Diamond Star Halos
| Def Leppard
Diamond Star Halos
Diamond Star Halos is the twelfth studio album by the English rock band Def Leppard. It was released on 27 May 2022 through Bludgeon Riffola and Mercury Records, and is the band's first studio album in nearly seven years since 2015's Def Leppard. The album takes its name from the 1971 T. Rex single "Get It On" and includes imagery from Anton Corbijn, Maryam Malakpour, and Oliver and Joshua Munden. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Montreal Rocks
Diamond Star Halos is a complete package of everything Leppard and then some…. spot-on harmonies, anthem-style sing-along rock songs and those killer twin guitar riffs. Feel-good, let’s-rock music that clearly defines why these 5 rockers’ career has spanned over 40 years… and counting.
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Metal Planet Music
Vital, intense and thrilling, ‘Diamond Star Halos’ is the sound of a band reborn and stands shoulder to shoulder with their greatest work.
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Drew's Reviews
Def Leppard used the pandemic time off wisely as the band flexed some creative musical muscles without alienating their base or the rest of their catalogue which allows Diamond Star Halos to not only breathe new life into Def Leppard, but also into today’s music which needs some oxygen.
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Louder
Def Leppard have just released their best album in 30 years.
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Ultimate Classic Rock
With an hour-plus running time, Diamond Star Halos takes some detours along the way, especially a pair of songs with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss that have more in common with modern country's classic-rock fixation than her dust-bowl-Americana collaborations with Robert Plant or Def Leppard's hyper-polished glam-metal. And they again load up on the adult-contemporary pop (two of them featuring Bowie's "Aladdin Sane" pianist Mike Garson) that has made more recent records an occasional slog. Trim away the fat, however, and Diamond Star Halos presents the veteran band in some refreshingly familiar settings.
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Man of Much Metal
Overall, I have heard Def Leppard create worse, and so this is a step back in the right direction at times. However, the early promise of some stronger songs and palpable energy is ultimately scuppered by too many songs that are just ‘ok’, that do very little to ignite any kind of enthusiasm within me. And the country songs? Just because Robert Plant went in that direction with Alison Krauss, it doesn’t mean that Def Leppard should take the same path. The less said about them, the better quite frankly. I’m left feeling disappointed, but not altogether surprised.
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This Day in Metal
Diamond Star Halos gets an A. Would play loud in the car to recommend.
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The Young Folks
Diamond Star Halos falls well short of the Def Leppard of yesteryear. Except for the two songs with Alison Krauss, the album is over-produced and ponderous.
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At The Barrier
Def Leppard – you know what they do and they won’t disappoint the faithful again on Diamond Star Halos.
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Rock 'N' Load
This really is a cracking listen and one that you will return to time and time again. The Album will no doubt sell by the bucket load and go down as the modern-day Def Leppard classic that it deserves to be… now when is my Vinyl going to arrive and where do I get my tour ticket from ….
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Sleaze Roxx
Diamond Star Halos is a ‘respectable’ effort released predictably, right in time for the launch of The Stadium Tour.
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Ghost Cult Magazine
Diamond Star Halos is a wide and varied album that, despite the odd chink of light, is run of the mill and forgettable.
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Hotpress
While they could probably have cut some of the 15 tracks, there is much to love here – potent, high octane rockers ‘Take What You Want’ and ‘Gimme A Kiss’ for a start. ‘Fire It Up’, a distant relation of Warrant’s ‘Cherry Pie’, works a treat and is sure to be a live favourite; and, elsewhere, the cinematic ‘Goodbye For Good This Time’ sees a welcome stretching of their musical muscles.
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Markus' Heavy Music Blog
Def Leppard play is safe this time which also means that there are too many compromises. Def Leppard doesn’t take any risk and release with ‘Diamond Star Halos’ a crowd pleaser. This longplayer is a standard rock album that feels like the band had an obligation to release an album more than the guys having been on fire when starting work on their newest effort. This halo unfortunately fades rather quickly.
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Sputnik Music
The aural equivalent of a cold beverage on a hot day – not a particularly impressive or even memorable experience, but pleasurable enough in the moment to be worth revisiting again.
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Maximum Volume Music
Whatever, its difficult to imagine that Def Leppard could have, at this stage of their careers, made a better album than this one. Moreover “Diamond Star Halos” is a good deal better than many they made that are lauded as classics.
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Blabbermouth
Of course, this wouldn't be a DEF LEPPARD record without a couple of major clangers. "U Rok Mi" is as lyrically feeble and goofy as its title suggests (and yes, they definitely do this stuff on purpose!), while "Gimme A Kiss" is a hard rocker so slight that its inclusion is genuinely bewildering. For the most part, however, "Diamond Star Halos" is a very good time had by all.
