DIO — Holy Diver (review)

DIO — Holy Diver album cover Album · 1983 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sinkadotentree
Ronnie James Dio is one of my favourite vocalists and this is his debut album under his last name DIO. This was the first project he got involved with after leaving BLACK SABBATH having released two classic albums with them in "Heaven And Hell" and "Mob Rules". He brought with him from SABBATH fellow New Yorker and Italian Vinnie Appice on drums while scooping up his former band-mate from RAINBOW bassist Jimmy Bain. Add guitarist Vivian Campbell and this gem was released in 1983. Ronnie wrote all the lyrics and music and also produced this record. I have to mention the album cover that at first made me smile back in the day when i saw it in the record stores but later it almost haunted me. I used to run on the beach very faithfully and once we got into November it mean't running in complete darkness down there(no artificial lighting at all) other than the moonlight. It was actually really cool and surreal at the same time. And yes i did wipe out many times but usually in the Winter months when i was running on ice and snow. This picture though reminds me of November, especially the sky and often my thoughts would drift to this album cover for some strange reason. I never did see the giant demonic figure shown here and i'm not a priest so yeah it was all in my mind(haha). The music here is great but i'll take the two earlier albums with SABBATH over this one. Love that track "Rainbow In The Dark" which almost seems out of place but it works. Also the title track and "Don't Talk To STrangers" would round out my top three. This would go platinum for the band making it an obvious success for Dio and the boys.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Powerlords Power Metal
ELETTRA STORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 6 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 6 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 6 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 8 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 9 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed