Def Leppard - Diamond Star Halos

[headbanger4life]

A bit of a let down for me.  I was really hoping for one last album in the vein of On Through The Night/High N’ Dry era Def Leppard.  You know, when they had f’n rocked.  Don’t get me wrong, I like some of the stuff from the past few albums but what got me into this band was their early stuff and that is what I am missing by them.

[Glen]

34 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

Same here.

Why not? It works so go with it.

Most people here (as already mentioned) want to hear Def Lep from the 80's.
Blaming Viv Campbell for moving further from that sound? Yeah, that makes sense, new guy comes in and the band allows him to change their sound for shits and giggles?....

Same deal with Warant post Jani etc
Lose the expectation, and those golden memories of growing up with a walkman, and just enjoy good music.
Listen to is as if it's a new band and you may be surprised...
 

that's true if the music is good

 

[CureTheSane]

5 hours ago, Glen said:

that's true if the music is good

 

and that is subjective

[tts42572]

6 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

Same here.

Why not? It works so go with it.

Most people here (as already mentioned) want to hear Def Lep from the 80's.
Blaming Viv Campbell for moving further from that sound? Yeah, that makes sense, new guy comes in and the band allows him to change their sound for shits and giggles?....

Same deal with Warant post Jani etc
Lose the expectation, and those golden memories of growing up with a walkman, and just enjoy good music.
Listen to is as if it's a new band and you may be surprised...
 

To me, Vivian had nothing to do with moving Leppard from that sound.  Frankly, I think from all my readings that he's had very little do do with anything the band has done since he joined.

It's probably fair to say losing Steve Clark had an impact.  And losing Mutt had an impact.  But then again it's hard to say too.  I mean, it's entirely possible the band could've taken the same route even if Steve had never passed away and they kept working with Mutt.  Hysteria was MUCH different sounding than HND and Pyro so they were already looking to change and evolve at that time. Who's to say they wouldn't have kept changing and evolving the same way they did? We'll never know I guess.

Def Leppard remains my favorite "all-time" band even if they've become hit and miss for me with some of their recent output.  I'm happy they at least still have the desire to put out new music and care enough about their fans to give them something unlike many bands from the era that have thrown in the towel on new music.

As for the new tune, I like it.  If this song were on their last S/T album, it probably would've been my third favorite song on that album behind Dangerous and Wings of An Angel.  That album overall was pretty hit and miss for me though.  I did like about half of it but some songs just did very little for me.

I'm kind of expecting the same from the new album....Hoping to find a handful of tunes I dig.  But we'll see. 

[Captain Howdy]

Absolute crap trying to blame anything on Campbell. Do you really think he has much control?

Simple fact is you only have to look at Joe's side project to see why they are going in this 70s glam direction.

DL has shown numerous times that they can at least partially recapture the classic sound with albums like Adrenalize, Euphoria and S/T, but they choose to do what they want, and I would put the bulk of those decisions down to Joe & Sav.

[T-BONE]

Ugh.... new song has no balls... color me unimpressed

[Captain Howdy]

Video debuts Friday

 

[Geoff]

lol, that is awful. Hopefully the whole album is not in that style because that is not any type of Def Leppard I have ever known. Sounds more like Man-Raze than Def Lep. Which. Is not a good thing. 

Couldn't for the life of me think what their last album was so had a little search. It was the s/t one from 2015? Apparently I thought it was okay. Must revisit. 

[CureTheSane]

1 hour ago, Geoff said:

lol, that is awful. Hopefully the whole album is not in that style because that is not any type of Def Leppard I have ever known. Sounds more like Man-Raze than Def Lep. Which. Is not a good thing. 

Couldn't for the life of me think what their last album was so had a little search. It was the s/t one from 2015? Apparently I thought it was okay. Must revisit. 

Same thing everyone said when Slang was released.
Now everyone loves it.

