grand design time elevation

Released: 26 October 2009 Label: Metal Heaven

Hailing from Sweden, Grand Design could be considered 25 years to late. Their debut LP, Time Machine, is pure 80s hard rock. In fact they are pretty much Def Leppard. Their sound is very similar, down to the riffs, vocal style and even the way the drums sound.

It’s not a bad sounding album but if your are looking for originality then this isn’t the album for you. Its more an excerise in retrospective recording. Unlike Steel Panther's tongue-in-cheek approach to 80s rock, this seems be taking itself far to seriously to be credible. It even comes complete with a cheesy power ballad which to be honest sounds a little too contrived and difficult to take seriously.

Whilst ticking all the right boxes it would be far better to seek out the actual Def Leppard back catalogue.


by Scott Chalmers