Metal Anarchy

Def Leppard have joined forces with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for a new orchestral album titled “Drastic Symphonies.” The effort will be released on May 19 and its first single, a new version of “Animal,” can be found below:

“Drastic Symphonies” Track Listing:

01. “Turn To Dust”
02. “Paper Sun”
03. “Animal”
04. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (Stripped Version)
05. “Hysteria”
06. “Love Bites”
07. “Goodbye For Good This Time”
08. “Love”
09. “Gods Of War”
10. “Angels (Can’t Help You Now)”
11. “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”
12. “Switch 625”
13. “Too Late for Love”
14. “When Love & Hate Collide”
15. “Kings Of the World”
16. “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad” (select editions)

The following was said about the record:

“Def Leppard have deconstructed and rebuilt not only some of their most well-known tracks but also some of their hidden gems as well. By and large, they have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album includes new vocals and guitars which culminates in stunningly beautiful symphonic arrangements. At different points, you can hear Joe Elliott duetting with his younger self.”

Joe Elliott commented:

“Def Leppard has always enjoyed veering off the expected path — working with the likes of Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift and Alison Krauss, for example. So, when the offer to revisit some of our back catalogue with the Royal Philharmonic was presented to us, to a man we all jumped at it. Although we’re far from the first band to ever do this, working directly with an orchestra at Abbey Road on some of our more orchestrated songs seemed too good of an opportunity to pass up.”

Phil Collen added:

“When the offer of doing an orchestral album with the RPO was suggested, we were honored. But we didn’t just want an orchestra plonked over our previous recordings. We decided to create something special where we would have something classic but present it in a brand new way that would involve making everything work in the context of ‘Drastic Symphonies’. Recording new parts, remixing previous sounds, taking some of our instruments out so the orchestra could breathe and literally making a new album. It was an amazingly inspirational process culminating in the live recording of the RPO at Abbey Road studios in London. An absolute team effort that took a good part of a year. It’s a new Def Leppard album, it’s a greatest-hits-plus album, with some rarely heard songs, it’s a live RPO album and we think it’s perfect. We’re so proud of how ‘Drastic Symphonies’ turned out and can’t wait to share it to the world.”