Dio
Holy Diver: Live

Some heroes never die, like Ronnie James Dio, the man that is one of the most distinct voices in the metal world. He passed many years ago but will live for a very long time through his music, like the iconic debut for the Dio moniker Holy Diver. That album was played live on a show in London and released as a live album, there were some more tracks there are well from the long career of Dio. This live album has been long sold out, and is being released again now, apparently a whole series of live albums will be released again through BMG.

It is pretty classic Dio that we know, it is clear that this was recorded when he was at a fairly advanced age as you can hear that his voice is not quite as strong as it once was, not to say that it is bad far from it. It is good sound and the variation of songs after the performance of the Holy Diver albums comes from the Black Sabbath, much from Rainbow and some Dio tracks. I don’t think there are any surprises through this album, and that shouldn’t be too surprising to the one reading about the album. The only new thing about this since the first time it was released is a new cover and remastered songs.

Not one of the best albums by Dio, there are many better albums in his catalogue. I would recommend digging for his earlier albums instead, the Rainbow Live album from the seventies is more exciting and of course all those iconic studio albums by Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and of course Dio, this feels more like something for collectors and not the casual album buyer who wants a great album. Sure, it is a fine album where we hear many outstanding and iconic songs, the backside of this is that these songs sound better on other albums, and other live albums so the argument for this one isn’t the strongest, but it will probably not be overly disappointing to anyone getting it.

Dio will live on and his music will shine like a rainbow in the dark, and this live Holy Diver is fine and shows part of his greatness. But it is far from his best and just the Holy Diver songs would probably have improved it but I think your money would be more well spent on another one of his albums.

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