The dark poet of heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio, has been
departed from those of us in the rock ‘n’ roll community for almost four years,
having died in May 2010. Though a man of slight stature, he left behind a towering
musical legacy to which all sectors of the metal brotherhood continue to pay
homage. In that spirit, titans of the genre united to record cover versions of some
of Dio’s greatest work from the Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio—his eponymously
named group—eras on “Ronnie James Dio: This is Your Life,” with all proceeds dedicated
to the
Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.
The record has been out since early April 2014 and has
charted
at No. 20 on the Billboard Top 200 list.
But for all his success as a member of supergroups along
with the likes of Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow and Tony Iommi in Black Sabbath
and phenomenal solo work, Dio’s music was about beautiful, surrealistic lyrics
evoking paradoxical imagery of “shadows shining ever-bright” and “rainbows in
the dark.”
But more than anything else, Dio wrote anthems that made
people jump out of their seats and wave the two-fingered, so-called “devil’s
horns” salute. Most of the cuts on this tribute to Dio are of the full-throttle
anthem variety.
To prove the point, Anthrax comes out all guns blazing on “Neon
Knights” to start. Just like the original version from Black Sabbath’s first
collaboration with Dio on 1980’s “Heaven and Hell,” Anthrax sounds like a B-52
bomber with a full payload carpet-bombing the Viet Cong with napalm on the
Mekong delta. Joe Belladonna channels the vocals of Dio spot on and Scot Ian
shreds on the Iommi riff.
What may be the best track on the album is turned in by
Adrenaline Mob covering, naturally “Mob Rules” from the Black Sabbath album of
the same name. Anchored by Mike Portnoy, the drummer of Dream Theater fame, the
Adrenaline Mob thunders ahead with this fist pumper. There’s nothing quite like
cruising down the freeway with the moonroof open and this track singing your
eardrums with the volume at 11! The full visual power of Dio’s lyrics comes to
the fore as the song opens with “Close the city and tell the people that
something's coming to call | Death and darkness are rushing forward to take a
bite from the wall, oh.” Adrenaline Mob lives up to its name upping the pace
and the volume in salute to Dio.
Garnering a lot of attention and a big piece of the room on
this disc is Metallica covering not one but four Dio songs from the Rainbow era
in a medley aptly called “Ronnie Rising Medley,” melding the original tunes “A
Light in the Black,” “Tarot Woman,” “Stargazer” and “Kill the King.” Metallica
hasn’t sounded this good in years, with James Hetfield back to his old surly
self from the “Ride the Lightning” and “Master of Puppets” period, barking out
lyrics like a drill sergeant. Kirk Hammett scintillates on lead guitar as
always. And Lars Ulrich keeps it all very martial sounding on the kit. Hetfield
has been quoted as saying the group couldn’t settle on one song and that
jamming on all four was something they’ve done in the past, so it came together
very quickly. A definite highlight for any dyed-in-the-wool Metallicat!
Other nice performances are turned in by Scorpions on “The
Temple of the King” and Judas Priest’s Rob Halford on “Man on the Silver
Mountain.” Both tap the spiritual energy of Dio with understated performances.
Overall, an excellent album. And an excellent cause. Well worth
the price of admission. “This is Your Life” is available at
Amazon
and any record stores remaining near you!
-Derek Handova
Appreciative Listener
