Ronnie James Dio-This Is Your Life (Tribute 2014)

Post #318

When Ronnie James Dio lost his battle with cancer in 2010, the world of heavy metal mourned the loss of one if its most iconic vocalists of all time.

As far as tributes go, it is hard to top this one. The roster of artists performing on this tribute CD are all practically legends themselves. Killswitch Engage, Scorpions, Corey Taylor (of Slipknot and Stone Sour), Halestorm, Anthrax, Tenacious D, and even the mighty Metallica have all included a song on this collection. That should show you the significance of Dio's influence alone, but do yourself a favor and listen to this collection of songs, penned by one of the greatest vocalists metal has ever known.


Recommended tracks:
-Neon Knights (Anthrax)
-The Last In Line (Tenacious D)
-Rainbow In The Dark (Corey Taylor and others)
-The Temple of the King (Scorpions)
-Straight Through The Heart (Halestorm)
-Ronnie Rising Medley (a blend of 4 tracks from Ronnie's material by Rainbow-arranges and performed by Metallica)
-This is Your Life (Dio- this one is a Dio original, and one I hadn't paid close attention to before. It is from his album Angry Machines. The lyrics make it a very fitting inclusion here.)


Do not forget that 100% of the proceeds from sales of this tribute album benefit the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund

When Ronnie James Dio Joined Black Sabbath...

Post # 280 [Poll Winner-Favorite Replacement Vocalist]

Black Sabbath spent the 1970's establishing themselves as the premier heavy metal band on planet Earth. As friction mounted within the band, the time came when they eventually parted ways with original singer Ozzy Osbourne and searched for a replacement. Having toured with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, other members were in communication with singer Ronnie James Dio.

Guitarist Tony Iommi and Ronnie got together and worked on some ideas musically. Their collaboration had a good enough vibe that Dio was offered the lead singer spot, and Heaven and Hell- their first album with this new line-up, soon followed. It has stood the test of time as a monumental album in the landscape of 80's heavy metal. The transition gave Sabbath a shot in the arm, and allowed them to get a fresh start at the dawn of a new decade.

Recommended tracks from Heaven and Hell:
-Neon Knights
-Heaven and Hell
-Children of the Sea
-Lady Evil
-Die Young
-Lonely is the Word

Tribute Night at Reggies: Lights Out, Judas Beast, Heaven & Hell-Chicago (3-15-13)

Post #240
Tribute bands are everywhere. They are essentially cover-bands, but choose to focus on covering and paying tribute to specific artists. Often they will name themselves after a well known song, lyric, album or other theme easily associated with the bands they cover. I have heard of many of these kinds of bands over the years, but this was the first time I made it to an actual show since I began this blog. It was a great night of familiar tunes from some classic heavy metal artists. The tribute bands on this night: Lights Out, Judas Beast and Heaven and Hell-Chicago. The bands they were paying tribute to: UFO, Iron Maiden, and Black Sabbath/Heaven and Hell/Dio.

Lights Out were the opening act, and they hit us with some killer rock and roll riffs from UFO's back-catalog, as well as a couple Michael Schenker tunes! Their guitarist even played the Gibson Flying V (Schenker's signature style of guitar!) They opened up with 'Hot N' Ready' from UFO's '78 Obsession album. They kept the show rolling from that point on, squeezing 13 songs into their set as the opening act.

They changed things up from one track to the next, covering some power ballads along with the hard-rockers. About half-way through the set they switched to the Michael Schenker Group, covering 'Armed and Ready' and 'Victim of Illusion', among others. My favorite part of their set was the closing number 'Rock Bottom', which featured an extended guitar solo and instrumental jam! Lead guitarist Joe Mazzuca kept the audience captivated for several minutes during this closing number.

I've always felt that Michael Schenker is an underrated guitarist. For some reason he remains largely in obscurity from the mainstream perspective, as most of his following is relegated to 'cult' status. I feel he deserves more respect for his contributions to metal than he seems to get. Lights Out were paying some of that overdue respect, and did justice for these songs from UFO and MSG.

Next up was Judas Beast, prepared as always to deliver "The ultimate Iron Maiden experience!"

This show started with the spoken intro, "Seven deadly sins, seven ways to win..." and they kicked off the show with 'Moonchild' from the Seventh Son album. True to their word, they really nailed the Maiden sound! They even had a 6-man line-up, with 3 lead guitarists (just like the real Maiden). Added to this was singer Dane McCartney sporting an 'Eddie' stocking cap (similar in style to the ones Bruce Dickinson is known to wear during live sets). Immediately following that they jumped into 'The Evil That Men Do', and it was evident that we were in for a wild ride!

It could not go without notice that Dane had an uncanny knack to imitate the sound of Bruce Dickinson's voice to such a convincing degree it would fool many die-hard Iron Maiden fans. In fact, for much of their show I would forget that I was not listening to the REAL Iron Maiden, they sounded that good! I needed to remind myself that this was only a tribute band. However, they performed each song with such enthusiasm and power, I would be tempted to call them a world-class Maiden tribute band.

If you need proof, you can see and hear for yourself in this youtube clip of 'Infinite Dreams'.

My favorite song they performed on this night was 'Still Life', from the Piece of Mind album. More of an obscure song, it has long been one of my favorites. I find the mood and melodies so haunting in this song, it captivates my imagination. I had always hoped to hear Iron Maiden play it whenever I've seen them in concert, but I've been unlucky so far. I must thank Judas Beast for including it in their set. As they did with so many songs on this night, they nailed it!

The band themselves seemed to be enjoying the crowd almost as much as we were enjoying them. They drew the audience into several moments of crowd-participation at every appropriate moment. The set-list itself was even a treat for the fans, as with each successive song it became apparent they were paying tribute to the Maiden England DVD, essentially re-creating that concert for the fans who knew of it. In the end only a couple songs were cut for time constraints. After all, there was still one tribute act left to perform...

...And then it was time for the headlining act: Heaven and Hell-Chicago!

With a large, white cross gracing the stage, and stage-smoke wafting into the room, the signature instrumental  track 'E5150' was played as the intro, while the band members took their places on-stage. Then, almost without warning, they instantly electrified the room with a killer, break-neck riff, we were all pumping our fists to 'Neon Knights'! Through the ages, every incarnation of Black Sabbath has been known to always deliver on one element in their music: heavy! This band had their instruments perfectly tuned and mixed to deliver that aspect with authority.

Since Ronnie James Dio passed away from cancer in 2010, I have been listening to almost every era of his music with near-religious regularity. Now, I was hearing a band with that same level of admiration for one of metal's biggest icons, performing those songs with a dedicated passion that was apparent in every move they made, every note they played. When they played 'Holy Diver', and did the proverbial 'horns' salute, the crowd responded in turn. This cultural phenomenon, \m/, has taken on a new significance when bands perform the works of Dio. This crowd knew that significance, and showed the deepest respect.

Although their singer wasn't quite on the same level of imitating Ronnie James Dio's voice as Dane McCartney was for Bruce Dickinson, he did have the range to sing the songs very well, including several Ozzy-era Sabbath songs! Although Judas Beast were hard to top in terms of the imitation factor, where Heaven and Hell-Chicago really impressed me was their choice of set-list. Not only did they cover songs from both the Ozzy- and Dio-fronted Black Sabbath, but they also did a number of songs from Dio's solo material and songs from his stint with Rainbow! Myself being a huge fan of both sides of Sabbath, this was a set list I had dreamed of hearing. I've seen Ozzy in concert, and I've seen the real Heaven and Hell. Always, I had hoped against the odds to hear one artist go back to the forgotten eras and perform a song or two. I wish I could have heard Ronnie sing 'War Pigs', or Ozzy sing 'Heaven and Hell'. With Heaven and Hell-Chicago spreading their song choices across the whole Sabbath/Dio career, this was the next best thing! The only thing that could have topped that might have been if they played Ozzy's 'Crazy Train', but perhaps that's an idea for another day...

I've never heard a few bands deliver as many timeless classics of heavy metal music as I did on this night. From the often overlooked classics from UFO, to a page from the touring history of Iron Maiden, to the nearly complete retrospective of Dio, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, and Heaven and Hell, it would be hard to ask for a better combo of tribute bands in one night! Lights Out, Judas Beast, and Heaven & Hell-Chicago are all on facebook, and they play frequently in the Chicago area. Check out any of their upcoming shows, and you will be thanking me for the suggestion in no time.

For now, see what the show was like for us on the evening of March 15th...
Set lists were:

LIGHTS OUT
-Hot N' Ready
-This Kid's
-Only You Can Rock Me
-Mother Mary
-A Self Made Man
-Armed and Ready (MSG)
-Victim of Illusion (MSG)
-On and On (MSG)
-Too Hot to Handle
-Let it Roll
-Love to Love
-Lights Out
-Rock Bottom

JUDAS BEAST
-Moonchild
-The Evil That Men Do
-The Prisoner
-Still Life
-Die With Your Boots On
-Infinite Dreams
-Killers
-Can I Play With Madness
-Heaven Can Wait
-Wasted Years
-Iron Maiden
-Number Of The Beast
-Run To The Hills
-Hallowed be Thy Name

HEAVEN AND HELL-CHICAGO
-E5150 (intro)
-Neon Knights
-Children of the Sea
-Faeries Wear Boots
-Sabbath Bloody Sabbath
-Holy Diver
-Don't Talk to Strangers
-Heaven and Hell
-Iron Man
-Bass Solo/Basically/N.I.B.
-The Man on the Silver Mountain
-Stargazer
-War Pigs
-The Last in Line
-The Mob Rules

Slide show of extra pix from the show:

Heavy Metal Madness-First Round Update (part 1)

Post #187
In the first full round of Heavy Metal Madness 2012 the action got underway in earnest. A few of the matches were predictably lop-sided, however there were a couple surprising upsets. Here's a quick breakdown of the January matches...

