Dio: Holy Diver (2LP, Joe Barresi remix, 180g, bonus track, etching) [RHINO]

Why you'll love it

This edition brings Joe Barresi's 2022 remix, the B-side "Evil Eyes" and a newly commissioned cover painting, spread over two 180g discs with an etched fourth side. Holy Diver went double platinum in the US, and "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark" both reached the top 20 on the US mainstream rock chart.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 180g vinyl
• 2022 Joe Barresi remix
• Bonus track "Evil Eyes"
• Etched side
• New cover painting
• Pressed in Canada
• Remastered

About the album

Ronnie James Dio grew up reading Sir Walter Scott, Arthurian tales and science fiction, and decided early that telling fantasy stories was the smartest thing a songwriter could do. He'd already done it in Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath, and in 1983 he finally put his own name on the door and made Holy Diver, the debut of the band Dio.

He picked his crew carefully: fellow Sabbath alumnus Vinny Appice on drums, veteran Jimmy Bain on bass and a young Irish guitarist named Vivian Campbell, whose fiery leads light up "Stand Up and Shout" and "Don't Talk to Strangers." The title track gallops in after a slow, ominous build, "Rainbow in the Dark" rides its famous keyboard riff, and "Caught in the Middle" borrows its main riff from Campbell's previous band Sweet Savage, whose song title "Straight Through the Heart" also lands here. Music videos for the two singles kept the band on screens all through the decade.

AllMusic called it one of the finest pure heavy metal albums of the 1980s, and IGN put it at No. 8 on its Top 25 Metal Albums. As for that cover, Dio insisted it could just as easily show a priest getting the better of the devil, the most generous reading of a sleeve in metal history and one we fully support.

Also at Kops: more Dio on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Warner / Rhino (cat# R1 653888), a reissue of the 1983 album.