely the same lineup that recorded On Through the Night and High 'n' Dry a couple of decades prior! I get that bands evolve over time, but did anyone in 1980 seriously think Def Leppard would eventually go on to record an album like X?! Vivian Campbell supposedly plays on this abomination, for fucks sake! Yeah, the same Irish bloke who played on Dio's Holy Diver and The Last in Line in the 80's, two of the most metal albums of all time! How the mighty have fallen! 

Garbage, utter garbage.
Adam's rating: 1/10

YEAH!          2006          (Bludgeon Riffola)

- Standouts: 'Hell Raiser', 'The Golden Age of Rock n' Roll', 'Don't Believe a Word'

Well, I can't exactly say that an album of cover songs by Def Leppard with the dumb title 'Yeah!', complete with album artwork that looks like something an early 2000's boyband would put out, was at the top of my priority list. Fourteen years have passed since this thing was released, but I finally scored a reasonably-priced used copy in an eBay auction! As you can probably imagine, I was ready to tear this a new one, especially after X - the less said about that album the better. Let's just say I'm not all that fond of covers albums either. Guns n' Roses' The Spaghetti Incident? is one of the biggest pieces of shit in my collection and Metallica's Garage Inc. is hit and miss. Slayer's Undisputed Attitude is pretty good I guess. Either way, I didn't have high hopes going into Def Leppard's own attempt at a covers record. 

Yeah! is comprised mostly of 70's rock songs from classic bands and artists like Free, David Bowie, Roxy Music, David Essex, T. Rex, Thin Lizzy, ELO, Mott the Hoople and Sweet, but there was also a  few other artists on here that  I wasn't familiar with. Most, but not all. For instance, I had no idea who The Nerves were, or their song 'Hanging On the Telephone', but Def Leppard's take on this song is actually pretty good. It honestly sounds a little indie rock-ish to me. I didn't know David Essex's 'Rock On' either (strangely, although I do obviously know who David Essex is), but again, the Lepp's rendition has a solid groove and a nice heavy guitar outro. The Sweet cover, 'Hell Raiser' is a fun rocker and while the band don't really do anything special with '20th Century Boy', they are still at least doing Marc Bolan justice. The Mott the Hoople song, 'The Golden Age of Rock n' Roll' is a good time, and suits Leppard's style quite well. I was curious about the Thin Lizzy cover, 'Don't Believe a Word', 'cos Lizzy are the only band covered here that I consider myself to be a genuine fan of, and whaddya know? It's cool! The Lepp's did a great job with this one. I think the ELO cover, '10538 Overture' really isn't that bad either along with Roxy Music's 'Street Life', and I must say that Joe Elliot does a great job with his vocals throughout the whole album. It's not all good - the Bowie cover, 'Street Life', bores me, as does 'Little Bit of Love', which was originally a Free track. I don't like 'No Matter What', but then I don't like the original either, by Badfinger.  

Ironically, I like this album more than anything they made in the 90's (aside from Retro Active, if you consider that to be a real album). Apparently the band rock harder playing other people's songs these days! They somehow managed to not completely embarrass themselves, which is quite rare seeing as I find most covers albums have at least one complete disaster on them. True, not every track on here is good, but none of them are completely awful, which really surprised me. Let's be honest though, I'm not gonna be that generous with my rating. At the end of the day Yeah! is just a covers album, and I can't see myself listening to it much from hereon . Plus, I can't decide whether or not the fact I don't know all the original tunes is a good or bad thing. 

Adam's rating: 6.5/10

  

SONGS FROM THE SPARKLE LOUNGE          2008          (Bludgeon Riffola)
- Standouts: 'Go', 'Bad Actress'

There's no way this band could sink any lower than they did with X - it isn't physically possible! So of course the femininely-titled Songs from the Sparkle Lounge is a better album, but that ain't saying much. 'Go' sets the album off to a promising start. It's a decent attempt at a hard rocker, I can't deny that. Naturally, that good start goes straight out of the window with the next track, 'Nine Lives'. It features Tim McGraw as a guest vocalist, and I didn't know who the fuck he was until I first listened to this album a few years ago. He is of course, a pretty big deal in the world of country music. I don't even mind some of the old-school outlaw country classics, but any of the poppy, radio country music that's popular in the US is out of my comfort zone. And why a British rock band felt the need to get a dude like McGraw to guest on their album just seems bizarre to me. But then I remembered that this is Def Leppard, and since even On Through the Night they've had a strange obsession with anything American ('Hello America' anyone?). Anyhow, 'Nine Lives' has obviously a has a country twang about it, and naturally it's a failed experiment. 'C'Mon C'Mon' ain't much better either, just another generic pop rocker. The lame-ass ballad 'Love' - if the title doesn't give it away - is about as slushy and wimpy as Leppard can get. It was of course penned by Rick Savage, who seems to have a penchant to write the wussiest Leppard songs. 'Tomorrow' is boring, modern day Bon Jovi-esque stadium rock whereas 'Cruise Control' musically might as well be a crappy Nickelback anthem. In fact, one thing I've noticed with this band is that almost anything that Sav writes individually is lame, while most of what Phil Collen pens I tend to enjoy a lot more.

