Def Leppard goes orchestral in May

Drastic Symphonies - the new album featuring Def Leppard tracks reimagined with London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - arrives on May 16.

This band have deconstructed and rebuilt not only some of their most well-known tracks, but also some of their hidden gems. They have intertwined the audio from the original tapes and performed them alongside The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The album additionally includes new vocals and guitars with symphonic arrangements, which at different points you can hear Joe Elliott duetting with his younger self.

Vocalist Joe Elliott says, “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, 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.”

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was recorded at Abbey Road in March 2022 and is produced by Def Leppard, Ronan McHugh & Nick Patrick (producer of the following RPO/Orchestral albums - xElvis, Roy Orbison, Beach Boys and Buddy Holly), with arrangements by Eric Gorfain (Neil Diamond, Ryan Adams, Christina Aguilera).

Guitarist Phil Collen says, “When the offer of doing an orchestral album with the RPO was suggested, we were honoured. 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 songs rarely heard before, 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.”

The album will be available on CD, 2LP black vinyl, limited 2LP colored vinyl, limited 2LP picture disc, CD/Blu-Ray (Atmos) and digitally. Building upon elements from the album artwork, a collection of exclusive merch is now available for pre-order in the band's official store.

The vinyl and Atmos versions will also feature an exclusive bonus track:

Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad

Album Pre-Order link: https://DefLeppard.lnk.to/ds-physicalpr

Album Hero Link (Pre-Order & Pre-Save): https://defleppard.lnk.to/drs-symppr

IG1 Animal Listen Now: https://DefLeppard.lnk.to/animal-dspr

Track listing:

Turn To Dust
Paper Sun
Animal
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Stripped version)
Hysteria
Love Bites
Goodbye For Good This Time
Love

Gods Of War

Angels (Can’t Help You Now)

Bringin’ On the Heartbreak

Switch 625

Too Late for Love

When Love & Hate Collide

Kings Of the World