Songs From Sparkle Lounge

It wasn't their drummer losing his arm. Nor was it their guitarist becoming a drug casualty. It was grunge that nearly killed Def Leppard, sparking an identity crisis the Sheffield band still haven't shaken. After going rough around the edges on 'Slang', 'Euphoria' tried to replicate their smooth, layered '80s sound. The poppy 'X' just tried too hard to follow Aerosmith and Bon Jovi back onto 2002's charts, while covers collection 'Yeah' was notable only for the sleeve art.

The no-nonsense 'Songs From the Sparkle Lounge' marks another change in direction. Worked out on the road, the new songs are ragged, raw and punchy. With 11 tracks clocking in at under 40 minutes, there's little time for sweet romancing: only 'Love', which mutates from acoustic ballad to Queen style bombast, will (briefly) get the lighters out.

But amidst all the high volume shredding and bludgeoning riffs, the men who once spent months perfecting the 'Hysteria' drum sound with producer Mutt Lange overlooked their greatest skill: crafting meticulous pop songs that just happen to kick ass. So while the newfound swagger and crashing guitars instantly grab you by the balls, they can't hold on for long. There's really not much more to bassist Rick Savage's '70s glam anthem 'C'mon C'mon' than repetition; opener 'Go' is a fiery but vacuous return to the ominous atmospherics of 'Slang'; and 'Nine Lives' needs a whole lot more than a barely-there appearance from country star Tim McGraw to cash in on the growing Nashville scene — like a decent tune.

But there are a few tracks worthy of the 'Sparkle Lounge' moniker. Guitarist Vivian Campbell's subtle 'Gotta Let It Go' is not only textured, it has a killer chorus; fist-pumping 'Tomorrow' finds other guitarist Phil Collen perfecting the song he's been trying to write on the last three albums; 'Only The Good Die Young' has Campbell adding his Beatle influences to the trademark vocal harmonies; and singer Joe Elliot's dig at Lindsay Lohan 'Bad Actress' is so unrelentingly ferocious that any weaknesses can be overlooked. Big, dumb and fun, it's what Def Leppard's latest reinvention should have sounded like.