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BraveWords
“Liquid Dust” is dreary and over-produced with the unnecessary inclusion of strings. “U Rok Mi” hinges on an effective bass groove, and there’s some interesting guitar work thrown in for good measure, yet lyrically the chorus is underwhelming. “All We Need” is poppy and pedestrian, “Open Your Eyes” and “Unbreakable” are both forgettable, with “Gimmie A Kiss” coming across as commercial and contrived. Closing track “From Here To Eternity” is the longest song on the album at five and a half minutes, and ultimately serves as an anti-climactic ending.
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Stereoboard
There’s a fine line between success and failure. When a band venture down an eclectic path and pull it off, as Def Leppard did on their previous offering, the results scream artistic triumph. If such wanderings don’t always hit the mark, the outcome is perceived to be unfocussed, patchy and bereft of stylistic clarity. There’s definitely a cohesive and impressive 10 track record buried within ‘Diamond Star Halos’, but seeing as the band eschewed the kind of economy that made ‘Pyromania’ almost flawless, this is one instance where making your own playlist won’t be considered sacrilegious.
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The Razors Edge
As Def Leppard head towards a half century as a group ‘Diamond Star Halos’ demonstrates one thing, the band haven’t lost their edge at all!
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HeadBangers Lifestyle
It is not that ‘Diamond Star Halos’ is a complete disaster but to be honest most of the material does not do a thing for me. Except for the excellent guitar work and some decent tracks it seems to me that the boys from Sheffield should consider going back to the roots, to a time where they were young and hungry. But when you got millions in the bank and you might not have the real drive anymore (which is in a way understandable) it might also be an option to bow out gracefully…
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Rock Out Stand Out
Clearly DEF LEPPARD have made the most of the pandemic and have created an album at their own pace and reaped the rewards of flexibility and being unaccountable to deadlines. There’s touches of their legacy included here but it’s very much an album that paves the way for the future of the band which stands alongside their best.
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The Arts Desk
They are as joyously direct in their pursuit of the pleasure principle as any disco or house record, and they are brilliant.
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Music Matters Media
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for Diamond Star Halos, which – after we dole out all due credit to the band for still being in the game and remaining somewhat musically ambitious – is, at best, uneven. But while the album probably won’t be certified diamond, like some of their previous ones, Def Leppard very much remains the stars that they’ve been for four decades.
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My Global Mind
If you’re still expecting Def Leppard to sound like On Through the Night or High ‘N’ Dry, just stop. It ain’t happening Sunshine. If you don’t like what they’re putting out, that’s fine. Frankly, I don’t like the bulk of it either. But Diamond Star Halos is a great album. Is it their best? From a certain vantage point…pretty fucking close. There are some great songs on here. There are some stunning performances. By far, this is the strongest and best the band has sounded on record since Euphoria. Even the moments I likened to Adrenalize and Slang (two albums I loathe) I enjoyed. Maybe I’m just in a good mood, but if you’ve got complaints about this album, perhaps you should spin it again without comparing it to their past. Just take it as it is. Otherwise, maybe it’s not the album’s fault as much as it is yours.
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AllMusic
These moments help put the craft of the rest of Diamond Star Halos into perspective, as the departures point out that Def Leppard can deliver big, silly arena rock like "U Rok Mi" with aplomb and enthusiasm. Taken as a series of moments, the album is pretty compelling -- so compelling, in fact, that when they're assembled together, they are almost too much to take in one setting.
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Metal Digest
At 15 tracks and just over an hour, ‘Diamond Star Halos’ gets to be a bit of slog. Def Leppard could have made a fantastic album here of rocking songs, but instead deliver a watered-down album of country rock musings and by the numbers songs that make this album sadly, little better than average.
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Liverpool Sound and Vision
However you view Time, it has the ability to confirm that some stars and diamonds will last beyond our lifetime’s view, that the enigma of the halo worn by angels is touched upon by few mortal beings, and in Diamond Star Halos, Def Leppard are to be seen once more as unbreakable and iconic.
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Rockpages
The production is crystal clear, the overall performance impressive and the compositions great. As a fan of the band, I’d have loved to see more input by Sav and Viv and more songs in the vein of “Take What You Want”, “Gimme A Kiss”, “SOS Emergency” and “Kick” which are classic Leppard and they are most definitely the absolute highlights of the album. All in all, “Diamond Star Halos” is a great album and a fine addition to the band’s illustrious catalogue.
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Heromag
Trim away the fat, however, and Diamond Star Halos presents the veteran band in some refreshingly familiar settings.
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Stargazed Magazine
For me, this is an album that does not contribute to anything. Other than time I am not going to get back trying to suffer through 61 minutes a few times trying to get a grip of what I think about it. I am glad after writing this that this is an album I am not going to listen to again. Ever.
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