'Hallucinate' and 'Bad Actress' are better. The latter is very good and energetic, in fact. These tracks I don't mind, because they actually sounds like Pyromania/Hysteria-era Def Leppard with much less of a glossy 80's production sound. That's something else I can give the band credit for on this album - the production. It feels more natural and less processed than the Mutt Lange-produced records, as well as Adrenalize and Euphoria, and overall sounds pretty decent to my ears. That doesn't save the poppy 'Only the Good Die Young' from falling into mediocrity however. 'Come Undone' is okay at best while the almost-grungy 'Gotta Let It Go' is marginally better, but still very generic and bland overall.

Sadly, I find this to be another poor album. I'd imagine the average Leppard fan will probably enjoy it, but for the one's that hold their earliest efforts in such high regard, you won't really find anything comparable to those classics here. And according to the Wikipedia page for this record, Joe Elliot apparently described it as sounding like "early 70's AC/DC and much like Led Zeppelin's song 'Rock n' Roll". He's talking out of his ass! In no way whatsoever does it sound anything like either! If anything, I'd say the overall sound of this album is more like if you threw the musical ingredients of Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Nickelback and U2 in a blender. The result is a bitter taste!
Adam's rating: 4/10

MIRROR BALL - LIVE & MORE          2011           (Bludgeon Riffola)

I debated picking this up for months. My favourite local record store had it for £9.99 and I avoided it for ages until I finally caved in and gave it a shot. Considering how unimpressed I was with most of the post-80's efforts I have, this 3-disc live package was kind of refreshing. It was recorded during 2008/2009. Of course, the tracks mostly consist of Hysteria and Pyromania tunes, classics really, so I can't not enjoy them. It was awesome to see the instrumental 'Switch 625' from High n' Dry in the setlist too. There's a couple of Adrenalize and Songs from the Sparkle Lounge tunes in there as well, but even these sound better in live perspective. On top of the live material, there's also three new studio tracks, 'Undefeated', 'Kings of the World' and 'It's All About Believin''. 'Undefeated' was actually quite a driving hard rock song, and I enjoyed it. 'Kings of the World' was fun in that it's total Freddie Mercury/Queen worship. The last track was basically more Leppard balladry however. Included with the two CD's is a DVD titled 'Behind the scenes on the Sparkle Lounge Tour 2008-2009'. I haven't watched it yet, but it does apparently contain performances of 'Rock Rock (Till You Drop)', 'Armageddon It', 'Pour Some Sugar On Me' and 'Hysteria', so I probably will give a viewing at some point. I liked Mirror Ball in case you couldn't tell. Just because I don't like their newer studio albums that much doesn't necessarily mean I can't enjoy them live, if that makes any sense. Oh, and it also comes in one those double jewel-cases you don't see so much any more. Love those things!
Adam's rating: 8/10


DEF LEPPARD           2015          (Bludgeon Riffola)
- Standouts: 'Let's Go', 'Man Enough', 'Invincible', 'All Time High', 'Broke 'n' Brokenhearted', 'Wings of an Angel'

As you can see, the last Def Leppard album that I'm actually a fan of was 87's multi-Platinum selling Hysteria. That record was released a long time ago, so obviously I wasn't expecting too much from this 2015 self-titled either, which is currently still their most recent studio album. For those reasons, I didn't buy a copy of this album until 2017, when I started this page. According to my original review, I thought this album was a major improvement over Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, but still had a fair share of it's own issues. I gave it a 6.5, so while that still isn't quite a respectable score, it does at least mean that I thought the album was fairly good. Naturally, I put this one back in my CD shelves and never listened to it again until now...