[mike1990]

To me, Kick has a lot of that 70s sound to it, but it still sounds like Def Leppard. I am cautiously optimistic about a few songs on the album based on what has been said about them, but I'm still excited. Kick is far better than the leadoff single from the last album. Let's Go had a very very weak chorus. I thought Dangerous was 100x better

 

Far too many people have expectations of them doing an album that sounds like High n Dry or Pyromania. They need to stop. It's not gonna happen.

 

Personally, I don't compare bands albums to each other, no matter who it is. If I like it, I like it. I won't dislike an album cause it doesn't sound like previous albums. I think a lot of people do that though, and they're only doing a disservice to themselves. 

 

In regards to Vivian, anyone blaming him for this shift is fooling themselves. He has very little say in even songwriting, why would they let him change their sound? It doesn't make much sense. 

6 hours ago, CureTheSane said:

Same thing everyone said when Slang was released.
Now everyone loves it.

And to your point about Slang, I was 6 when it came out, so I didn't get to listen to it until years and years later after I got into them. I didn't like it. But, after a few years, I listened to it again, and started to hear things I didn't remembering hearing, and now I like it. Sure, it's not in my top 3 of favorite albums from them, but it's still good. I don't think they've ever released a truly bad album 

Edited March 28, 2022 by mike1990

[heavyharmonies]

It's not a bad song, just bland and boring.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

24 minutes ago, heavyharmonies said:

It's not a bad song, just bland and boring.

But... that sounds bad. 

[Crazysam]

That first single is decent.  Based on this interview, “Kick” was the last track they finished for the upcoming album.  Phil and an outside writer, Dave Bassett, came up with the riff and core song idea.

 

[J.S.M]

Honestly I never liked more than a few songs on every album. I just listened back to their selftitled. Only "man enough" got me entertained. 

"Kick" is a very good start for me. I really like the chorus. I'm just worried that it's the outside writer who elevated that song. I like that it's not the typical DL chorus (title - xy - title - xy)

[AlphaMale]

I don't think anyone ever said Vivian is the blame for the change in Def Lep. But there's no arguing they got a lot "lighter" since Steve Clark's death. Makes little sense because we all know Vivian can shred. 

[CureTheSane]

2 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

I don't think anyone ever said Vivian is the blame for the change in Def Lep.

  

On 3/18/2022 at 2:16 AM, AlphaMale said:

The classic Def Leppard died with Steve Clark. Vivian Campbell neutered them. 

 

[AlphaMale]

50 minutes ago, CureTheSane said:

  

 

Should've said DL neutered Vivian.

[gener8tr]

15 hours ago, AlphaMale said:

Should've said DL neutered Vivian.

I love Def Leppard.  I loved Steve Clark.  I really like Vivian Campbell.

The above quoted comment is probably closest to the truth in the Viv / DL debate.  Let's face it, Vivian was playing Holy Diver the same time Steve and Phil were playing Rock of Ages.  I doubt Joe (and especially Phil) ask Vivian for anything more than to ensure his guitar is in-tune for the rhythm parts of any new Leppard songs. 

And as much as I like Phil, he's more of a special effects noodler now than anything.  I mean he loves that trem bar nearly as much as Brad Gillis, and the Jackson sustainer should should really be called "The Collen."  I actually dig his sound a lot (I always have), but Randy Rhoades he is not.

[gener8tr]

I actually like this first track, by the way.  But then again, I am a T-Rex fan, too.

 

[tts42572]

21 minutes ago, gener8tr said:

I love Def Leppard.  I loved Steve Clark.  I really like Vivian Campbell.

The above quoted comment is probably closest to the truth in the Viv / DL debate.  Let's face it, Vivian was playing Holy Diver the same time Steve and Phil were playing Rock of Ages.  I doubt Joe (and especially Phil) ask Vivian for anything more than to ensure his guitar is in-tune for the rhythm parts of any new Leppard songs. 

