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One lump or two?
The thought of following up an album as wildly popular as Def Leppard’s mega-selling Pyromania had to be a daunting one, to say the least. Here was a British band absolutely bent on success in America, and lo and behold they did it on their third album, a slickly produced, stripped-down, cunningly crafted collaboration with Robert John “Mutt” Lange, the man responsible for breaking AC/DC and Foreigner into the mainstream. Initially lumped in with the burgeoning New Wave of Heavy Metal at the turn of the ‘80s, the Sheffield band wanted to transcend that tag, and they did so with an album bolstered by three of the most brilliant rock singles of the decade. And now with it being the middle of the 1980s, the next step was to put together something even bigger and more lavish. The only problem was getting all the right pieces to fall into place, and as the band, their management, and their label would find out in the years that followed, there would be so many obstacles to get over, that it would become the stuff of legend.
If you kept up with hard rock and heavy metal in the 1980s, the progress of Def Leppard’s follow-up to Pyromania was always being followed. Every time it was delayed, you were rolling your eyes, and the longer it went on the more you started to feel bad for them. Once a batch of new songs were finally written in 1984 with Lange, who was too busy at the time to commit to producing a new record with Leppard, the band started off recording with Jim Steinman, the songwriter behind Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell, but those sessions were scrapped because the band, so used to Lange’s meticulousness, were apprehensive about Steinman’s more spontaneous approach. They then teamed up with Lange’s engineer Nigel Green, but those sessions were scrapped as well. And most famously, on New Year’s Eve 1984 drummer Rick Allen crashed his Corvette and lost his left arm. Undeterred, Allen rehabilitated and learned to play drums using triggered foot pedals. Meanwhile, all those delays enabled Lange to find the time to return, and over the course of the next two years they meticulously worked on the new record, first titled Animal Instinct, which was eventually changed to Hysteria.
When all was said and done, Def Leppard was so deep in the hole that they had to sell five million copies of the album just to break even. And for the longest time it didn’t seem that they’d ever get to that point. When Hysteria finally came out on August 3, 1987, it arrived with an enormous amount of hype, but while it proved to be the band’s first significant commercial breakthrough in the UK, album sales in America were sluggish, and months later it didn’t look like the band would ever recoup their losses. It’s incredible in this day and age to think that an album could sell three million copies and be deemed a commercial failure, but that was the case for the band at the beginning of 1988.
The ‘80s were all about excess, and Hysteria was far and away the most excessive hard rock album of the decade. It arrived at a time when rock music and mainstream metal couldn’t have sounded glossier, where Bruce Fairbairn was becoming a ubiquitous producer, where veteran artists like Judas Priest, Whitesnake, and Aerosmith were trying to keep up with the times by creating huge-sounding albums, where LA glam metal was at its absolute peak. Yet everything paled in comparison to the astonishing sound of Hysteria. Some critics bristled at its hour-plus length and complained about how its production practically robbed it of any humanity. Fans from the hard rock side of the fence complained that the edgier side of the band, so endearing on 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry and so brilliantly manipulated on Pyromania, had been abandoned in favor of pure contemporary pop music.
It can be argued that Hysteria was the first mainstream hard rock album created specifically for the CD age. Prior to its release much was made about the technology Mercury Records had to use to put all 63 minutes of the album on one vinyl LP, but 1987 was the year that CD sales were truly starting to spike, and people who owned CD players, including yours truly, wanted to pay extra for CDs that truly sounded great on that specific format. And indeed, Hysteria sounds better on CD than vinyl to this day. That huge drum sound, those heavily layered backing vocals, those multiple channels of guitars, those massive hooks aren’t made for the warmth of vinyl, nor the hiss of cassette tape. They’re made for the cold precision of the laser-read compact disc.
To fully appreciate Hysteria, it’s best to not view it from a hard rock/metal perspective, but rather a pop point of view. For years hard rock bands had been trying to achieve that perfect crossover into the mainstream, and Hysteria is as perfect a balance between hard rock and pop music that’s ever been crafted. Sonically it felt cutting edge yet it didn’t completely betray the band’s roots, and most importantly, its songwriting was so impeccable and savvy that it yielded seven singles, nearly all of them worldwide smashes. Like the band boasts now, it was a veritable greatest hits package on a single new album. Riffs were nowhere near as important as hooks, and Hysteria was saturated with hooks.
