Here we go with one of the more legendary metal albums in the history of metal, Dio Holy Diver. At this point I should say, I love Dio, I love everything he stands for. He is a perfectionist and lives only to rock. This aspect of his personality comes through perfectly in this album. This is a perfect metal album.
This album was released by Dio after his exit from Black Sabbath and his time in Rainbow in 1983. He managed to assemble a lineup of some of the best musicians every known to mankind and give them a voice to be heard in the heavy metal universe. The first lineup of Dio would stand at: Ronnie James Dio doing vocals, as well as handling some keyboards and production Vinny Appice on drums Jimmy Bain on bass, keyboards and Vivian Campbell on guitar. All experienced and accomplished musicians in their own rights.
At this point we basically need to accept that Ronnie James Dio is basically a god. His earliest recordings date back to the late 1950s (Ronnie Dio and the lost prophets) and the dude never stopped rocking since. There were many setbacks in Dio’s journey of Rock but he never gave up and kept rocking until this timeless slab of heavy metal was released.
The album opens up with “Stand up and Shout”. What we have here is a statement of intent. Ronnie obviously had to hit a home run with this, his debut album after going solo, and it had to compete with Sabbath and Rainbow (Two of the most legendary bands to ever walk to this earth). Ronnie had previously punched with giants of the heavy metal / hard rock scene and this really needed to be on point. And it was.
“Stand up and Shout” hits you like a hard rockin’ punch in the face and its obvious within second of this album that we’re now dealing with the stuff of legends. It only gets better with “Holy Diver” which is probably bands best known song. This was one of the standout riffs of the 80’s in fact one of the standout riffs of all time. I think by the time the third song “Gypsy” comes in, it’s clear that Dio has managed to produce a similar effort to Ozzy in the way that he’s left Black Sabbath and needs to come through with the goods. This album is the goods. Believe. “Caught in the middle” is the closer for the first side of this album and even with this you just feel like you’ve heard a complete album.
Fear not though, there is another side to this album “Don’t Talk to Strangers” opens up one of the strongest second sides of an album. Melodic guitars open this crusher and some of the greatest metal riffs to ever be laid to tape followed. “Straight through the Heart” and “Invisible” follow and the so does the ear candy. These aren’t the standout tracks on this album but they are still brilliant, and I can guarantee there’s hundreds of other 80s’ bands that would have loved to have this on their albums. “Rainbow in the Dark” is one of my favourite songs of all time, every time I hear this song it makes me happy. Brilliant keyboards and hey, really everything on this is unbelievably brilliant. There is nothing I can fault about this song. This is a song that after a couple of listens could echo in your head for a lifetime. Lastly the album finishes off with “Shame on the night” another great metal anthem.
There is nothing I can fault this album on, the album is jam packed with Heavy Metal anthems from start to finish and there’s not one song that can be said to be a filler track. This along with a few other albums from this time period can be counted as Heavy Metal perfection. All I can do is recommend you check this album out for yourself and enjoy! (lets face it, there’s now way you can’t enjoy this)
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