So, Def Leppard 2015 - the redux review. The first couple of songs here are decent, there's no two ways about it. 'Let's Go' and 'Dangerous' are good, big hard rock songs with those Pyromania/Hysteria, hook-laden sensibilities. 'Let's Go' deliberately features a riff comparable to that of 'Pour Some Sugar On Me', but at this point in time a little nostalgia is necessary. I had a good time with the third track, 'Man Enough', too. This song is built around an almost funk-like groovin' bass line; it's a bit different from the band, and it's cool. I can't say I'm a big fan of the first ballad on here, 'We Belong', but it's certainly not a bad track either. It's way more subdued than almost any of the obnoxiously poppy, wimpy ballads they'd written on the last bunch of albums (save for maybe Slang), and this is a good thing. Even if it's not a standout for me, at least it's listenable. And you know what? 'Invincible' is good too. Again, it's subdued by Def Leppard's standards - it's a much more mature rocker for once, with some nice guitar melodies and a solid vocal performance from Joe to boot. 'Sea of Love' is another decent track, if a little forgettable. Sadly, 'Energized' isn't as energetic as the title suggests, and is probably one of the poppiest tracks here, but thankfully it's not cringe-inducing stuff. I like 'All Time High' - just another well-written and performed, up-beat hard rock song that's quite comparable musically to their 80's peak. 'Battle of My Own' is a more bare-bones, acoustic-driven rock affair, and I welcome this. Shame it's a little shorter than the majority of the tracks here. For some reason, I get vibes similar to that of Skid Row's debut album on 'Broke 'n' Brokenhearted', and I like that record, so I'm not complaining. 'Forever Young' is the shortest number on here, but it's another very good, riff-focused rocker. The wussiest song on here is 'Last Dance' (written by Rick Savage, 'cos who else?), but even so, it comes nowhere near the wannabe boyband crap found on X or Euphoria. If it wasn't for Joe's vocals, I'd say it sounds a little like Pearl Jam's 'Daughter'. 'Wings of an Angel' is a moodier, slower-building cut. Kinda grungy almost. And it's good! The album closer, 'Blind Faith' is also kinda moody and surprisingly slow, but it's no ballad. More like a long farewell... 

Huzzah, they can still make good records! Def Leppard 2015 didn't blow me away by any means, but it is certainly a solid, melodic hard rock album. They're finally acting their age and sound as if they're writing songs that they want to play, and that's probably why this album works. It's much more mature and guitar-driven than the bollocks they were pulling off on albums like X and Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, and the production is much more organic and real - but it still has enough hooks and melody from the Mutt Lange-produced albums to give it that classic, Leppard seal of approval. But on top of that, you also just have some good rock songs in general, that aren't necessarily trying to be poppy or deliberate throwbacks to the oldies. I'm actually quite surprised that I initially only gave this one a 6.5/10 - it's better than that, but more to the point, I'm genuinely glad it's a good album!

Adam's rating: 7.8/10

DIAMOND STAR HALOS           2022          (Bludgeon Riffola)

- Standouts: 'Take What You Want', 'Kick', 'Liquid Dust', 'Open Your Eyes', 'Gimme a Kiss', 'From Here to Eternity'

The self-titled album from 2015 may not be classic Leppard, but it did at least restore my faith in this band. While I can't say I was 'hyped' for 2022's Diamond Star Halos, I was fairly confident there was a good chance it would still be decent, just like the last record. So yeah, kicking off with 'Take What You Want', this new album definitely grabbed my attention to begin with. This is a great stadium rocker alright; big anthemic choruses and massive riffs, plus some nice melodic transitions to boot. 'Kick' leans more on the pop rock side of things, sure, but it's still fun overall. When Def Leppard do pop rock well, they do come up with some well-crafted songwriting elements. In the case of 'Kick', it's the vocal arrangements that make it standout and stick in your head. 'Fire It Up' is good for similar reasons, although the riffs are more prominent. Just solid, listenable radio rock.

'This Guitar' was kinda surprising. Not necessarily because of the music itself, but because Alison Krauss duets with Joe on it. Honestly, this is a duet that works far better than the one they did with Tim McGraw a few years back. I've always thought Alison has a beautiful voice, and although the bulk of her own solo work isn't really my cup of tea, I do rather like that album she did with Robert Plant in 2007 (Raising Sand). As for 'This Guitar' itself, it's a reasonably good soft rock ballad albeit with predictably really good vocal performances from Joe and Alison. That's one thing I will say about Joe - he's kind of subdued his vocal style in more recent years, getting rid of any of that high-pitched raspiness and sounding much more mature these days. That's part of the reason why I liked the last album, and the same thing applies to this one. Later on in the record, Alison appears on the country pop-tinged ballad 'Lifeless', although she isn't quite as prominent on this track. Of these two tracks, I'd say I prefer 'This Guitar', but neither are really favourites of mine. 

'SOS Emergency', despite the generic title, is a decent enough stadium rocker. I like 'Liquid Dust' more however; this is a more mellow, highly tuneful rock song with some very nice melodies. 'U Rok Mi' is thankfully much better than the fucking awful title suggests! It may not 'Rok' particularly hard, but it still manages to 'Rok' in it's own right (sorry). There's nothing really special about the hooky 'All We Need' either, but it makes for solid background music while at home. I'm enjoying 'Open Your Eyes' quite a lot however, the driving bass tones add a lot of groove to this one while the vocal arrangements of the chorus give it a vast, soaring vibe. And 'Gimme a Kiss' (another shitty song title!) is classic Leppard for sure. The album ends with the epic 'From Here to Eternity'.

