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| From metal pics |
Lineup:
- Ronnie James Dio
- Vivian Campbell
- Jimmy Bain
- Vinny Appice
- 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.
His musical career started in the late 1950's and he is still active even to this day as a musician, singer and song writer, a career spanning over 5 decades, a musical accomplishment of sorts.
After a successful career as frontman with Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW, and BLACK SABBATH, Dio decided to form his own band. He and drummer Vinnie Appice, quit The Grandfathers of Heavy Metal , after they had some disagreements with Sabbath members on the mixing of their live album LIVE EVIL. He also managed to rope in a very young, talented and virtuoso guitarist named Vivian Campbell who was making all the right noises with his band SWEET SAVAGE at the age of 15! Jimmy Bain handled the bass duties and in the summer of 1983, one of Heavy Metal's finest Classics was released on May 25th. And what a debut!!
Dio was probably Americas answer to the UK metal scene. Vinnie had all the necessary skills that made his more than a good drummer, while Vivian had the guitar skills that could put present day guitar shredders to shame. But the strongest force in Dio has to be the vocals of the Ronnie. He could easily take on Bruce Dickinson or even the mighty Halford in vocal range and power. But for some reason, he never really got all the credit he so rightfully deserved.
From a musical point of view, this album is just excellent. the melody, the solos, the vocals and even the keyboards parts (played by Ronnie and Jimmy) all fit together like a glove. there are no 'filler' tracks here and one listen to any track, in any order will make u wanna listen to it all over again.
The album starts with an up tempo track Stand Up And Shout and ends with a powerful bluesy, power ballad Shame On The Night. everything in between is like Manna from Heaven... or in this case.. hell. oh! in case i forgot to mention, Dio in Italian means 'God'.
Rainbow In the Dark, Caught in The Middle, Gypsy, Holy Diver and Invisible are some of the best tracks you will ever hear and they are all here in one place, in one album. The melody in this album is just infectious and like earlier mentioned the guitar work is beautiful. Nothing too flashy, definitely not average, just right.
Even the album artwork has a special mention in being one of Metal's most controversial album covers of all time. a Catholic priest, bound in chains thrown in the sea by the devil himself. Or in this case, Dio mascot 'Murray'.
Current status on the band: everyone knows where Vivian Campbell is right now. Playing second guitarist in DEF LEPPARD, while Ronnie is battling Stomach cancer as i write this. But knowing Ronnie and the ups and downs he has been thru as a successful musician, its only a matter of time, he slays the dragon and goes back to the recording studio to give us another slab of pure, true Heavy metal. Till then, Holy Diver will keep playing in my Ipod.
My Rating
10/10
listen to sample here Caught In The Middle
Download Low Quality Album in Rapidshare here
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