Holy Diver

Dio - Holy Diver

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CD Details

Artist: Dio
Brand: DIO
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1990-10-25
Music Label: Warner Bros / Wea
Soundtracks:

Stand Up And Shout
Holy Diver
Gypsy
Caught In The Middle
Don't Talk To Strangers
Straight Through The Heart
Invisible
Rainbow In The Dark
Shame On The Night

Music reviews of Holy Diver

Music Review: Holy Grail!!!!
Rating: 5 Stars

This HAS GOT to be one of the greatest heavy metal albums EVER!!!
As far as I'm concerned, this record is on par with Paranoid, Blizzard of Ozz, British Steel, Back in Black, Machine Head, Number of the Beast, or any other hard rock/ heavy metal classic that you might care to mention.

Indeed, after increasingly high profile gigs with Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath, singer and frontman extraordinaire Ronnie James Dio finally took the plunge as a solo artist (long overdue, to the eyes of many). In doing so, he split the then current incarnation of Black Sabbath, taking drummer Vinny Appice with him. And although this development was a crying shame (as it basically marked the beginning of a downward spiral for Sabbath) in and by itself, the truth is that Dio (the man) himself and heavy metal in general gained a great deal because of it.

Once he found himself out of Sabbath, Ronnie contacted former Rainbow/Wild Horses bassist Jimmy Bain for advice on musicians for a new venture. Bain jumped in (without ever being formally asked to!) and brought along a young, hungry, up-and-coming Irish guitarist named Vivian Campbell and before long, a new band had been formed and was rehearsing the material for their first album, which they soon recorded. With Ronnie's voice as the center piece, the band constructed a solid album through and through, where the vocal melodies are on par with the guitar riffs and placed upon a rock solid rhythmic foundation.

Without being explicitly conceptual, the album dealt with the eternal struggle between good and evil (a recurring subject matter for Ronnie James Dio), while also offering a few detours along the way. I still remember the first time I listened to this album in full (I was already a Sabbath and Rainbow fan, and I had already heard Dio songs such as "We Rock", "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark"): it was the perfect marriage of Rainbow's melodic (and symphonic) approach with the monster riffery of Sabbath. I was immediately hooked!

"Holy Diver" opens up with the furious bite of "Stand up and Shout", a vicious, 3 minute ride that allows little time for rationalizing and serves as the perfect intro for the band, almost as a manifest of intention. The sound is monstrous, with Ronnie's voice right in the middle of the action, with Campbell's guitar prowess immediately evident, and the power of the rhythm section is also obvious. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why I love this record so much: the mix is perfect, with all the instruments and the voice clearly present, and not just one of those records where you have to imagine what the bass player is doing. To this day, I think this is one of the better mixed hard rock/metal records ever.

Next is the record's title song: epic, powerful, empowering, grandiose, and yet deceivingly simple and catchy. There are few words to describe it. Its powerful riff is accentuated by the drums and dramatic pauses, which in turn emphasize the power of Ronnie's voice and truly majestic lyrics. And once again, Vivian really displays some earth shattering playing and soloing, a constant throughout the whole album.

"Gipsy" follows, picking up the pace and hitting fast and hard; "Caught in the Middle" is next, and I must say that it is my personal favorite of the album: don't ask me why, I honestly don't know; it is a departure, for sure, since its melodies are somewhat more "cheerful" than the rest, but I absolutely love it, as it also showcases a different side of Vivian's playing, proving that there's more to him than just shredding for the sake of shredding (as was the custom back in the 80's).

"Don't Talk to Strangers" was a surprise the first time I heard it, and it still remains a perennial favorite in live performances to this day: unlike the previous songs that for the most part started with a heavy guitar riff, this one opens with a delicate, soft guitar arpeggio and slowly builds momentum as the bass and the drums come in, only to rip into a nasty riff midway through and morph into a heavy rocker! And to top it all, the song crashes back to its soft beginning before the outro. Awesome!

"Straight through the heart" is another heavy, mid tempo tune that is introduced with a drum break and features another great guitar riff and some more of the dramatic pauses that were used to great effect on the title song. I love the song (in fact, I love the whole album), but I've never understood why (or how), when releasing Dio compilations, this song has outdone "Don't talk..." more than once...not that it isn't good enough for a compilation, but I think "Don't..." is the obvious choice...anyway, the next tune, "Invisible" seemed to repeat, at least at the start, the formula of the "Slow intro, change of pace, heavy riff in the middle" that was used for "Don't...", but ultimately the arrangement is totally different and the song packs quite some punch.

The classic "Rainbow in the Dark" hardly needs any further introduction: without a doubt, one of the forerunners of the "80's heavy metal sound", a perfect marriage of melody and heaviness. As if the proven formula of Dio's melodic vocals meshed with Vivian's guitar ferocity and the rhythm section's powerful pummeling wasn't enough, the song features a prominent synth riff that predates by at least 1 year other similar efforts by countless hard rock/heavy metal bands (Van Halen, anyone?). This song is arguably one of the biggest classics of its era.

And to wrap up, a slow, sinister number called "Shame on the Night". I'll be 100% honest with you: the first time I heard this song, I didn't like it AT ALL. I thought it was totally out of place in an otherwise perfect record. For quite some time, I just couldn't figure it out: it is slow, dark, with no guitar solo and quite plain, really. But that's precisely the beauty of it!!! There was a period when I would listen to this album everyday, but as it often happens, I started listening to other things; then, one day, out of the blue I picked it up again and lo and behold, the song really got to me!!! I still don't know how or why, but it did, and now it is one of my absolute favorites of the Dio catalog.

Bottom Line: This record must be heralded as one of the undisputed classics of the genre, the first of a long line of releases from the master of the dungeons and dragons, and possibly his best (as a solo artist, I mean). Ronnie James Dio himself acknowledges this fact, placing this record on the same pedestal as "Heaven & Hell" and "Rising", the other 2 crown jewels of his career (again, those are his words, not mine). All of that being said, I feel compelled to make an observation here: this records needs an URGENT remastering!!! NOW!!!! I mean, I got the CD to replace my good old tape from back in the day, only to be appalled by its total lack of punch. My tape sounds louder and fuller, for god's sake!!! Now, hold the death threats for a moment, will ya: this is a TECHNICAL issue, it has NOTHING, I REPEAT, NOTHING to do with the music, the band, Ronnie or anything/anybody else for that matter!!! It simply means that after all these years of making the transfer from the master tapes to the CD, the album has lost its high fidelity sound and its punch, that's it!!! So Rhino, the ball is in your court. My advice: that we start a petition for the remastering (I hear that the album has in fact been remastered by Vertigo outside of the US). But in the meantime, if you choose to pick this one up, I guarantee you this: you'll be getting more.

More Holy Diver free music reviews:
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Description of Holy Diver

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: DIO
Title: HOLY DIVER
Street Release Date: 07/06/1987
Domestic
Genre: HEAVY METAL

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