Def Leppard’s new album is to be released as a Classic Rock Fanpack on October 30. The Fanpack will include the CD (including an exclusive bonus track), a 116-page magazine featuring all-new interviews with all five band members, all-new photos and a track-by-track guide to the album, a series of collectable art cards, and a metal Def Leppard keyring. The album will also be available as a double-vinyl edition, while the regular CD will be released on November 27.
The Fanpack is available to pre-order now. Orders placed before 12pm (GMT) on Thursday October 1 will receive an exclusive window sticker featuring the Def Leppard album artwork, and be entered into a draw to win one of three pairs of VIP tickets aboard Def Leppard’s Hysteria On The High Seas cruise, which departs from Miami in January next year. Pre-sale gifts and offers are only open to residents of US and UK.
The self-titled album is the band’s 11th, and the follow-up to 2008’s Songs From The Sparkle Lounge. “We got together to see what we had with maybe putting out a three track EP in mind,” says Joe Elliott. “All of a sudden we had twelve songs on the go, and two more would come just a few weeks later. It’s the first album we’ve ever made with no deal in place and no-one looking over our shoulders so the freedom was immense, and I think you can hear it in the songs.”
“I think it’s the best thing we’ve done since Hysteria – I really do,” adds guitarist Phil Collen. “It’s the loudest rock guitars we’ve ever had.”
Def Leppard have also released the first song from the album, Let’s Go.
“It’s a call to arms, you know?,” Elliott tells Rolling Stone. “Rick Savage wrote 80 percent of the song. I wrote the verses, he wrote all the music and the choruses. He came in with it, and we knew it was 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 Sugar, and Rock of Ages.
Joe Elliott revealed the album’s track listing yesterday. The band are currently on tour in the US, and will play UK dates in December with Whitesnake and Black Star Riders.
Pre-order the Def Leppard Fanpack now.
