“holy_dio”
Holy Dio
A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio
Century Media
Far and away, this is in the top five best Metal tribute records ever. First of all, Ronnie James Dio deserves tribute, as he’s one of the most important forces in Metal – am I right or what? Secondly, so many Heavy Metal bands with members in their 20’s (and early 30’s, I guess) grew up hearing a lot of Dio and thusly picked up a guitar and started to scream along with the little man of big voice. So fourteen pretty darn good Metal bands of the 1990’s got together and jammed on their favorite Dio (and Black Sabbath and Rainbow) tunes and recorded a real gem. There’s Steel Prophet’s version of “Neon Knights,” Hammerfall does “Man on the Silver Mountain,” Destiny’s End does “The Last In Line,” and what’s this? Fates Warning (?!)! Far out, they play a great, haunting version of “Sign of the Southern Cross,” followed by Gamma Ray jamming on “Long Live Rock ‘N Roll.” Doro (as in Doro Pesch? I thought she was… oh, well) sings “Egypt (The Chains Are On)” and Jag Panzer cranks out “Children of the Sea.” And hey, one of my favorite bands from last year, Blind Guardian, does “Don’t Talk To Strangers.” Other bands on this certainly-worth-it tribute include Solitude Aeturnus, Angel Dust, Primal Fear and Catch the Rainbow.
Century Media, 1453-A 14th St., Suite 324, Santa Monica, CA 90404; http://www.centurymedia.com