The stuff I'm not so keen on include the ballad 'Goodbye for Good This Time'. While I can't fault the performances on it (in fact, I really like the acoustic Spanish guitar solo on it), the string sections are a bit too much for me to stomach. And 'Angels (Can't Help You Now)' is very similar too. In fact, it might as well be the same song repeated. It isn't of course... but yeah. Too soft for me, I'm sorry! 'Unbreakable' is a bit janky for me too. Some of the guitar parts are nice, but the drum beat has a very electronic, processed tone and I just find it off-putting.

Sadly, I don't seem to be enjoying Diamond Star Halos as much I do the 2015 self-titled. That said, there's a whopping fifteen tracks on offer here, and I genuinely like a decent-sized handful of them (in total, there's eleven songs here that I can listen to repeatedly at least). So I still consider this to be a good album overall. I might not be the biggest fan of some of it's ballads, but at least the band don't write cringe-inducing ones these days. And I think Joe Elliot can be a pretty amazing vocalist when he wants to be - this album reinforces that reputation. So while I do find the album to be somewhat disappointing, it still manages to (mostly) hold up to it's predecessor.

Adam's rating: 7/10

PANTERA

PAGE UPDATED IN 2023

Reviewed:
- Cowboys from Hell (1990)
- Vulgar Display of Power (1992)
- Far Beyond Driven (1994)
- The Great Southern Trendkill (1996)
- Official Live: 101 Proof (1997, live album)
- Reinventing the Steel (2000)
- Reinventing Hell: The Best of Pantera (2003, compilation)


COWBOYS FROM HELL         1990          (Atco)
Standouts: 'Cowboys from Hell', 'Primal Concrete Sledge', 'Psycho Holiday', 'Heresy', 'Cemetery Gates', 'Domination', 'Shattered', 'Message in Blood', 'The Art of Shredding'

Now here's a band that ended up forging a path for modern metal - for better or worse. Dimebag Darrell (or 'Diamond Darrell' as he was still known as at this point, RIP) was an innovative guitarist that brought all the heavy-ass riffs you could ever want to the table, but he had a ton of groove to his playing, and his lead playing was ear-piercing. I guess you could dub the man the 'godfather of groove metal'. Dime's older brother Vinnie Paul (who passed away in 2018) was a great drummer too. I must admit, groove metal is a genre I don't dislike, but it's one that rarely has me excited. I mean, I like Lamb of God, but not nearly to same extent as their overall popularity within the metal world would suggest. Pantera however, are a band I love. Well, used to love anyway. It's not that I don't enjoy hearing them anymore, they're just one of the few bands that I used to love growing up, that I now only really listen to every once in a while. 

1990's Cowboys from Hell however, is a stone-cold metal classic that is by far my favourite Pantera record and one that does still deserve the same praise I would have given it fifteen or so years ago, today. For a lot of people in 1990, this would have been their first exposure to the band, yet Cowboys from Hell isn't actually the debut album. They'd actually released four independent LP's prior throughout the 80's - all of them had terrible artwork and sat closer to glam/traditional heavy metal than what they were churning out on Cowboys. And no, I don't actually own any of those records - they've all been out of print since as long as I can remember, and all sell for crazy money. As much as I'd like to have those in my collection, I can't justify their prices. Still, those 80's records tend to be brushed aside by critics, acting like Cowboys is the 'real' debut album from Pantera. It isn't of course, but whatever.

Well, the first half of this album is absolute gold. It doesn't get much better than the opening title track, with that unbelievably awesome main riff and great vocal hooks from Phil Anselmo ("You see us comin' and you all together RUN FOR COVER!!"). It's easy to see why they had so much impact on the metal world by this point. And speaking of Phil Anselmo, all I can say is that his vocal style with this band kind of took a downturn after Cowboys from Hell. He's fucking awesome here, but a couple of years later he'd adopt this 'tough guy' demeanour and stop actually trying to sing. Yeah it suited the music, but the man was surprisingly diverse as his performance on this record proves (I'd also argue that his vocal approach to his other band, the sludgy Down, was much cooler than the bulk of his work with Pantera). So, anyway, the first half of this album - stupidly strong stuff. 'Primal Concrete Sledge' (whatever that means) is a short, sweet, riff-tastic and thrashy affair that kicks arse. 'Psycho Holiday' is probably my favourite song here in general, with that absolutely thunderous opening riff, and surprisingly catchy vocal lines.

