Last in Line Review

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Last in Line ReviewHoly Diver was an excellent debut from Dio, and this album, just a year later, continued to show
Dio at full glory. Still, I think most people would agree that it does fall a bit short of Holy Diver,
but still it ranks very high. The album kicks off with one of heavy metal's top ever openers - We Rock.
And indeed it rocks. This is the classic type of metal opener you'd imagine: fast, furious and it rocks!
Excellent. The title track is next, and is the highlight of the album. The Last In Line for me is one
of Dio's top-3 songs ever, along with Holy Diver and Rainbow In The Dark, both from the previous album.
Everything is perfect about this song, and I think it would be correct to categorize it as something
between Holy Diver and Rainbow In The Dark, great stuff! Breathless is next and is a good metal song,
quite fast, decent chorus, and strong solo's. I Speed At Night has some of metal's best solo's, and
has an extemely cool riff. One Night In The City is a mid-tempo song with some strong riffs, that would
best be compared to 'Shame On The Night' from the previous album (nothing to do with the 'night' though).
Evil Eyes is another short and fast rocker, sort of like Gypsy, with strong lines throughout, very good. Mystery is a ballad, with some good keyboard work by Ronnie himself. Its slow but manages to stay solid.
It reminds you a little of Rainbow In The Dark, but surely not of that caliber. Eat Your Heart Out
is a nice mid-tempo song, with nice solo's by Vivian Campbell, once again.
The closing song is Dio's best ballad - Egypt (The Chains Are On). Its a slow song, but has excellent
crunching riffs, great lyrics, and is a real classic. At the same year Iron Maiden released
'Powerslave' which also deals with the same subject, has roughly the same length, and is also an excellent
song, interesting. In conclusion this is a very solid metal album. Not as good as Holy Diver, because some of the tracks
are just missing that energy crunch that was vivid throughout almost all of Holy Diver.
But its still a must for all Dio fans for sure, and for all serious metallists as well.
Excellent musicanship, and Dio has never reached this level of music ever since.
Highly recommended.Last in Line Overview

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Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Review

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Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow ReviewRainbow was formed in 1975 by lead guitar legend Ritchie Blackmore immediately after leaving Deep Purple. He met and struck up a friendship with Ronnie James Dio, who was fronting the bluesy hard rock band Elf. Ritchie was so impressed with Ronnie and the band that he formed Rainbow out of Elf. In other words, when they first began, Rainbow was basically Elf (minus their own lead guitarist, of course) plus Ritchie Blackmore.
Although Elf was basically a bar-room boogie band, both Ritchie and Ronnie envisioned Rainbow to be more of a progressive metal outfit with lyrics concentrating on mystical, medieval, and occult themes. This is why Rainbow's first record has both of these styles represented on it.
It begins with what might be the greatest Rainbow song ever (certainly one of their greatest anyway, as well as one of THE best songs from 1975), a 4 1/2-minute song called "Man On The Silver Mountain." This is the original song that defined Rainbow's music: it starts with a good basic electric guitar riff, then the bass, drums and keyboards join in for support, and when Ronnie James Dio starts to sing, it quickly begins to take shape as the progressive heavy metal song it is. And it has one amazing guitar solo by Ritchie Blackmore!
"Self Portrait" is also a dynamic prog-metal tune, but "Black Sheep Of The Family" is a straight-ahead, slightly bluesy hard rock tune with some great slide guitar work by Blackmore, and is obviously one of the Elf-penned contributions to this record. It is also quite infectious; once you hear it, you can't get it out of your mind for hours.
"Catch The Rainbow," at six and a half minutes long, is the only long song on this album, and is also the most progressive-sounding. It's the one that really paved the way for their next album "Rising," as it sounds more similar to the songs on that record than anything on this one. It's a nice, introspective tune. "Snake Charmer" is almost the opposite; it is a short, loud, brash song that contains a lot of Dio-screaming on it. "The Temple Of The King" gets Rainbow back into fine progressive form, with lyrics conjuring up the medieval. The, they do a sudden roots-rock-about-face with the VERY Elf-sounding, piano-and-bass-driven, ultra-infectious "If You Don't Like Rock 'N' Roll," which some reviewers have dismissed on here, but I think it provides a neat departure for Rainbow on this album. Besides, it shows all of us where Ronnie James Dio really came from (no, not Hell): He came from rock's early days. That's right, he formed his very first band all the way back in 1958, called Ronnie and The Rumblers, so you can tell that he still had some of that influence left in him by the time this album was made. I think it's pretty cool. :)
The CD winds down with "Sixteenth-Century Greensleeves" and "Still I'm Sad." The former is probably the most medieval-sounding track on here, about a revolt against a tyrant, with some evil-sounding singing by Dio. The latter is simply one of the greatest heavy metal instumentals ever, with fast time-changes on bass and drums, and absolutely amazing guitar fretwork by The Man In Black.
If you know only a couple of their later hit songs, then give early Rainbow a try, especially if you already like Deep Purple. Some of these songs are very Deep Purple-ish. If you also like Ronnie James Dio's 80's stuff, then this CD is for you! And...If you don't like rock 'n' roll, THEN YOU'RE TOO LATE NOW! :)Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow Overview