The fascinating trajectory of Hysteria can be examined through its series of North American singles. The brooding “Women” was a disastrous choice as lead-off single, bombing commercially, but for all its dopiness it was a great example of the way guitarists Phil Collen and Steve Clark fed off each other, Clark with his swaggering riffs, Collen with his highly refined, technical approach to playing. “Animal” was Def Leppard’s first chart-topper in the UK, and despite being the best song on the album – a perfect pop song but with just enough bite to hold the interest of hard rock fans – it only peaked at 19 in America. “Hysteria”, an absolutely gorgeous tune that benefitted immensely from Lange’s richly layered treatment, fared a little better, peaking at number ten.
By the spring of 1988, sales of Hysteria were stagnating. The band was on tour, and Mercury decided to take a gamble and release the shamelessly goofy “Pour Some Sugar on Me”. A video was hastily slapped together featuring live footage and plenty of gratuitous shots of pretty girls in the crowd, and Hysteria exploded practically overnight. All of a sudden the song, the video, the album, were everywhere. It was incredible to witness. And all it took was a hastily-written, rap-pandering glam rock homage tacked on to the album at the very last minute. Four million copies of Hysteria were sold during the single’s climb up the chart, which peaked at number two. Four million. It took the album a good eight months, but it had captured lightning in a bottle at long last. Def Leppard were now making money by the truckload, and for the rest of the year there was no bigger hard rock band in the world.
The slow-burning “Love Bites” captured that elusive US number one that summer, and deservedly so. For all the bluster of power ballads throughout the ‘80s, only a few had the guts to show actual vulnerability. Scorpions’ “Still Loving You” did, as did Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. “Love Bites” was equally brilliant; initially written as a country ballad, Lange tacked on dark riffs and a deceptively simple two-beat bassline by Rick Savage, and plenty of electronic touches to create a surprisingly murky atmosphere. For all the subtle darkness of the song, though, “Love Bites” is all about Joe Elliott’s lead vocal performance, as well as the sumptuous harmony vocals. Def Leppard were a unique band as they had five guys who could actually sing well, and under Lange’s guidance they’d learned how to get the most out of backing vocals – a big reason why “Photograph” was so popular five years earlier - and their collective work on this song is an example of their singing at its very best.
The nonsensical and fun “Armageddon It” was a well-timed sixth single that showed one and all that Def Leppard could still rock. By late 1988 the band could do no wrong, and it was their third straight top three US single. Released in February 1989, “Rocket” was the last single release and a very unusual choice. The most unorthodox song on the album, “Rocket” was inspired by the a loop Elliott had made of “Burundi Black”, which had previously had a huge influence on such UK bands as Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow. Over that beat he then created a tribute to all his favorite glam rock artists of the 1970s, referencing everything from T. Rex, to David Bowie, to Lou Reed. Meticulously assembled, it’s highlighted by an extraordinary bridge where the band goes nuts with sequencers and backwards playback, at the time a marvel of recording technology. For such a bold six and a half minute song, “Rocket” nevertheless managed a very respectable top 15 showing.
For all the great singles, the real strength of Hysteria is that any of its dozen songs could have been a single, and the five deep cuts on the album are nearly as rewarding as the other seven. “Gods of War” might be a pointless “song with a message” on an album that otherwise celebrates the triteness of pop music, but it’s an effectively brooding track highlighted by a fabulous melancholy chorus. “Don’t Shoot Shotgun” and “Run Riot” recapture the harder-edged vibe of High ‘n’ Dry, and are bolstered by Allen’s thunderous, arena-friendly beats. “Excitable” flirts with self-parody a little, but the call-and-response between Elliott and the rest of the band is irresistible. Closing track “Love and Affection” should have been a single, a smooth dose of twangy pop in the same vein as “Hysteria”. Also worth noting is the “Animal” B-side “Tear it Down”, a ferocious Steve Clark rocker that was so good it became a regular song in the band’s live repertoire. Perhaps a little too hard for the actual album – Lange was probably smart enough to realize the production would have killed the song’s vibe - it’s still one of Def Leppard’s very best tracks.
If you were to ask me what album best epitomizes the 1980s, without hesitation I’ll name Hysteria. Were High ‘n’ Dry and Pyromania better hard rock albums? Sure. But as far as attention to detail in pop music goes, it’s in the tradition of “River Deep, Mountain High”, “Good Vibrations”, A Night at the Opera, and Tusk, in which an artist made full use of record label money and studio technology to create the biggest, most ostentatious pop music opus imaginable. On Hysteria Def Leppard and Mutt Lange embraced the disposability, contrivance, excess, and unabashed silliness of pop music yet managed to create something of substance thanks to not completely abandoning their rock roots. And all they did in the process was capture the 1988 zeitgeist like no one else. One of the most expensive albums in rock ‘n’ roll history, it’s since sold more than 20 million copies worldwide. What was an incredibly risky gamble at the beginning turned into a classic work that paid off in stunning fashion.
| Tags: | 25_at_25def_leppard |
Digital EP covers Entombed five times over
Last summer Converge released a cool little split with Napalm Death that featured their cover of Entombed’s classic “Wolverine Blues”. On the track were five different lead vocalists chipping in: Converge’s Jacob Bannon and Nate Newton, Isis’s Aaron Turner, APMD’s Kevin Baker, and Tomas "Tompa" Lindberg from At the Gates and Disfear. Now, in a neat little touch, the band has just released a digital EP via Bandcamp called Pound For Pound: The Wolverine Blues Sessions, which is comprised of five different versions of the track, each featuring all guest vocalists on the entire song.
The EP is interesting in that it offers listeners a chance to hear the subtle differences each vocalist brings to the song – for my money Lindberg, one of the best harsh vocalists in all of metal, puts in the strongest performance – but even better, you get to hear Converge absolutely slay on the track five times in a row. You can stream all five versions of “Wolverine Blues” below, and if you’re inclined to buy it, it’s only five bucks.
Dutch black metalers' performance was one of Roadburn 2013's best
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, of all the performances I saw at Roadburn 2013 this past April, Nihill’s set was one of the most memorable. The Dutch band’s first-ever public live performance, it was malevolent, confrontational, and unrelenting, in stark comparison with the overall relaxed vibe that usually permeates the annual Sunday “Afterburner”. I came away from that show absolutely throttled by the savage, punk-infused black metal, and none of the other bands on the bill that day could even come close to the revelatory experience that Nihill provided.
The good folks at Roadburn and Burning World Records often release live albums of certain sets from the festival every year, and Nihill’s shattering show is the first one from 2013 to be announced. A cassette-only release – in keeping with the band’s stubbornly underground aesthetic – As. Nihill Undead at Roadburn 2013 comes out in early June, and is limited to only 100 copies. Trust me on this one; it’s a must-own. Those of you who know the band’s work from their Hydra Head releases will know what I mean.
Pre-order Nihill’s As. Nihill Undead at Roadburn 2013 here.
Movie opens September 27
Featuring concert footage filmed in Vancouver last year, Metallica’s upcoming feature film Metallica: Through the Never is set to open on IMAX screens in the US on September 27, with a wider theatrical release following on October 4. The trailer for the flick has just been released, which you can watch below.
Directed by Nimród Antal (Predators), Through the Never is being billed as “groundbreaking”, but seeing that the latest 3-D fad is long past its expiry date, I’ll reserve judgment until I see it. Much is being made of how the concert footage will be combined with a “bold narrative” (actor Dane DeHaan apparently plays a Metallica crew member who has to carry out a "mysterious assignment" while the band performs), but Led Zeppelin tried that nearly 40 years ago, and we all know how pretentious that whole exercise was. Bruce McDonald attempted a similar thing in his Broken Social Scene film This Movie is Broken to maudlin effect a few years ago. Either way, it should be interesting to see how this film turns out, and judging by the trailer, it certainly looks like an eye-popper.
