DEF LEPPARD — Hysteria (review)

DEF LEPPARD — Hysteria album cover Album · 1987 · Hard Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Stephen
Def Leppard's history is like a Hollywood fictional movie. As soon as they released “Pyromania", Rick Allen was involved in a car accident that caused him his left arm. Allen was in a depressive state when singer Joe Elliot came and encouraged him to continue playing with a special drumset designed for him. Def Leppard then returned to the scene with this fourth album in 1987 and went on to become their biggest selling album with over 20 million sales worldwide. And just when they think the worst is over, the original guitarist and songwriter, Steve Clark, was later found dead in 1991 because of drug overdose.

The concept of "Hysteria" is to create an album with as many singles as possible, and the band achieved a record-breaking milestone by putting seven hit singles to the chart. This objective marked a change on their musical style by incorporating a heavier pop element which alienated some fans demanding a consistent heavy metal sound. Despite that many singles, some tracks here are quite average. "Women" and "Rocket" are even a decent opener, "Don't Shoot Shotgun" and "Excitable" are totally fillers, but "Animal" and "Armageddon It" are very good with Leppard's harmonic chant trademark and anthemic hooks.

"Love Bites" is a good ballad and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" is a classic party tune that inspired many newer songs, from Warrant's "Cherry Pie" to Reckless Love's "Love Machine", but those hits aren't really my favorite. I think the non-single tracks, "Gods of War" and "Love And Affection", are even better. The best track of the album is definitely the title track, from the memorable picking intro, the dense verse, to the fantastic chorus and harmonic guitars, this track is just flawless.

In my opinion, "Hysteria" and "Adrenalize" are very similar in songwriting structure and approach, fans who like this album won't have any difficulty enjoying the follow-up, and vice versa. This album is highly recommended for fans of mid-80s glam/pop metal, melodic hard rock, AOR, or Def Leppard's hardcore.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Powerlords Power Metal
ELETTRA STORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 10 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 10 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed