After three amazing album’s with Rainbow, Dio and Ritchie Blackmore decided to part ways. Dio was concerned with the direction that Blackmore wanted to go, turning to a more commercial sound than Dio was happy with. Given the three albums the band had produced, and the final one being “Long Live Rock and Roll”, an episode on which appears in this season of this podcast, it is hard to imagine that that could occur. Ronnie then met up with Tony Iommi, and became the replacement for Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, producing two amazing albums and a double live album. It was during the mixing of that live album that tensions began to flare between Tony and Geezer Butler, who had been with the band since its inception, and Ronnie, who was looking to become more influential in what was being done. Disagreements over the mixing levels of that album, and the possibility of Dio producing a solo album, led to tensions boiling over, and a parting of the ways. At this time Ronnie asked current Sabbath drummer Vinnie Appice if he would like to join him in forming a new band, something he readily agreed to.
Having come to a decision to move on by themselves, Ronnie and Vinny needed to flesh out the rest of the band. Due mainly to the influence of the two guitarists with which he had recently shared the stage, Ronnie had decided that he wanted to have a British guitar player in his band. Looking for advice in this direction, he came into contact with bass guitarist Jimmy Bain, with whom he had been in Rainbow with, and asked if he had any suggestions. Together, they came across a brash young Irish guitarist in a band called Sweet Savage who were just beginning to make a name for themselves. The guitarist had everything the fledgling band was looking for – style, flamboyance and an ability to write songs. Thus it came to pass that Vivian Campbell was recruited for the new band. With Jimmy now pretty much assuming that he was a part of the group, the four piece was complete, and became a band under the banner of Dio. Now it was time to see if they could produce lightning that would strike for a third time.
The album cover was the first striking moment of the new band, and did cause some controversy at the time of its release. Ronnie was quoted in Metal Mammer as saying “I seem to remember a little bit of, ‘Are you sure you wanna do this?’ from the record company. But the idea was to reverse the question of, ‘How come you’ve got a monster drowning a priest?’ We wanted to be able to say, ‘How do you know it’s not a priest drowning a monster?’ And I think that’s kind of been proven out in the last few years with all the problems we’ve had in the Catholic Church. In hindsight, I like to think we were right about who we put in the water.”
One of the most important moments in a band’s career is how they kick off the first song of Side One of their debut album. Perhaps with the experience that the band members had had over the years in other bands, this had already erased any possibility that this album would not have a great start. Maybe so, but for the fans, heading into this new project, it would have been important to hear a song that provided a statement for what the new band was going to offer, what direction they would be heading in, and whether they could immediately provide a song whose impact would not only be instantaneous, but would remain that way for eternity. With the opening track of “Holy Diver”, Dio positively nailed it.
After the charging start to the album, Ronnie has delved back into his previous bands with the opening to the title track “Holy Diver”. The mood of the opening 60 seconds is pure Rainbow, or Sabbath’s “Children of the Sea”. The keys and synth slowly draw you into the track before crunching into the opening riff, and off we go. One of my favourite quotes about Dio after he had passed in 2010 came from Susan Olsen, the actress who had played Cindy in The Brady Bunch. She said “I remember Dio from Rainbow and his amazing voice, and I always wanted to ask him what the hell was a holy diver?” Well, that question is answered by a quote from Ronnie himself that appeared in several interviews, this one from Metal Hammer - “The song Holy Diver is really about a Christ figure, who on another place, not Earth, has done exactly the same as we’ve apparently experienced or were supposed to have experienced on Earth: dying for the sins of man so that man can start again and be cleansed and do it properly.”
“Gypsy” starts with that almost primal scream from Ronnie and defies its somewhat midtempo rhythm by being an amazingly hard core song thanks to the way Ronnie sings the song, which is quite out of character for his usual singing style. This is one of the most underrated Dio songs in their catalogue, one that that has always been an awesome song but is often overlooked when it comes to people reviewing it.
One of the riffs that Vivian brought with him from his previous band, Sweet Savage, is amazingly distinct, and not something I discovered until many years after this album was released. The Sweet Savage song “Straight Through the Heart” was not released until after Vivian had left the band, but the riff of the song is unmistakable. Funnily enough though, it is not the riff to the Dio song “Straight Through the Heart” which opens side two of this album. It is the riff that opens the song “Caught in the Middle”, that distinctive wonderful kick off riff that immediately has you dragging out the air guitar to play along to, before bursting into singing along with the vocals as they start as well.
Side One of the album closes with one of the greatest metal songs of all time, and not because of its amazing ferocity or speed or heaviness. It is because of all of the elements Dio brought to their songs. Starting out in the quiet almost acoustic frame with Ronnie’s vocals in a quietly stated higher register, before crashing into the pounding metal riff and drums and the hard core change of Ronnie’s vocals, with the energy and lung capacity belting out the song with intensity... this is an amazing song. Ronnie lyrics again are masterful at painting a picture and telling a story, all with the skills of the craftsman he is.
Flip the album over, and off we go again. The aforementioned “Straight Through the Heart” kicks it off in style with Vinny’s drum entrance into the major riff. Great song. This is followed by another underrated classic, “Invisible”, which remains one of my favourite Dio songs ever. Another of Ronnie’s story telling songs, speaking of the woman alone, the man in confusion, and of Ronnie himself, is wonderfully put together surrounded by Vivian’s wonderful soloing in the middle.
The story of “Rainbow in the Dark”, Dio’s best known single, is an interesting look into the way the band and Dio himself were combining at the time. The story from all members of the band goes that when “Rainbow in the Dark” was being recorded, Ronnie himself wanted to cut it up and throw it away, such was his dislike for the track. However, both Vinny and Jimmy vehemently would not allow that to happen, saying it was brilliant and it would be adored by the fans. Jimmy then came up with the keyboard riff over the top of the chorus, and Ronnie relented and it remained on the album. And, as he has said in interviews following this, “they were right and I was wrong”.
The album then ends with the brilliant “Shame on the Night”, which truly brings the mood back to the dark and mysterious. Again this delves into those beautiful moods set from Ronnie’s two previous bands, and it acts as a wonderful and brilliant conclusion to the album. An album that still stands the test of time 40 years on.
Back in early 1986, as I had begun my conversion to heavy metal, we had an exchange student from the US turn up at our school for a few short weeks. Steve was his name, and along with him he had brought a collection of cassettes of bands that were new to my knowledge, among them being Night Ranger, Ratt - and Dio. And thus began a love affair that remains to today, as I record this episode. Something about the music grabbed me, in the same way that Iron Maiden and Metallica had just prior to this event occurring. What it was in particular I can’t really explain, but it most definitely was a combination of all four members of the band, and the way they not only performed the songs but the way they wrote them. And this was true of all of those first three albums that the band released with these four gentlemen as the original quartet.
“Holy Diver” is an amazing album. It is driven by the ridiculous and awe-inspiring vocals from the man himself, Ronnie James Dio. Arguably, “Holy Diver” provides the most diverse vocal performances of his career, from the opening of “Stand Up and Shout” and the lulls of the title track, to the more energetic screams of “Gypsy” and passion of “Invisible”, to the magnificent mood-changing lines of “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “Shame on the Night”, he provides a full range of differing styles that help to make this album as brilliant as it is. His lyrics are a major part as well, covering the gamut of emotions and responses. Whenever I listen to this album, the vocals especially on “Caught in the Middle”, “Don’t Talk to Strangers” and “Invisible” send me careering back in time to those late high school years, bringing back the same emotions I was feeling then about both this album and the experiences I was going through at that time. The joys and the disappointments. Emotional is the right word to use when I listen to this album.
But how good are the contributions of both Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain? The greatness of this album is set up by their synchronisation, the thumping toms of Vinny and perfect use of snare, hi-hats and cymbals that hold together each song and emphasise each section in the style that is needed. And Jimmy’s bass lines are just magnificent, rumbling like a freight train when they are needed, such as in “Don’t Talk to Strangers”, and up and down the frets to play the perfect accompaniment to the guitar, such as in “Caught in the Middle”. Sometimes, the part that these two played on these Dio album is overlooked, and it absolutely cannot be done so. Not only was their input on the writing side so invaluable, but the way they PLAYED the songs is integral to why they are so good.
For me though, it was my first experience of Vivian Campbell, and an obsession began that still remains to this day. Everything that he contributes to this album, and the next two, to me is beyond brilliant. Each guitar riff, each amazing solo. Vivian became my guitar hero, the one I placed on a pedestal above all others. I know Ronnie is the star, but Vivian for me is the genius behind it all on that guitar. No split in music history has hurt me more than when Vivian left Dio. History also shows that, for both entities, neither was able to rediscover the magic that they had been able to produce together. More is the pity.
In the past few episode of this podcast, I have managed to bring to you three albums that rank in the top ten of MY favourite albums of all time. We had Queensryche with “Operation: Mindcrime”. We had Iron Maiden with “Piece of Mind”. And you can now add Dio with “Holy Diver” on to that list. The album has lost nothing since its release 40 years ago, and the fact that it has captured in a bottle these four musicians arguably at the peak of their collective powers, only proves that even more. Many rank this as the band’s finest album. I sometimes wonder though that they didn’t do an even better job with their follow up. But that is for another episode sometime in the future.
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