While it might be nice for Metallica to be branching out like they have been as of late, with the much-reviled Lulu project, two Orion Fests, this movie, and Lars Ulrich hinting at film directing, for crying out loud, all fans want is another damned record from the guys. But that’s not happening any time soon, so Metallica: Through the Never, and its accompanying soundtrack album of course, will just have to suffice for now.
| Tags: | metallica |
Israeli band's fifth album to be released June 25
Orphaned Land, the Israeli progressive metal band who have done a splendid job over the years promoting cultural unity through their music, are set to release their fifth album All is One June 24 on Century Media. Always ones to make a point of bringing together audiences from all walks of life, the band made a point of recording the new album in Israel, Turkey, and Sweden – Jewish, Muslim, and Christian countries respectively – and that idea is also neatly reflected in the cover artwork, which incorporates imagery from all three religions.
As much as I’ve always admired Orphaned Land – 2004’s Mabool was a revelation – I was not a fan of their last album, 2010’s The Never Ending Way of ORWarriOR, which overall felt too stylistically busy, lacking a “less is more” approach that progressive metal so often needs. The two All is One tracks that have surfaced, however, sound outstanding, and bode well for the rest of the record. On both “Our Own Messiah” and “Let the Truce be Known”, the Middle Eastern musical influences are front and center, the former led by Kobi Farhi’s impassioned vocal melody, the latter dominated by a stirring Turkish string section. Listen to both songs below.
| Tags: | orphaned_land |
Aussie band breathes life into mainstream hard rock
Album of the Week:
Airbourne, Black Dog Barking (Roadrunner)
You know exactly what you’re going to get whenever Airbourne puts out a new album, and somehow, despite recycling the same AC/DC-meets-Rose Tattoo formula time and again, the Aussies’ music always sticks with you. The incredible thing is, weirdly, that they’re pretty much the only prominent band playing this kind of rock ‘n’ roll, as the rest of mainstream rock is stuck in a mire of post-grunge boredom and “active rock” gimmickry. What Airbourne are doing is no different than all those cliché-recyvling hard rockers from the late-‘80s – Dirty Looks, anyone? – but the key difference is that this particular foursome always makes damned sure that the energy is at full throttle on every single record. There’s no malaise to be heard on an Airbourne album. No jaded sentiment. No hint of being tired. Just simple, booze-fueled hard rock that’s perfectly suited for summer.
On their third album, interestingly enough, Airbourne and producer Brian Howes bring that raucous energy in spades, but add considerable polish to the package, to the point where it starts to bear a striking resemblance to Def Leppard’s High ‘n’ Dry. Of course, it doesn’t have the emotional resonance and nuance of that classic but it has that bite, feeling like a respectful homage rather than a rip-off, and on songs like “Animalize” and “No One Fits Me (Better Than You)” you can’t help but admit they do a fantastic job capturing that sound. Elsewhere, “Live it Up” is the kind of crowd-pleaser that the band excels at, while the title track, which closes the record, brings a welcome dose of nastiness to the proceedings. Of course it’s all predictable, of course it’s been done countless times before, but for anyone sick to death of the current depressing trajectory of mainstream hard rock – hello, Pop Evil – Black Dog Barking’s timing couldn’t be better.
Also out this week:
Burning Rain, Epic Obsession (Frontiers): Whitesnake shredder and Guitar World hero Doug Aldrich has resurrected Burning Rain for their first new album since 2000, and to no one’s surprise it’s stubbornly stuck in 1989, mining the last days of pop metal, from loads of Nuno Bettencourt knock-offs (“Till You Die”, “Pray Out Loud”) to faux-Zeppelin blooze (“Heaven Gets Me By”). It’s all horribly dated, and it’s certainly no Badlands – that cover of “Kashmir” has to go – but Aldrich and singer Keith St. John sell it, right down to the smarm.
