Home > Detroit Music > CD Review > Man Raze, 'Surreal'

Backstory: A rock supergroup featuring Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen, Girl bassist Simon Laffy and Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, Man Raze should end up as more than a one-off project from a bunch of aging headbangers. The reason? Simple: this auspicious debut is almost better than anything Def Leppard has ever done. And yeah, that counts the heinously overplayed "Pyromania." Collen played in Girl with Laffy before landing at Leppard, and he seems right at home in front of the mike, and his own band, all these years later.

Why you should care: Who knew Collen could rock this hard? He's compiled a hefty stack of shredders with Man Raze that rival Leppard's bombastic arena formulas. Even when he ventures the radio-friendly reggae revisionism of "Runnin' Me Up," he comes off sounding less like Leppard and more like Sublime with a bite. It's an auspicious debut, even for a dude who's been around for decades.

Verdict: As far as mainstream power rock goes, Man Raze has the goods. Sure, they stumble on contrived pop anthems like "Every Second of Every Day" and "Low," but they easily make up for it with the boozed-up thrash of "This Is" and the aptly named "Turn It Up." And yeah, the riff orgy of "Spinning Out" sounds like "Pour Some Sugar On Me," but at least it has balls. Colllen's guitar work is thankfully dirty as blood diamonds, as he leaves Leppard's clean-as-crystal songcraft behind him for something that feels more like AC/DC than Billy Squier. If this is one loud experiment in regaining respectability, which is what it sounds like, then mission accomplished, dude.

X-Factor: No lie, Collen played guitar on Donny Osmond's "Eyes Don't Lie" album, under his son's name, Rory James Collen.

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