'Heresy' is seriously underrated; it has some insanely fast riffing on it, and is pretty much a full-on thrash assault. By contrast, 'Cemetery Gates' is a ballad, but a really fucking strong one. This is how you do a heavy metal ballad friends; make the verses melodic and cleanly-sung, but make throw in plenty of ridiculously heavy choruses and squealing guitar solos. Another drop-dead classic. I also love 'Domination', which brings back the thrashy intensity of 'Heresy', but with that trademark hint of groove to the riffs. To be fair, the second half of this album - while not quite up to the same standard as the first half overall - is still very good. 'Shattered' is another favourite of mine, and almost sounds like something from Judas Priest's Painkiller. See, this is what I'm talking about when I spoke of Phil sounding better during this period than he would later on down the line with this band. On 'Shattered', he manages to sound like Rob Halford - he would never attempt this again on later records, as far as I'm aware. Musically though, this song also has that Judas Priest vibe and I absolutely love it. 

'Clash with Reality' is definitely a sign of what was to come. This song is groove metal to the max (save for the thrashy climax), with riffs that parallel later material from albums such as Far Beyond Driven and Vulgar Display of Power. I dig the twisted nature of 'The Sleep' too - this song is full of weird, unconventional riffs and cool, moody acoustic intro. The closing cut, 'The Art of Shredding' is another blazing thrash number - the middle part of this song is pure Metallica worship, and I mean that in a good way. 

'Medicine Man' is probably the weakest track here, but even so, it manages to be decent in it's own right. It just has some very subtle touches of late-90's nu metal (*gasp!*) here and there that make me slightly uncomfortable! Still, the vocals are excellent, and Dime's solo never gets old. 'Message in Blood', again, is not even remotely 'bad', it's just lacking something that many of the other songs have. The riffs are there alright, I guess it's just the vocal arrangements.

Yes, I like the later albums, just not as much as I do this one! Growing up listening to thrash and traditional heavy metal, more-so than any groove metal, I suppose I like Cowboys from Hell the most by default really. Every song here is either brilliant, great, or just plain good - and they're topped off with timeless production. I do honestly feel that ten songs would have flowed better, and made more sense than the twelve we were given, but this is a minor niggle at the end of the day. And I'm not going to call this 'one of the best metal albums of all time'. One of the best of the 90's for sure, but not ever. Still, like I said in the beginning of this review, I don't really listen to Pantera all that much anymore these days, but I still can't help but crank this one up - even in my thirties!

Adam's rating: 9.2/10

VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER          1992          (Atco)
- Standouts: 'Mouth for War', 'A New Level', 'Walk', 'Fucking Hostile', 'This Love', 'Rise', 'Hollow'

This album is often cited as Pantera's best, but you know I think Cowboys from Hell is better. Uh, unless you skipped over the last review that is. I will admit that Vulgar Display of Power is the album that tends to summarise Pantera's sound and reputation best (unless you go by some of the miserable Metal-Archives elitists that is...); generally, the later albums followed a similar formula to this one. And I'll admit that the songs that I do like here, I really like. 'Mouth for War' and 'A New Level' are fucking excellent; the riffs absolutely crush, and everything's gotten heavier in general since Cowboys, from the riffs to Phil's new and more aggressive vocal style. But better? Nahhh... not necessarily. Most of the thrash metal influences are gone now - this is a pure 90's groove metal affair, with some fast moments here and there. 'Fucking Hostile' is fast as hell, and certainly thrashy enough - and also very, very good. But mostly, this album is slower and groovier - and heavier of course. Still, as I said, I do love a handful of tracks on this one. Along with 'Mouth for War', 'Fucking Hostile' and 'A New Level', I've always had a soft spot the ballad 'This Love'. It's not quite in the same as 'Cemetery Gates' for me, but it's still very good and focuses more on being moody, atmospheric and heavier if anything. 

'Rise' has the fastest riff on the entire album, but it transitions between a mid-tempo number and a frantic one all the same. Yeah, it's another strong cut, better than 'No Good (Attack the Radical)' anyway. Not that this one is bad of course, there's just some sort of 'nu metal' aftertaste about it that I can't seem to shake off. I don't particularly like 'Live in a Hole' all that much either. I just find it kind of boring and tuneless, honestly. 'Regular People (Conceit)' is thankfully better, with it's tight, chugging riffs and style, but it's still not quite in the same league as anything from the first half. Same can't be said for 'By Demons Be Driven', which once again kind of bores me despite it's heaviness. I do enjoy closer 'Hollow' however, mostly for the fact the album needs some melody at this point. It's a ballad of sort, not as good or heavy as 'This Love', but still memorable and featuring some fantastic lead guitar work.

The main song here that everybody remembers is of course, 'Walk'. It's one of those songs that I thought was like, the best thing ever when I first heard it in school. I liked it so much in fact, that I saved all my paper-round wages long enough to buy a Dean ML guitar, like Dime's. I can't deny this song's importance on modern metal, with it's simple, slow, and ridiculously heavy two-fret riff, but in 2023 I'm understandably pretty bored of 'Walk'. Like 'Paranoid', 'Master of Puppets', 'Raining Blood' and 'The Trooper', this is one of those trademark heavy metal songs that I'll hear every so often just by being at certain concert venues, rock-themed pubs or music festivals. Somebody somewhere will play 'Walk' at some point. And like I said, I used to love it as a teen. But when you've heard it that many fucking times by the time you hit your early thirties, I don't think I ever need to hear it again by choice. Except I just did for this review. Meh, I can't exactly not call it a standout.