Metallica defeated Danzig 52-4 in the most dominating exhibition so far.

Anthrax beat Ronnie James Dio 34-23 in a closer match.

Pantera beat Queensryche handily 47-9

Iron Maiden defeated King Diamond/Mercyful Fate convincingly 49-5

Foo Fighters upset Ramones 31-26 in the closest match since the play-in round

Rage Against The Machine bested The Misfits 36-18 for the biggest upset (as The Misfits were seeded #3 in their category)

Soundgarden beat Nickelback 44-10

and Pearl Jam bested Black Flag 42-12.

As before, I will leave you a suggested track for each band eliminated at this point. The bands that were victorious advance to face a new opponent before long...

Danzig-Mother

Dio-Rainbow In The Dark

Queensryche-Eyes of a Stranger

King Diamond-Abigail

Ramones-Blitzkrieg Bop

Misfits-Where Eagles Dare

Nickelback-Rock Star

Black Flag-Rise Above

There you have it. 8 more bands that YOU have decided are not worthy of the title "Best Heavy Metal Band Of All Time". If you don't think the right bands are getting enough votes, TELL YOUR FRIENDS to VOTE!

Until next time... Happy Headbanging to all!

Remembering Ronnie James Dio (1942-2010)

Post #95
It is with a heavy heart that I write these thoughts on the late Ronnie James Dio. I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact of his passing. He meant so much to Rock N' Roll & Heavy Metal music, more than many may realize. It was just recently that I learned his music career extended back to the late 50's! How many artists in Heavy Metal can say that?

Dio's career in Heavy Metal was legendary. He had sung for several major bands; including Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and his self-titled band Dio. When taken as a whole, Dio's recording career transcended decades and genres as few other artists could ever hope to match. With his return to Black Sabbath in 2006 it seemed his career had come full-circle, as the renewed comraderie inspired the band to change their name to Heaven & Hell, after the first Black Sabbath album on which Dio sang. It seemed they could have continued making music together for many more years, until Ronnie lost his battle with cancer on May 16th.

On a personal level, Dio's music was an integral part of my journey into Heavy Metal music. I've mentioned before how I first became a fan of heavy music in the late 80's, embracing almost any band that is regarded today as 'Hair-Metal'. Bands like Guns N' Roses, Motley Crue, Poison, Ratt, L.A. Guns, & Whitesnake made up much of my personal music catalog at that time. Ronnie James Dio had been a rocker for many years before the Hair-Metal scene took off, and his music retained elements of classic metal that would lead me back to discover artists like Iron Maiden & Judas Priest later on.

All of his many collaborations have helped Ronnie James Dio remain a relevant and influential force in Heavy Metal throughout the years. Dio has been one of the guiding creative minds of Heavy Metal from his early hard rock band, Elf, in the late 60's, to the newest Heaven & Hell album, The Devil You Know, in 2009. However, he is best known for his work from the 80's.

It was on a compilation cassette where I first discovered Dio. 'Rock 'N' Roll Children' was a Dio track featured on a cassette compilation titled "Slave to the Metal". It was one of my favorite songs on that tape, and I made a point to look further into his music. Eventually I added albums like Sacred Heart and Lock Up The Wolves to my collection. A year or two later I discovered a new radio station that played a lot of metal, and it wasn't long before I heard Dio's all-time classic 'Rainbow in the Dark'.

'Rainbow in the Dark' is built upon a guitar riff regarded by many as one of the best in Heavy Metal. It was the best single from Dio's name-sake band's debut album, Holy Diver. This album as a whole is also revered throughout the Heavy Metal community, so I'll review Dio's iconic Holy Diver album today.

Holy Diver seems to be the album regarded by the majority of Dio fans as his best. If you listen to it from start to finish it is easy to see why. This is an album filled with memorable riffs, catchy melodies, and overall brilliant songwriting. While Dio's band provides a tight musical framework, Ronnie's voice provides powerful emotion and thought provoking lyrics. To hear some of the best songs from Holy Diver listen to these:

-Stand Up And Shout

-Holy Diver

-Straight Through The Heart

-Rainbow In The Dark

-Shame On The Night

To read other reviews of Dio's music on this blog, just click on the 'Dio' tag below.