And as much as I like Phil, he's more of a special effects noodler now than anything.  I mean he loves that trem bar nearly as much as Brad Gillis, and the Jackson sustainer should should really be called "The Collen."  I actually dig his sound a lot (I always have), but Randy Rhoades he is not.

Agree 

Have to remember too that Steve Clark was very much around for Hysteria and the sound of that album was vastly different than what came before it.  And I know there were many saying they'd lost their hard rock balls at that point.  I just really think that's the path they wanted to naturally take to be like their influences in Queen, TRex, etc.

There's no doubt that Viv isn't really invloved in new music though as he's had very few writing credits.  I think he's just happy playing his role and letting the other guys steer the ship.

Either way, I dig the new tune and for me it's one of the better tunes they've done the past 15 years or so.  Hoping there's a few more fun, catchy tunes like it on the album.

[gener8tr]

4 minutes ago, tts42572 said:

Agree 

Have to remember too that Steve Clark was very much around for Hysteria and the sound of that album was vastly different than what came before it.  And I know there were many saying they'd lost their hard rock balls at that point.  I just really think that's the path they wanted to naturally take to be like their influences in Queen, TRex, etc.

There's no doubt that Viv isn't really invloved in new music though as he's had very few writing credits.  I think he's just happy playing his role and letting the other guys steer the ship.

Either way, I dig the new tune and for me it's one of the better tunes they've done the past 15 years or so.  Hoping there's a few more fun, catchy tunes like it on the album.

Exactly right, and here's the thing..

Those who weren't around / listening to music in 1983 and 1987 wouldn't necessarily understand the natural progression.  Four years may not seem like a long period of time in 2018 - 2022, but 1987 was light years away from 1983 in almost all aspects of life back then (music included).  Even 1985 was vastly different than 1983.  Motley Crue Shout vs. Theater is a pretty good example of this.  Music, fashion, etc.  Just different.  Life was speeding by and changing daily for those of us who were teenagers back then.

[tts42572]

38 minutes ago, gener8tr said:

Exactly right, and here's the thing..

Those who weren't around / listening to music in 1983 and 1987 wouldn't necessarily understand the natural progression.  Four years may not seem like a long period of time in 2018 - 2022, but 1987 was light years away from 1983 in almost all aspects of life back then (music included).  Even 1985 was vastly different than 1983.  Motley Crue Shout vs. Theater is a pretty good example of this.  Music, fashion, etc.  Just different.  Life was speeding by and changing daily for those of us who were teenagers back then.

Funny you mention Motley Crue.  My best friend back then was a huge Motley fan and I was a huge Leppard fan.  I still remember him calling out Leppard as pop sellouts when Hysteria dropped.  I happened to love the album though.  Anyways, evetnually Crue dropped Dr. Feelgood and I threw it right back at him lol.  

Either way, it was a fantastic decade 😀

[metaltrekman]

Ive never been a real big Def Leppard fan. I like some of their songs that I thought rocked more than others. But most of the time if I hear one coming on the radio I will change the channel for something I like better. I DO like Joe Elliot Down N Outz though. I think because it has so much Bowie, T Rex, Slade & Sweet influence. Thats probably why I like this song so much. The rest of the new CD will all probably depend on that too.

[KarpetRydOFunk]

14 minutes ago, metaltrekman said:

Ive never been a real big Def Leppard fan. I like some of their songs that I thought rocked more than others. But most of the time if I hear one coming on the radio I will change the channel for something I like better. I DO like Joe Elliot Down N Outz though. I think because it has so much Bowie, T Rex, Slade & Sweet influence. Thats probably why I like this song so much. The rest of the new CD will all probably depend on that too.

Where the fuck do you live that you can turn the dial off of Def Leppard and on to something better? 

[gener8tr]

13 hours ago, KarpetRydOFunk said:

Where the fuck do you live that you can turn the dial off of Def Leppard and on to something better? 

He lives in a little town called 1987.  I've been there.  It's awesome.