Review by SilentScream213 for Dio - Holy Diver (1983)
Dio seems to excel everywhere he appears. He lead Rainbow to the top in the 70’s, reinvigorated Black Sabbath for their (in my opinion) best albums ever, and then quit at the top of his game to do his own thing. And yeah, it was another success; Holy Diver is a monster of an album.
Dio took the energy and flash of Rainbow and married it to the dark moodiness of Sabbath, and dropped something that triumphed almost anything either band had produced. His vocals are top notch as always, and now he’s free to do what he wants with them rather than bend to the wishes of another band. However, saying they steal the show is far from the truth. Guitarist Vivian Campbell is a master riff writer, and his guitar melodies play off of Dio’s hooks flawlessly.
As far as classic Heavy Metal goes, this is near the top.
Comments (2)
Yes and no.
When using a website like RYM, I'm rating all music against all other music. Therefore, 90% of metal, which I love, is in the 4 star and higher area. This album itself gets a 4.5 there.
However, this website is strictly metal. It would be pointless to transfer my ratings exactly and just give everything super high ratings, and to judge the albums here against albums that are not here. Therefore, I rate albums here against other metal. 3 stars here means: probably a fantastic album in the grand scheme of things, but as far as metal goes, it's above average.
I'm intrigued by your rating system. If this is near the top of classic heavy metal for you, and your review is extremely positive, why only three stars? I'm guessing you're just not that big a fan of heavy metal, so even a great album in that style is still middle of the road?