I have other complaints too. I don't really care that much about the lyrics and Phil's overall attitude just being dumber than the last record's vibe, but it's still worth noting. His vocals though, are definitely less impressive this time. He doesn't do the Halford impressions anymore; I get that the new, angry Phil is better-suited for the music, but Pantera are a metal band, not a hardcore band (then again, the album artwork depicts a guy getting punched in the fucking face). I dunno, I don't dislike his performance on any Pantera album at the end of the day, it's just that his vocals on Cowboys from Hell were something special. I will give credit to Terry Date's production however - this record in general sounds fantastic, better than the former.

As good as this record is, I really can't agree that it's their best. Just 'cos it has 'Walk' on it, doesn't automatically put it at the top of the pile! Even though Vulgar Display of Power is the album that really made them a big deal within the metal scene, (spoilers) I actually think they'd do better than this with their next album. Maybe even the one after that as well, as I'll be revisiting it soon too. But my main gripe is the fact that the music just seems less creative here to me compared to the predecessor. Cowboys from Hell is like a mixture of what made thrash great, combined with the new and upcoming groove metal style. Vulgar Display of Power is just a full-on 90's groove metal record. If that's your thing, then great, but aside from five absolutely classic cuts, the rest of this album is just 'decent, but not great' for me personally. 

Not giving this thing an 8/10 feels weird given it's overall popularity, but I honestly don't care for a few of these songs, namely 'No Good (Attack the Radical)', 'Live in a Hole' and 'By Demons Be Driven'. Even if there are some fantastic tracks here, realistically there's just not enough of 'em for me to consider this a great album.
Adam's rating: 7.9/10


FAR BEYOND DRIVEN          1994          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'Strength Beyond Strength', 'Becoming', '5 Minutes Alone', 'I'm Broken', 'Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks', 'Shedding Skin', '25 Years', 'Use My Third Arm'

Similar to Vulgar Display of Power, but in my opinion more consistent. Aside from the stupid filler number 'Good Friends and a Bottle of Pills' whereby Phil drools his way through lyrics about fucking your girlfriend while you sleep, the good songs on Far Beyond Driven are even stronger than the good songs on Vulgar, which were great in the first place. Nastier too. This has 'Strength Beyond Strength', 'Becoming' and 'I'm Broken' on it, which automatically makes it a better record in my opinion.

'Strength Beyond Strength' is a lesson in pure brutality; it's lethal, bordering on death metal at times. Even the groovy part towards the end is twisted as fuck. 'Becoming' isn't actually perfect, but goddamn the fast riffs are! That reason alone is enough for this one to qualify as one of the best songs here for sure. As for 'I'm Broken' - once again, when Dimebag delivers, he really is a riff maestro. Yeah, yeah, groove metal's not a favourite subgenre of mine, but Dime is one man whose riffs stack up to any of his contemporary's in other metal genres. 'I'm Broken' is proof of this. I mean, damn! '5 Minutes Alone' though, is very good too, even if it's not quite up to the same standard as my three favourites from this disc. It's a stupendously heavy, chuggy mid-tempo affair, with insanely detuned guitars and a ton of groove. 

I like 'Hard Lines, Sunken Cheeks' a lot too. This track dabbles with the sludgy, doomy riffage of bands like Crowbar, but also blends it with the undeniable groove of Pantera. The result is a really cool number. 'Slaughtered' is a bordering on cookie-cutter Pantera, but it's heavy as hell, the groove is fun enough and the guitar tones on this record in general make even the most lazy Dime riffs enjoyable. 

'25 Years' too, is kinda sludgy in a way. People online are calling 'Shedding Skin' a ballad, which makes zero sense to me. I mean, it has a couple of mellow parts, but they're weird and fucked up-sounding. No real melody, and the whole song is as twisted as anything else here. 'Use My Third Arm', along with 'Strength Beyond Strength' dips into extreme metal territory once again and is tied for the heaviest track on this album. 