Circle, Six Day Run (Ektro): While not an official “album” per se, this soundtrack for Mika Taanila's film of the same name is not only a cool little exercise for the innovative Finnish band, but a great listen for fans and admirers of experimental music alike. This project sees them offering instrumental variations on the minimalist krautrock sounds of Can, the six tracks locked into hypnotic motoric tempos but subtly exploring through improvisation. You don’t need to see the film to be affected by the music, which is the highest possible praise for the musicians.
Decaying, The Last Days Of War (Hellthrasher): This is war-themed death metal in the same vein as Bolt Thrower and Hail of Bullets, but while the young Finns do a good job depicting historical battles in their lyrics, musically it lacks the potency and robustness that the aforementioned bands deliver in spades, marred by pedestrian songwriting and lifeless production.
Death Of An Era, The Great Commonwealth (Artery): Stuttering, sputtering deathcore with the odd moment of inspiration when the death metal influences are allowed to rise to the surface, but while these Ohio youngsters can definitely play the hell out of their instruments, they need to sit down and listen to some metal and hardcore albums made before 2000 to learn that instrumental chops mean nothing if you can’t write a single cohesive song.
Extrema, The Seed Of Foolishness (Scarlet): While the Italian band tries a little too hard to sound American – something that annoys me to no end – their Machine Head-isms on this new album are passable enough to not be completely off-putting. Still, why bother with a pale imitation when the real thing is so much better?
Gaytheist, Hold Me...But Not So Tight (Good To Die): Punk, noise, and garage rock collide in a very fun way on this disarming new album by the Portland band. Catchy and bursting with energy, the second you start wondering if this is all a big put-on, the song ends, a new one begins, and you couldn’t care less. Stream and buy the album via Bandcamp.
Hebosagil, Lähtö (Ektro): It’s no KEN Mode, and it’s certainly no Melvins, but the latest album by the Finnish band is an adequately raucous, abrasive blast of sludge and noise. Sung in indecipherable Finnish, by the way, just for a little added mystique.
NK, Nothing to be Gained Here (Triple Crown): Featuring members of The Dillinger Escape Plan and Envy on the Coast, this is a rare band that takes the idea of post-hardcore and takes it into surreal, creative territory, creating songs that are alternately awash in sludgy guitars and lumbering grooves, or completely setting Warped Tour pop-punk on its ear, like Battles and Ween interpreting Fall Out Boy. If that wasn’t enough, a little ‘70s soul is tossed out in the form of “Vacation Days”. It’s a brilliant little album that shows everyone that Mike Patton doesn’t have to be the only person out there bucking convention in heavy music. Listen to the album via Soundcloud.
A Pale Horse Named Death, Lay My Soul To Waste (SPV): The band led by former Type O Negative drummer Sal Abruscato is back with their second album, and once again the Alice in Chains imitations are painfully obvious and distracting. I genuinely like its gothic bent, but the grunge influence has to go. This is like Godsmack with eyeliner.
The Poodles, Tour De Force (Frontiers): Channeling the fun of glam metal without the smarm that permeates the new Burning Rain album reviewed above, the Swedish band have put out another lively album that leans a little more toward the power metal of HammerFall and Edguy, but the pop element is never abandoned. Consequently, songs like “40 Days and 40 Nights” and “Shut Up!” charm their way into your head with their shameless, puppydog-like cheeriness. Who’s a good boy!
PTSD, A Sense Of Decay (My Kingdom): It’s 1995 all over again on the latest album by the Italian alt-metal outfit, as simple, down-tuned riffs mesh with mid-paced grooves and lavish electronic arrangements. If anything, it’s catchy stuff, featuring a very strong singer in Henry Guy. “Event Horizon” is a keeper.
Satan, Life Sentence (Listenable): It might not be receiving the same amount of hype that Hell and Angel Witch received in 2011 and 2012, but NWOBHM band Satan have reunited their complete 1983 lineup and put out a very good album, their first in 26 years. Continuing right where Court in the Act left off, Life Sentence keeps it simple, employing that old “fast and melodic” formula to great effect – the twin leads are often stupendous – led by the formidable bellow of Brian Ross. Led by “Cenotaph”, “Time to Die”, and the title track, this is a very welcome return by a band that deserves more recognition.
