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2 Years Ago DEF LEPPARD Announce DIAMOND STAR HALOS Album/Release KICK Single

Def Leppard 2022. Def Leppard 2022

Def Leppard announced the Diamond Star Halos album on this day in 2022 and released the first single Kick.

'Diamond Star Halos', with a title inspired by the T. Rex song 'Get It On (Bang A Gong)', was announced the band's 12th studio album.

The release date was confirmed for Friday 27th May 2022.

The first release of a new album with all new music since October 2015's self-titled released 'Def Leppard'.

The cover artwork was designed by the Munden Brothers and famed Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn took the band photos.

The cover artwork featured the classic cross hairs and eye reminiscent of the one used on the 'Historia' video cover in 1988 along with the classic band logo at the top and references to 'High 'n' Dry' and 'Retro-Active'.

The longest album yet in terms of songs with 15 included in all.

It was recorded in Ireland, England and the USA during the various lockdown sessions.

First Single Kick

The first single called 'Kick' was released on the same day as the album announcement.

Deluxe Edition/Bonus Tracks

The album came in both regular 15 track CD format and a Deluxe Edition with 17 songs.

Featuring 'Goodbye For Good This Time - Avant-Garde Mix' and 'Lifeless - Joe Only version'.

The regular CD edition in Japan featured two other unique bonus tracks in 'Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - Stripped Version' and 'This Guitar - Joe Only Version'.

Guest Singer

The album was revealed to feature two songs with guest singer and long time Lep fan Alison Krauss.

Her vocals are featured on the songs 'This Guitar' and 'Lifeless'.

Guest Pianist

Long time David Bowie pianist Mike Garson was confirmed to feature on two songs in 'Goodbye For Good This Time' and 'Angels (Can’t Help You Now)'.


Visit the Tour News section. For more news on future tour plans.

Visit the Album News section for more news on new music (based on band member quotes).


Def Leppard 2022.

Phil Collen - 17th March 2022 Interview Quotes

Diamond Star Halos Best Album

“I think it’s the best thing we’ve ever done. There was so much more energy by not having to go to a studio or a situation where you were waiting on anything."

Exciting Album Sessions/Writing

"I’d finish something, send it to Joe in Ireland and he’d send it to Sav and…we’d just be back and forth - It was constantly exciting. I don’t think we don’t want to go back to whatever that standard way was that we did before.”."

Album Title/Glam Influence

"We were all really influenced by an era that was somewhere between 1971 and 1974."

"And the way we’re presenting the songs, it’s not just the rock of that era. There’s flavors of that flooding all the way through the album"

Joe Elliott - 17th March 2022 Interview Quotes

Making The Album

"We kind of made a tentative plan to get together in the new year to just see what we had; make some sounds, just have a bit of a laugh, see what kind of tunes that we get in our heads and see if we could bang something out."

"Within about 40 minutes of a really, really kind of constructive and positive phone call with Phil (Collen), we decided to have a go at making the album completely remotely."

"We made phone calls and we used emails to send MP3s to each other. We didn't literally see each other for two-and-a-quarter-years but we were on the phone every day."

Songwriting

"We worked out what we had, and I'd written three songs, Phil had written two, and we’d co-written two and little did we know until he joined in the conversation, Sav had two things percolating, so we had nine songs on the go."

New Songs

"The ideas kept flowing and I think because of this situation, we were all a bit giddy, ‘isn’t this great?! Look at this, we’ve got nine songs!’ In 40 minutes, we've already decided we got seven and a day later we have nine and throughout the project me and Phil wrote five more and that gave us 14 and then we thought the album was finished."

Recording Remotely

"It's got so many different flavours because we just didn't say no to any ideas and it was a revelation and, I'll be honest with you, having made an album like this now, I don't think we'll ever make a traditional record ever again because this was so much more fun to do."

Def Leppard 2022.

Joe Elliott - 17th March 2022 Interview Quotes

Last Song Kick

"All of a sudden everybody goes back to just doing what they do when you've got an album finished. And then Phil phoned me up and he says ‘I've just written this other song."

"We all heard it and went ‘we've got to do it.’ The beautiful thing was we had all the time in the world because we were still in lockdown."

Phil Collen - 17th March 2022 Interview Quotes

New Single Kick

“‘Kick’ represented where we were at as well. It’s got that glam rock feel, that hand-clap groove, big vocals."

"It was just a no-brainer. It was not only that it’s got to be on the album, it’s got to be the first single as well."


Buy 'Diamond Star Halos' Online


Def Leppard 2022.

Diamond Star Halos - Tracklistings

01 - Take What You Want - 4:14
02 - Kick - 3:42 - Amazon - (MP3)
03 - Fire It Up - 3:19
04 - This Guitar [feat. Alison Krauss] - 3:50
05 - SOS Emergency - 3:25
06 - Liquid Dust - 4:01
07 - U Rok Mi - 3:33
08 - Goodbye For Good This Time - 4:27
09 - All We Need - 4:46
10 - Open Your Eyes - 4:19
11 - Gimme A Kiss That Rocks - 3:12
12 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - 4:57
13 - Lifeless [feat. Alison Krauss] - 4:19)
14 - Unbreakable - 3:46
15 - From Here To Eternity - 5:37

16 - Goodbye For Good This Time (Avant-Garde Mix) - 4:34 - (Deluxe Edition Bonus Track)

17 - Lifeless (Joe Only version) - 4:21 - (Deluxe Edition Bonus Track)

16 - Angels (Can’t Help You Now) - Stripped Version - 4:44 - (Japan Bonus Track)

17 - This Guitar - Joe Only Version - 3:52 - (Japan Bonus Track)


  • Producer - Def Leppard
  • Producer - Ronan McHugh
  • Release Date - 27th May 2022


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