Released October 30, 2015 Genre Hard rock | Recorded 2014-2015 Length 52:39 | |
Studio Joe's Garage in Dublin, Ireland Label Bludgeon Riffola/earMUSIC Records/Mailboat Records (US) | ||
Def Leppard is the self-titled eleventh studio album by the British rock band Def Leppard, released on October 30, 2015. It is Def Leppard's first studio album since Songs from the Sparkle Lounge (2008), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in their career, and their first one to be released on earMUSIC Records. The album became Def Leppard's seventh top ten album after it debuted on the Billboard 200 at number 10, peaking at #5. The first single "Let's Go" was released 15 September 2015, alongside the artwork and track listing.
Contents
The album was produced by Ronan McHugh and Def Leppard.
Music
In August 2015, lead singer Joe Elliott stated that the album would consist of 14 tracks with a running time of around 55 minutes. Regarding the sound of the album, he explained "It's just called Def Leppard because that's what it sounds like. It doesn't sound like any one specific era of Def Leppard. It's got everything. [...] Every single aspect of anything we've ever wanted to put out — acoustic, heavy, soft, slow, fast — it's there. That's why we call it Def Leppard because, just like Queen were, we're capable of coming up with vastly different kinds of songs."
Guitarist Phil Collen referred to the album as "probably the most diverse thing we've done" as well as "the best thing we've done since Hysteria" as it contains "the loudest rock guitars we've ever had on some tracks." However, he stopped short of calling it an "experimental", album, instead saying that it's "more liberating and expressive".
Singles
Vocalist Joe Elliott has described lead single and opening track, "Let's Go", as "a call to arms and "a classic Def Leppard song. It's that three-minute pop-rock stuff with big chunky guitars and a big chorus. And it has that swaggering, mid-tempo rhythm, like "Pour Some Sugar on Me", and "Rock of Ages"." He described that the band wanted a familiar sounding song to introduce the album, being released several years after their previous album.