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Holy Diver Review

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Holy Diver ReviewMore than any other singer in rock and roll and/or heavy metal, Ronnie James Dio has had the longest, most prolific career. His career has lasted for more than 40 years and has gone through more ups and downs than anyone can imagine. It's a shame that Dio doesn't get enough acclaim, because he was around before bands like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple forged the heavy hard rock revolution, so that alone makes him the true pioneer. Anyway, enough of me ranting.
HOLY DIVER is an all-time heavy metal classic. It was the debut of Dio's self-moniker band, featuring Jimmy Bain on bass, Vinny Appice on drums, and a talented young guitarist named Vivian Campbell. This was also Dio's comeback release. After a stint with Elf in the early '70s, he joined Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow later in the decade. Soon he left, and became the new lead singer of Black Sabbath, replacing Ozzy. After a fallout with Tony Iommi during the making of Sabbath's first live album (LIVE EVIL), Dio had a lot to prove. Thus, he embarked on his solo career and made a searing impression with HOLY DIVER.
With his own band, Dio basically combined the epic, medevial imagery of Rainbow with the blistering heaviness of Sabbath to forge his own sound. Needless to say, this combo works extremely well. Every song on here is a winner. "Stand Up and Shout" is a fiery opener with great energy and speedy riffs. The mini-epic title track is a masterpiece, starting out slowly with an extended, lush keyboard intro and never letting up once the heaviness kicks in. Great drumming from Vinny on this song. "Don't Talk to Strangers" starts out as a power ballad-type track with some nice acoustic work, but it segues into becoming another hard rocker. Dio's vocals and lyrics are especially great in this track.
Both "Gypsy" and "Straight Through the Heart" are crunchy, melodic rockers with more great riffs and catchy choruses. My absolute favorite song on the album is the powerful "Invisible." This song has a spacey, atmospheric guitar intro from Vivian (very similar to Iron Maiden's "Strange World"), but stops suddenly and turns into an explosive metal feast. And let's not forget "Rainbow in the Dark," one of the best metal singles ever released in the '80s, with an awesome guitar solo from Campbell. Vivian is such a good player. What happened to him? Have you heard his stuff with Def Leppard? He sounds horrendous with them. Oh, well. That's what he gets for leaving Dio.
I have nothing else to say. HOLY DIVER is an unforgettable metal masterpiece, and it won't be leaving my CD player (or yours for that matter) anytime soon.Holy Diver Overview

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We Wish You a Metal Xmas & A Headbanging New Review

