I am far from the worlds biggest Dio fan, but I love the man's voice, and over the course of his career he laid down some killer songs. As the Vocalist of Rainbow, Heaven And Hell, or during his solo time. Ronnie was a brilliant lyricist and his vocal performance was fantastic. There are songs on this album I had never heard before, but I can totally picture Ronnie belting them out.
This album is a tribute to the man that made Metal what it is today. It features some of Metal's biggest names, some of it's newer acts, and a few names that I need to check out after listening to this album. However, what I expected and what I got from this album are two completely different things. For example the one song I could not wait to hear and had me the most excited let me down the most. Mainly because the idea I had in my head and what I really got didn't match.
On the other hand there were some songs I expected very little from and instead was very pleasantly surprised. One thing that people might notice very quickly is that the keyboards are missing from a good chunk of songs. Out of fourteen songs only three have either, keyboards, piano or organ. Which is where some of the coolest parts of this album comes from.
The album kicks off with Anthrax performing Neon Knights. If you don't already know, this is a song from when Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath. I may have mentioned before, or maybe not, it's only Sabbath with Ozzy. When it's Dio, it's Heaven And Hell. While I don't like the legal bullshit that forced that to be an official change, to me it honestly was two different bands. All that aside, I actually never really cared for this song. I don't mind this cover, and this is well done, but I was never a big Anthrax fan either. I will say that this was an acceptable way to open the album.
The Last In Line performed by Tenacious D follows that up. And while they are often viewed as a joke band, becuse they have a good time and aren't afraid to show some whimsy, they deserve to be on this album just as much, if not more than any other group. First off Ronnie graced a Tenacious D album, secondly this is a group that truly loves Dio. You can tell by how well this cover is done. I mean Jack Black really gives a brilliant vocal performance. Even the recorder solo is killer. Yes that's right, Kyle Glass busts out the recorder on this track. I would have sworn it was a flute, but the liner notes say different.
I have never heard of Adrenaline Mob. I'm not sure if they were just thrown together for this album, or if it's a side project, and I'm confused because I recognize some of the band members from other places. Either way they deliver the first song on the album to make me stand up and go "Oh! Fuck! Yeah!" I mean they come flying through with one of my favourite songs from Dio/Butler/Iommi, Mob Rules. Russel Allen, who's name doesn't ring a bell, delivers a fantastic vocal performance. You know he loved this song when he went at it. The rest of the band tears it up big time, and does Heaven And Hell proud.
Okay, there's this guy that's in Slipknot and sings some song about glass doing some side project. I can never remember his name, but he always ends up as the butt of a joke for that glass tune. So I wasn't expecting much from Rainbow In The Dark. Then I notice that there's no keyboard. If you check out the liner notes this song is two guitars, a vocalist and a drummer. Aside from the drummer sounding like he's got a click track up his ass, this is a really tight track. Corey Taylor's vocals do do the song justice, but it's the guitar work that makes it awesome.
Never heard of Halestorm before this album. I was informed that it was a female vocalist doing the song and went, "Okay, I can see that. Then Straight Through The Heart kicks in and Lzzy Hale kicks in with her vocals and I'm totally floored. I expect vocals that sound like your normal female Metal vocalist, which is to say very operatic. Instead what I hear is this bad ass growl and snarl Rock vocalist that just tears into the song with the rest of the band, and just brings it home. I mean they really really kick this one out. Enough to say I should look into them.
Starstruck is performed by Motorhead, with Biff Byford (Saxon). This is a great track, that works well. But to me this song is a filler. It's one of those tracks that made sense for this combo to use, but it's a filler all the same.
The Scorpions performing The Temple Of The King makes sense to me. They are the right band for this song, and they do it very well. However, this is not one of those songs that I would have picked either. It's a little too mellow and laid back for me. The Scorps own this one, though.
Egypt (The Chains Are On) is performed by Doro. If you look in the liner notes you'll see it was recorded in 1999. I have no idea if this song was a leftover from a recording session, or was taken from an album, or who knows what. Either way it works, and while it's a bit slower in pace it really brings this song to life. However, this was the type of female vocals I was talking about earlier, but it works really well. It's a little more Lita Ford 80's Metal female vocalist, but that's clearly okay for this song.
Typically I find Killswitch Engage a little screamy, and their music a bit typical of the genre, but that's not to take anything away from them. They just aren't my thing, but they are decent musicians and I can respect what they do, and that's exactly what I must say with Holy Diver. This song is their's, and there's no doubt about it. The vocals are impressive and well done, and the music is totally heavy octane. This is the exact kind of thing I love to hear on tribute albums, a band giving their take on a song, not just a faithful cover.
Catch The Rainbow is performed by a mixed group of musicians. Glenn Hughes lays down just the vocals, with a very soulful, almost easy listening styled sound. Craig Goldy handles the guitar, Rudy Sarzo's on bass, and Simon Wright plays drums. Scott Warren is one of the few keyboardists on the entire album, and he also provides the string arrangements. As for the song itself, it's very pretty and I would put it on in mixed company, because this is the kind of song that chicks would enjoy. At least based on the females I live with. It's not the kind of tune I would normally listen to outside of this album.
I is a Heaven and Hell song that I just didn't know. It's another song made up of a mix of musicians. Oni Logan lays down some very solid vocals, in fact when he does the chorus you would think Ronnie James Dio himself was part of the recording. Rowan Robertson delivers some killer guitar. Jimmy Bain's bass does what bass is supposed to do on a post original group Sabbath, and the same can be said for Brian Tichy's drums. This is one of those songs that inspires me to search out more Dio/Iommi/Butler team-up albums.
Man On The Silver Mountain is my favourite song to feature Dio on vocals. It helps that Ritchie Blackmore is the guitarist of Rainbow, which is the band this song originally comes from. Now if you know much about names, if you were told that Doug Aldrich (guitars), Jeff Pilson (bass), and Vinny Appice (drums) made up the core of this band, with Scott Warren providing Hammmond B3, you'd know this song should be pretty solid musically, and you would be right. Then I tell you Rob Halford is the vocalist, and you should pretty much be ready to shit yourself with shear anticipation. Then you listen to the song, and because of a completely unfair expectation you have already set, the song drastically fails and blows your listening experience to shit. Okay that's a little dramatic. It's still a pretty good song, it's just that you expect so much when you see Halford is performing a Dio track, and then you have to remember that the older a dude gets the harder it is to hit those crazy notes that you expect.
The Ronnie Rising Medley performed by Metallica was yet another let down, because what I expected and what I got were two different things. Let me start with they should have got Bob Rock to produce the song. I went into this song expecting something like the Merciful Fate Medley, and got what feels more like a live track with the audience totally stripped out. It's the production that really kills this song for me. I love the arrangement, and the way most of Ronnie Rising Medley is put together, I just don't care for the sound of it.
The album finishes with This Is Your Life which is a Dio track, sung by Dio. I'm not sure what the entire story is behind this song being on the album, but it is a bit of a melancholy way to finish up the album.
All in all it's a pretty good album. I like it in a mix, and it's not bad on repeat full album listenings. I don't know if it's one of those albums I'll still be listening to a decade from now, but you never know. It's also a shame there weren't more newer bands. That makes me worry about the quality of what's out there nowadays.
7/10 - content
7/10 - production
6/10 - personal bias
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