Ending the album with a cover of Black Sabbath's trippy, mystical ballad 'Planet Caravan' wouldn't be my first choice, but it's not terrible either. The band move away from the psychedelic nature of the original, but still close enough to be recognisable. Yeah, it doesn't hold a candle to the OG version, but it's still okay I guess. In terms of actual complaints, well, Phil's now light years away from his diverse vocal performance that was Cowboys from Hell. Excluding 'Planet Caravan', he's in full-on aggro mode throughout, shouting, screeching, growling his way through almost every song... which is fine considering the heaviness of the music, but once again, the man's capable of so much more! The other thing I can say is that like most Pantera albums, I rarely listen to this thing from start to finish. I tend to just pick out my favourite songs and not bother with the rest. Weird, because I like this a lot from start to finish, yet the standouts still manage to be a lot better than the remainder of the record. It's kinda hard to explain. Not a huge deal in the end though.

I'm not the biggest fan of the entire Vulgar Display of Power, even if it does have a handful of tracks on it that are among Pantera's best. So I almost feel hypocritical in liking Far Beyond Driven a fair amount more. Thing is though, this album just amplifies the predecessor's formula, delivering even heavier songs, and more consistently good ones at that. Stronger production too. It's never gonna top Cowboys from Hell for me, but it definitely qualifies as a classic in my books. And I don't think there's a lot of classic groove metal records, but this is certainly one of them.

Adam's rating: 8.6/10


THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL          1996          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'The Great Southern Trendkill', 'War Nerve', 'Drag the Waters', '10's', 'Suicide Note Pt. I', 'Suicide Note Pt. II', 'Floods', 'The Underground in America', '(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin'

I'm not gonna call this album 'underrated' because anything released by Pantera post-Power Metal still gets plenty of attention from the metal community. But you rarely see The Great Southern Trendkill at the top of any critic album rankings. Not entirely sure why, I guess it's because it's lacking in the 'signature tracks' department, i.e. there's not as many songs here that tend to appear in 'greatest hits' playlists as the previous three. But don't let that put you off - there's a lot of great stuff on here.

For starters, the opening title track is a crushingly heavy groove-based opener, but it also has these cool grindcore-like segments, complete with screaming guest vocals from none other than Anal Cunt's Seth Putnam - RIP by the way. It's an unsung Pantera classic in my eyes, I love it. 'War Nerve' is stupidly heavy too, sludgy and sloppy, yet still retains some form of groove in it's riffs. Another excellent cut. I suppose 'Drag the Waters' is a better known track from this record. It's a fairly simplistic number, but it's heavy and memorable, which is probably why it was released as one of the singles from this album. '10's' is kind of a ballad I suppose, a sleazy, moody kind of messed-up one at that, yet I still feel the emotion in Dime's playing on this track. It works, and it works well. Same can't really be said for generic '13 Steps to Nowhere', which I don't dislike, it just feels like it was thrown together to separate '10's' from 'Suicide Note'.

Speaking of which, one the most notable tracks here is indeed 'Suicide Note'. It comes in two parts (across two tracks) - the first part is basically a brooding acoustic Southern rock song with 12-string guitars, and a really good one at that. Not really Pantera-like as such, but certainly comparable to some of the stuff Down did (and that country metal project Rebel Meets Rebel for that matter). The second half however, absolutely slays! This track is full of aggression and all these cool little guitar whammy effects. 'Living Through Me (Hell's Wrath)' is a nice blend of thrash and groove metal, but is kinda overshadowed by the ballad 'Floods'. I use the term 'twisted' a lot when I describe Pantera's music - but it's true. Even the ballads got more twisted and unsettling as time progressed. Yeah this is a ballad, with some clean guitars and melody - but it sure ain't what you'd call 'pretty'. It's an ugly, slow, haunting and disturbing mess of a ballad, and I love it.

'The Underground in America' is pretty damn cool too. The guitar tone and grooves on it are so fucking heavy that every time I feel the urge to call Dime overrated and say things like "If he were still alive today, he'd get nowhere near the credit he gets!" or some such crap, I quickly re-evaluate my thinking! 'The Underground in America' merges into the closing '(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin', which ends the album on another strong riff-fest.

Surprisingly enough, I feel the band actually often toned things down a little on this CD (not always, as evidenced with 'Suicide Note Pt. II' and 'The Great Southern Trendkill') - and somehow made it work in their favour. The album is more than heavy enough to satisfy my needs, but the whole thing feels slightly more mature than the profanity-fest that was Vulgar Display of Power and Far Beyond Driven. I like Far Beyond Driven a lot - but I feel like they didn't need to take that formula any further. And that they didn't. So when it all comes down to it, I honestly prefer this one to it's predecessor. The songs don't always immediately grab your attention in the same way that 'I'm Broken' or 'Becoming' did, but the album as a whole is more enjoyable with repeated listens. This, along with Cowboys from Hell, are their two best albums in my opinion.

Adam's rating: 9/10


OFFICIAL LIVE: 101 PROOF         1997         (Eastwest)
Meh, I mean this isn't exactly a terrible effort for a live record overall - the music is tight for sure, but it's still fairly underwhelming overall. Aside from Phil's rants between the songs, the performances sound a little too close their studio counterparts to really have that live, organic sound. The only surprise I had was the random transition into Ted Nugent's 'Cat Scratch Fever' after the chorus to 'Cowboys from Hell'. Aside from that, this CD almost feels like a 'greatest hits' package than it does a live album. I'm sure if you were actually there, this would have been a crushing gig to have witnessed, but if I want to hear a good live record, I'll just stick Deep Purple's Made in Japan on instead. The good news is that you get two new studio tracks, 'Where You Come From' and 'I Can't Hide'.
Adam's rating: 6/10


REINVENTING THE STEEL          2000          (Eastwest)
- Standouts: 'Hellbound', 'Goddamn Electric', 'You've Got to Belong to It', 'Revolution Is My Name', 'Death Rattle', 'Uplift'

Unlike the previous four major-label releases, this one doesn't get nearly the same level of love and attention. It has a mediocre reputation. Obviously I can't ignore the terrible fucking album cover, how that thing made the final product is baffling. But in terms of the songs, I don't think this album is nearly as bad as a lot of other reviewers like to point out. Maybe a little more generic than normal, and certainly not as strong overall as the last four, but definitely not bad.

The album kicks off with 'Hellbound', which is a nice and short heavy number that immediately keeps me interested. I really enjoy the solo on 'Goddamn Electric', and the rest of the song has a chugging groove that you've come to expect from this band. Not an all-time classic by any means, but still decent. 'Yesterday Don't Mean Shit', despite the lame title, brings up the tempo and is fun enough. The riffs are bordering on cookier-cutter content, but Dime's playing style is so distinctive and enjoyable that I can honestly look past this. I do think 'You've Got to Belong to It' is a true deep cut, hidden gem though. The opening riff is cool as fuck, and this whole song is pretty nuts actually. Underrated. 'Death Rattle' is a frantic, thrashy piece, and one that stands out for me. 'Uplift' is a nice and straightforward slab of heavy groove metal

There is one track here that's always been a favourite of mine, out of anything this band put out, and that's 'Revolution is My Name'. The riffing kicks ass, and the song as a whole manages to be insanely catchy in terms of the music itself and Phil's vocal arrangements. Some of these albums I may like more than others, but each of the major-label records have at least a handful of classics on them. And the production here is as good as ever too.

In terms of complaints, 'We'll Grind That Axe for a Long Time' doesn't live up to it's cool-sounding title sadly. It's not terrible by any means, but it's certainly a bit on the filler side of things. Again, Dime's trademark guitars save it from being flat-out boring, but this is mid-tempo Pantera at their most average. Same thing goes for 'It Makes them Disappear' and album closer 'I'll Cast a Shadow'. And like I said before, there's definitely a generic feeling to this album at times that I just can't shake off. Even if the whole thing is listenable from start to finish, it just doesn't have as many legitimately great songs on it as the other four. Their songwriting greatness had already plateaued prior, and the band subsequently split-up in 2003. Of course, Dimebag was suddenly and tragically shot and murdered on stage in 2004 with the band Damageplan, so we never got another studio album from Pantera ever again. Vinnie Paul unexpectedly passed away in 2018, but something tells me if both Abbott brothers were still alive today, we'd have seen some form of Pantera reunion and possibly even a new studio record by this point. Of course, recently Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown have started touring again as Pantera, as a celebration of the music, with Zakk Wylde handling guitars and Charlie Benante behind the drum kit, but they'll never record new material together. Or at least, I'd like to think so. Would seem kind of disrespectful if they did.

Anyhow, this isn't exactly the greatest swansong album you'll ever hear, but it's still worth owning. Now I've gotta spend all my money on those 80's, independent Pantera albums!

Adam's rating: 7.2/10


REINVENTING HELL: THE BEST OF PANTERA          2003          (Rhino)

I picked this compilation up when I was about fourteen years old, and it was my gateway into Pantera. I listened to it religiously for about a year, until I started buying more of their albums. I certainly got my money's worth then, but there's only sixteen tracks in total here, and I can think of plenty of songs that should be present, but aren't. 'Floods', both parts to 'Suicide Note', 'Psycho Holiday', 'A New Level', 'Strength Beyond Strength' - these are all missing. Even stranger is the fact that the US version has a slightly different tracklisting and even has a different title (The Best of Pantera: Far Beyond the Great Southern Cowboy's Vulgar Hits! - not quite as memorable as 'Reinventing Hell' if you ask me...). It does at least have two rare tracks - 'Immortally Insane' and a Poison Idea cover, 'The Badge' - so I guess it's worth having for serious collectors. It also comes with a bonus DVD featuring all the music videos, which is actually pretty cool and made the whole package worth it back in the day. Kind of irrelevant now because everything's on YouTube these days, but I used to watch it every so often all those years ago before YouTube was really a thing.