Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Rock Revival's Classic Albums: Dio Holy Diver (1983)

Image:DioHolyDiver.jpg

What an INCREDIBLE album this was in an era where so much of rock was going bad ! A must have classic for any fan of metal. (From the man whose name appropriately means God in Italian !)

Holy Diver, Rainbow in the Dark, and the mind blowing Dont Talk to Strangers; each song was perfectly crafted to capture Ronnie James Dio's phenomenal voice (well, he could probably make a Billy Joel song sound pretty good if he had to)

His partners in Dio were impressive too: Vinnie Appice from Black Babbath on drums, Jimmy Bain from Rainbow on bass ( he also worked with Phil Lynott), Vivian Campbell on guitar who went on to Whitesnake and Deff Leppard, and Ronnie himself on keyboards.

Here's a review from the AllMusicGuide

"Dio struck gold once again by injecting catchy melodies into the classic metal riffery of his previous groups. Besides Dio's inspired songwriting, the album's consistency owes a lot to his carefully chosen bandmates, including veteran bassist Jimmy Bain and drummer Vinny Appice, and a phenomenal find in young guitarist Vivian Campbell, whose creativity and technique are quite astounding. The album opens in full-tilt metal mode with the frenetic "Stand Up and Shout", which segues into the epic title track, an album highlight thanks to it's hypnotic, mid-paced riff. Dio himself plays keyboards on the hit single "Rainbow in the Dark," and the remaining cuts range from further stabs at pop-metal ("Gypsy," "Caught in the Middle") to blatant metal anthems ("Straight Through the Heart", "Invisible"). These two facets find a perfect balance on the excellent "Don't Talk to Strangers," arguably the album's high point."



Image: Courtesy Vertigo

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