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,^[4][5] 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"^[6] and includes imagery from Anton Corbijn, Maryam Malakpour, and Oliver and Joshua Munden.^[7]

Diamond Star Halos
Studio album by Def Leppard
Released	27 May 2022
Genre	Glam rock
Length	61:27
Label	Bludgeon Riffola Mercury
Producer	Def Leppard Ronan McHugh
Def Leppard chronology
The Story So Far – The Best Of (2018) Diamond Star Halos (2022) Drastic Symphonies (2023)
Singles from Diamond Star Halos
"Kick" Released: 17 March 2022[1] "Take What You Want" Released: 20 April 2022[2] "Fire It Up" Released: 20 May 2022[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The Arts Desk	[9]
Blabbermouth.net	7/10[5]
Louder Sound	[10]
The Daily Telegraph	[11]

Ultimate Classic Rock's Michael Gallucci called the album "most obvious callback to glam's glory days as well as their own past triumphs", claiming that the band have learned to not "mess with what works" unlike past projects Slang and X. Having noted influences of glam rock stars David Bowie, Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, Gallucci also wrote that while, "like most tribute albums, the take-and-give results on Diamond Star Halos don't always match what was heard the first time around", "the band hasn't sounded this invigorated on record since the early '90s."^[6] The Arts Desk's Joe Muggs wrote that "this album starts and ends so brilliantly", starting with "a salvo of three tracks that remind you exactly why Def Leppard became one of the biggest bands in the world in the mid Eighties" and ending with "heavily Queen-indebted high drama closer 'From Here to Eternity'", a "grand way to close a record", contrasting with a middle section that is "way too generic, slightly countrified and very American soft rock" and "can't really live up" to "these great bookends".^[9]

Blabbermouth.net's Dom Lawson explains the band's appeal as being because they "have never stopped behaving like the wide-eyed, priapic teenagers they were when they penned 'Hello America' all those years ago" rather than "resting on their laurels, touring the world on an endless nostalgia trip and never again making a new album", and that while the band are "relaxed" and the album "low on shiny bells and high-tech whistles", "it compensates by being (mainly) full of simple, heartfelt and punchy songs" and "is a very good time had by all."^[5] Louder Sound's Neil Jeffries called "SOS Emergency", "All We Need", "Open Your Eyes", "Gimme a Kiss", and "Unbreakable" "especially strong" and "stadium pleasers in the grand Leppard tradition"; and the album "best appreciated as a double album: three sides, each begun by three rockers and ending with a change of pace, then a shorter fourth side that abandons the pattern and goes out on the high of [Rick] Savage's 'From Here to Eternity', an epic track with a swinging, Pink Floyd-like tempo."^[10] The Telegraph's James Hall also emphasised the album's "[not messing] with the formula" in comparison to Slang, save for the "fascinating curveballs" brought in the form of the Alison Krauss-featuring "This Guitar" and "Lifeless", the former of which Hall called the better of the two and "a subtle (by Def Leppard standards) ballad that could well turn out to be a smash in the Nashville country charts."^[11] AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that "Leppard crank up the hooks, melodies, and amplifiers, adding little bits of distinctive flair along the way", noting that "its individual moments may not be excessive" but "the cumulative effect is almost overwhelming, especially as Def Leppard gives it their all in each cut."^[8]

Ultimate Classic Rock placed Diamond Star Halos at 13th of their top 30 best rock albums of 2022.^[12]

Track listing

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Take What You Want"	Joe Elliott Rick Savage	4:14
2.	"Kick"	Dave Bassett Phil Collen	3:42
3.	"Fire It Up"	Collen Sam Hollander	3:19
4.	"This Guitar" (featuring Alison Krauss)	C. J. Vanston Collen	3:50
5.	"SOS Emergency"	Elliott Collen	3:25
6.	"Liquid Dust"	Collen	4:01
7.	"U Rok Mi"	Collen	3:33
8.	"Goodbye for Good This Time"	Elliott	4:27
9.	"All We Need"	Elliott Collen	4:46
10.	"Open Your Eyes"	Elliott Collen	4:19
11.	"Gimme a Kiss" (Called "Gimme a Kiss That Rocks" on the CD version)	Elliott Collen	3:12
12.	"Angels (Can't Help You Now)"	Elliott	4:57
13.	"Lifeless" (featuring Alison Krauss)	Elliott Collen	4:19
14.	"Unbreakable"	Elliott	3:46
15.	"From Here to Eternity"	Savage	5:37
Total length:			61:27

Deluxe edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"Goodbye for Good This Time" (Avant-Garde Mix)	Elliott	4.34
17.	"Lifeless" (Joe Only Version)	Elliott Collen	4.21
Total length:			70:22

Japanese standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
16.	"Angels (Can't Help You Now)" (Stripped Version)	Elliott	4.57
17.	"This Guitar" (Joe Only Version)	Vanston Collen	3.50
Total length:			70:14

Personnel

Def Leppard

• Joe Elliott – lead vocals, guitar (8, 12, 14), additional engineering
• Phil Collen – guitar (1–7, 9–15), backing vocals (1), additional engineering
• Rick Savage – bass guitar, guitar (1–3, 15), backing vocals (1), additional engineering
• Vivian Campbell – guitar, backing vocals (1), additional engineering
• Rick Allen – drums

Additional musicians

• Debbi Blackwell-Cook – backing vocals (2, 3, 11, 12)
• Dave Bassett – backing vocals (2, 3)
• Alison Krauss – lead vocals (4, 13)
• Mike Garson – piano (8, 12)

Technical

• Ronan McHugh – producer, drum programmer, editor, engineer, mixing
• Ross Hogarth – recording engineer (4, 8, 12)
• Joe LaPorta – mastering engineer
• Eric Gorfain – string arrangements (4, 8, 12)

Charts

Chart performance for Diamond Star Halos

Chart (2022)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[13]	3
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[14]	10
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[15]	30
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[16]	17
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[17]	16
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[18]	45
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[19]	61
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[20]	8
French Albums (SNEP)[21]	27
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[22]	8
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[23]	18
Irish Albums (IRMA)[24]	25
Italian Albums (FIMI)[25]	86
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[26]	16
Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[27]	19
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[28]	21
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[29]	22
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[30]	12
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[31]	26
Scottish Albums (OCC)[32]	3
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[33]	16
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[34]	14
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[35]	4
UK Albums (OCC)[36]	5
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[37]	1
US Billboard 200[38]	10
US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[39]	2