Dio: Holy Diver Live (DVD)

Is there any question about Holy Diver being one of the most important Heavy Metal albums of all time? The overall impact of his solo debut led Ronnie James Dio and his band on a path to Metal dominance and while he would release great music afterwards none were as appealing on the whole as this recording. Songs like "Stand Up And Shout", "Rainbow In The Dark" and title track "Holy Diver" became synonymous with the strength of Heavy Metal music and its power over the legions of the night. In 2005 during the tail end of his "Master Of The Moon" tour Dio treated the fans to a full performance of this classic album. Thanks to Eagle Vision the supporters of the legendary entertainer will get to relive this concert once again in the comforts of home where they control the volume and the mood. The concert was also released as a double live CD, but the owners of that product will immediately notice that the layout of the music is different. To make sense of the Holy Diver presentation, the first CD features that portion of the show, while CD2 features all the remaining songs. On the DVD, which is a single disk we get the entire show from start to finish just as it was performed had you attended one of these shows. If you did not purchase the CD, then here is a good way to make amends and fill a Metal need. Overall the show is very well done, but be aware that by this point Dio no longer does over the top visual shows. The setting is very sparse and this show is all about the presentation of the music. Joining Dio is a killer lineup that features Rudy Sarzo (bass), Doug Aldrich (guitar), Scott Warren (keyboards) and Simon Wright (drums); the band does great recreating the music originally created by Campbell, Appice and Bain while Dio is in good form as usual. On top of the classic album you have a fair amount of Black Sabbath (Dio years) numbers to enjoy and some Rainbow which is never a bad thing.

The CD is more for the hard core fan, while the DVD is for everyone in my opinion. While I enjoyed the piece as a whole, I did think this should have been released as a single package of CD and DVD together. The bonus features are on the limited side with only some brief interview segments with the band about the performance itself. I would have liked a little longer discussion with Dio on the relevance of this album and his long career in Metal music as one of its more prominent spokesmen.

Track Listing

1. Tarot Woman
2. The Sign Of The Southern Cross
3. One Night In The City
4. Stand Up And Shout
5. Holy Diver
6. Gypsy
7. Caught In The Middle
8. Don't Talk To Strangers
9. Straight Through The Heart
10. Invisible
11. Rainbow In The Dark
12. Shame On The Light
13. Gates Of Babylon
14. Heaven And Hell
15. Man On The Silver Mountain
16. Long Live Rock And Roll
17. We Rock
18. Interviews - bonus

Added: June 19th 2006
Reviewer: Ken Pierce
Score:
Related Link: Dio Website
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Language: english

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