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We Wish You a Metal Xmas & A Headbanging New ReviewI have purchased quite a few Rock Christmas compilations, but none have been as well arranged, produced and recorded as this one. Those that say this is stupid must be turned off by the "Christ" part of the equation on this CD because it is stock full of great Hard Rock guitar solos and searing vocals. NOTHING on this CD is stupid musically. As a matter of fact, I don't know of any other compilation that I have heard that contains as much talent as this CD does (and it shows).
First off, however, I would like to point out that the track listing supply by Amazon's description was not accurate as the following is the track list for the copy they sent me:
1. We Wish You A Merry Xmas
Jeff Scott Soto / Bruce Kulick / Bob Kulick/ Chris Wyse / Ray Luzier
2. Run Rudolph Run
Lemmy / Billy F Gibbons / Dave Grohl
3. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Alice Cooper / John 5 / Billy Sheehan / Vinny Appice
4. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Ronnie James Dio / Tony Iommi / Rudy Sarzo / Simon Wright
5. Silver Bells
Geoff Tate / Carlos Cavazo / James Lomenzo / Ray Luzier
6. Little Drummer Boy
Dug Pinnick / George Lynch / Billy Sheehan / Simon Phillips
7. Santa Claus Is Back In Town
Tim 'Ripper' Owens / Steve Morse / Juan Garcia / Marco Mendoza / Vinny Appice
8. Silent Night
Chuck Billy / Scott Ian / Jon Donais / Chris Wyse / John Tempesta
9. Deck the Halls
Oni Logan / Craig Goldy / Tony Franklin / John Tempesta
10. Grandma Got Ran Over By A reindeer
Stephen Pearcy / Tracii Guns / Bob Kulick / Billy Sheehan / GregBissonette
11. Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree
Joe Lynn Turner / Bruce Kulick / Bob Kulick / Rudy Sarzo / Simon Wright
12. Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Tommy Shaw / Steve Lukather / Marco Mendoza / Kenny Aronoff Song Reviews:
We Wish You a Merry Xmas - The guitars are awesome. Great solos. And the Drums are very prominent, giving the song a heavy feel.
Run Rudolph Run - Billy Gibbons tears up the guitars on this song and Limmy puts his Motorhead stamp on it his raw gravely vocals.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town - The song starts out with a creepy S-A-N-T-A C-L-A-W-S chant by Alice Cooper and then rocks it's way in the traditional lyrics with a sound only Alice Cooper could give it.
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - to me, this song stands out slightly over the rest of the album. Dio's vocals are in top form and the guitars are extremely heavy on this version. It sounds like it belongs on a Black Sabbath record.
Silver Bells - Although the guitars on this song are over the top, the vocals feel a little out of place on this one. Geoff Tate has the vocals to fill a stadium, but I'm not sure I like him singing a jingle like this.
Little Drummer Boy - Starts with a heavy drum beat and then Dug Pinnick adds his voice perfectly for this song. This is by far my favorite version of this song ever. George Lynch adds some great guitar licks to the song and you can hear Billy Sheehan laying down a nice rhythm on bass.
Santa Claus is Back in Town - Tim Owens sings like he normally does and it works well on this song. But the best part of the song is the guitars by Steve Morse.
Silent Night - This is the only song on the CD that I do not like. It's not because of the guitars because they are great. It's because of the vocals. I HATE the growling vocal trend that so many Death Metal bands use today. That is how the vocals are done on this song and it makes me feel as though he is straining on the toilet throughout the entire song. That's just my taste, I am sure some will like it. I will have to say that there is one of the best guitar solos on the record in the middle of this song.
Deck the Halls - Solid vocals round out a song full of (one again) great guitar work.
Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer - I thought that there was no way this song could be made into a true rocker. I was wrong. The main guitar riff on this song is awesome.
Rockin' Around the Xmas Tree - Yet again, the guitars on this song kick you in the face. This song has a real blues feel .
Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - This is the only truly slow song on the CD. Tommy Shaw does a great job on vocals and ends the CD with a calm tune that brings you down slowly from the rush of the pure adrenaline of the previous 11 songs.
Anyone that says this CD is stupid has clearly not listened to it. It may not be for you if you don't celebrate Christmas, but don't skip out on this simply because you think it's not a Hard Rock record. I was very impressed. I also bought "We Wish You A Hairy Christmas" and although it has its moments, it does not even compare to this one. If you celebrate Christmas and like Hard Rock, you will LOVE this CD.
We Wish You a Metal Xmas & A Headbanging New Overview

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