Svart Crown, Profane (Listenable): Following the leads of Gojira and Hacride, Svart Crown add themselves to the ever-growing list of creating metal bands coming out of France. In their case, though, more death metal permeates their music than that of their peers, the bombast of Behemoth mixing well with moments of creative atonality. It’s a compelling combination of the formulaic and the unexpected, and as “Intern. Virus. Human.” and “In Utero: A Place of Hatred and Threat” prove, a little subtlety and in such forceful music goes a long way.
Timo Tolkki's Avalon, The Land Of New Hope (Frontiers): The Finnish guitarist tries to one-up his former band Stratovarius with an ambitious power metal concept album loaded with guest musicians, but while it has some memorable songs (“Enshrined in My Memory”), it quickly becomes a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, the constant revolving door of singers making the album feel busier and more scattered than it has to be. Give this round to Stratovarius, whose new album is very good.
U.D.O., Steelhammer (AFM): Udo Dirkschneider’s latest album starts off as the kind of predictable, classic heavy metal fun that we’ve all come to expect from him, with songs like “Metal Machine” and “King of Mean” sticking to the same formula he’s used since his days with Accept. Whenever U.D.O. fails, though, it’s when he steps outside the box, and the longer this album goes, the more it starts to fly off the rails, marred by such softer fare as “Never Cross My Way” and “When Love Becomes a Lie”, and even worse, the egregious “Book of Faith”, which sees Dirkschneider trying to become the German Tom Waits, and failing miserably.
Zed, Desperation Blues (I And I): The San Francisco band’s second album is likeable, there’s no denying that. After all, they do the swinging, swaggering hard rock thing quite well. It wants to be on the level of Clutch, but lacks the personality and quirkiness to get there. In the end, it’s good, safe heavy rock ‘n’ roll, and despite feeling generic at times the energy and passion is palpable enough to make you let its shortcomings slide.
| Tags: | airbournenew_releases |
Doors keyboardist died Monday
Housecore Horror Film Festival to be held October 25-27 in Austin, TX
Everyone knows heavy metal and horror flicks go hand in hand, and on the weekend of October 25-27 Austin Texas will be the home of the Housecore Horror Film Festival, where underground metal and underground horror cinema will collide for a three-day bacchanal at Emo’s.
Created by Philip Anselmo and writer Corey Mitchell, the music/film fest “offer fans a mix of live concerts from at least a dozen of heavy metal’s heaviest hitters, and more than 70 screenings of full-length and short horror films, documentaries, true crime and heavy metal films, music videos, and more. Special guest appearances by revered and controversial horror film directors and other notable figures in the metal and movie worlds will give festival-goers the extreme experience they’re craving.”
Among the announced bands performing are Down, Crowbar, Philip Anselmo & the Illegals, Eyehategod, and Warbeast. In addition, several films will be scored live by guest musicians, the most exciting of which being Goblin, who will perform live their classic score to Dario Argento’s Suspiria. This is sure to be a blast; believe me, you want to witness The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with Mayhem’s Atilla Csihar gurgling into a microphone in the background, if only for the surrealism of it all.
More bands and films will be announced in the coming months.
Three-day VIP All Access badges are on sale now. Visit www.housecorehorrorfilmfestival.com and facebook.com/HousecoreHorrorFilmFestival for more details.
Second song from 14th album 'Super Collider' to surface
To say that the premiere of the title track from Megadeth’s 14th album Super Collider few weeks ago was disappointing is an understatement, but judging from the second new song Dave Mustaine and his band have just posted, there just might be hope for the record yet.
Like “Super Collider”, “Kingmaker” is fairly straightforward, cut from the same cloth as the band's notoriously streamlined Countdown to Extinction album, but it’s a robust enough track that falls right into Mustaine’s wheelhouse, not to mention the rest of the band, who sound right at home churning out the catchy little “Children of the Grave” knockoff groove. It’s no “Head Crusher”, arguably Megadeth’s best song of the last decade, but it’s a step in the right direction. Listen to the track below.
Super Collider comes out June 4 on Tradecraft/Universal.
| Tags: | megadeth |
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