Album Review: Dio - Holy Diver

Another year, more albums, and plenty more albums, I haven't even touched upon the amount of albums I actually own, and getting albums from my library is easy. This year, since I also have my song blog, I'm going to try and get at least two of these out a month, three if I'm on a roll, and to kick off my year of album reviews, an album I wanted to get to last year.

Holy Diver was released on May 25, 1983 and was the debut album for this, not yet super group, consisting of Ronnie James Dio, Vinny Appice, Vivian Campbell and Jimmy Bain. It has not topped any Album Charts on release, but it has reached as high as number 13 in the UK and number 18 in Sweden, but only number 56 on the Billboard 200. It's been certified Platinum in the USA and silver in the UK.

The album definitely starts off stronger than most with the opening track "Stand Up and Shout", which shows off the talents of Vivian and Vinny and the vocal abilities of Dio himself. The track is high in energy and does actually make me desire to stand up and shout. The motivational song is a highlight of the album, which would normally be a bad thing as it mostly proves that the album has it's best song first and loses momentum as it goes on such as the case with Metal Resistance, but Holy Diver delivers a double whammy with it's second track "Holy Diver".

To state that the title track is incredible would be an obvious statement, but it really does show what kind of talent the group has. Vivian Campbell's incredibly catchy guitar riff and Vinny Appice's solid drum work are only the tip of the iceberg with this track and Dio's vocal performance and the lyrics round off what is easily a heavy metal classic. Even though every now and again we get some unmemorable tracks like "Caught in the Middle" and "Invisible" none of the tracks are really bad, and even the more forgettable tracks are still good to listen too, although probably more on there own rather than with the rest of the album.

Probably my favourite track on the album, "Rainbow in the Dark" adds some real nice synth flare to an already epic track, it's nice hearing some power metal every now and again. The album ends with the ninth track "Shame on the Night" which is one song I always try to play on Halloween.. It has some nice haunting instrumentals, but doesn't stand out as much as something like "Rainbow in the Dark".

Overall, the album is one that no metal fan should pass on, it is a perfect showcase on why Ronnie James Dio is often considered the king of heavy metal, but don't let that make you think the entire album is Dio's work. The instrumentals are solid on every track and Vivian Campbell does amazing work especially. Tracks like "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark" are perfect examples of what each separate musician was capable of.

For the incredible talents, the songs that really stand out and the amazing instrumentals, I have to start this year off strong and give this album a full 10/10. I'm the Entity of Darkness, \m/.