Heaven & Hell-The Devil You Know

Post #70
After Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath in the late 70's the band has more or less had a revolving door of lead vocalists. While some lead singers lasted for only an album or two, others enjoyed stints of several years. The revolving door even let Ozzy back in briefly in '97-'98 when Black Sabbath headlined Ozzfest.

In 2006 Sabbath got back together with the singer who first replaced Ozzy back in 1980- Ronnie James Dio. Dio's first stint with Sabbath produced 2 solid studio albums (Heaven and Hell & Mob Rules) and the band's first double-live album (Live Evil). Thereafter Dio left Black Sabbath and started his namesake band, Dio, which was very successful in the 80's & early 90's. Ronnie again joined Black Sabbath for another album in 1992, Dehumanizer, only to go back to his solo project a couple years later.

With the '06 reunion, the intent appeared to be to record a couple new songs for the compilation album, Black Sabbath-The Dio Years. However since then, this version of the band has toured several times, and recorded a new full-length album, The Devil You Know.

The Devil You Know is both heavy and melodic, dark and ominous. In the same instant it captures the essence of classic Black Sabbath as well as the lyrical and thematic elements from Ronnie James Dio's previous work. The atmosphere of this album is as full of doom and gloom as any Black Sabbath album. It seems at this point that these veteran musicians have found a formula they are all comfortable with. Although the new music generally follows the same formula they developed in their previous periods of collaboration, The Devil You Know sounds like a more polished and refined effort.

Whether the songs are built around a slow, grinding heavy riff; a softer interplay between clean guitar and vocal melody; or a fast-tempo chord progression infused with blues-rock roots, they always seem like classic Black Sabbath (Dio-era). This time around however, they are calling themselves Heaven and Hell. Look for them when they come to your town.

In the meantime, check out these songs:
-Atom and Evil
-Fear
-Bible Black
-Eating the Cannibals
-Follow the Tears

(Cover art from heavenandhelllive.com)

The Metal Masters Tour

Post #67
[This is a concert review of the perfomance in Tinley Park, IL on August 19th 2008]

In recent years I've taken up the tradition of attending at least one concert a year, usually in the summer, and often it is one of the multiple-band festival tours I manage to see. Since I'm also very budget conscious, I usually get Lawn Admission and save a few bucks, unless one of bands on the bill includes complimentary tickets with their new album (as many artists have done in recent years). Either way, these summer "fest" tours are a great deal; you get to see a dozen or so bands for about the same price you would pay to see 2 or 3 bands on a regular tour.

In the summer of 2008, I was lucky enough to see 2 shows. The first one (which I reviewed in a previous post), was Poison on their Live, Raw, & Uncut Tour. However, the one I looked forward to the most was The Metal Masters Tour. This show was on the smaller side for a "fest" format, only featuring 4 bands, but it was a powerful quartet: Testament, Motorhead, Heaven & Hell, and Judas Priest! Judas Priest included a code for a free ticket in their Nostradamus album, and I bought 2 copies so I'd have a pair of tickets to the show.

As with the Poison show, I attended this concert with my brother. He was familiar enough with some of the music of Motorhead & Judas Priest that he didn't mind going, although he didn't consider himself a huge fan of any of the bands. Hopefully the concert experience has swayed his opinion a bit, but that remains to be seen...

Upon our arrival, an interesting scenario developed. It seemed that the concert was undersold, and the venue staff were keeping the gates to the lawn area closed. A little aggravated, I asked one of them what was up. They replied that since the pavilion seating was severely undersold that anyone with lawn tickets could trade their ticket in for a free upgrade to pavilion seating!

So my brother & I got our upgraded tickets and got a bit of a closer view of the show. I was a little disappointed that the turnout wasn't better, but to see this show for the cost of Judas Priest's new album was well worth it. Before we even found our way to the upgraded seats, Testament came on-stage...

The 80's bay-area thrash movement went much deeper than some of today's new heavy metal fans realize. Sure almost everyone knows about Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer, but there were plenty more bands where those came from. Testament was one of those lesser-know, but just as heavy, old-school thrashers. I couldn't tell what a few of their songs were (mostly because I hadn't yet heard their newest CD- The Formation of Damnation), but it was easy to jump right into the frenzied headbangin' madness that had ensued! After a couple songs, I finally recognized "Practice What You Preach", and the crowd got totally into it at that point. Clumps of fans could be seen shaking their long manes of headbangers' hair like it was still 1989!

Being the opening band, they had the shortest set. They focused on playing material from their new album, and were finished all too soon if you ask me. But the songs they played were great, and they got the crowd pumped for the next act... Motorhead!

Truthfully, neither of us had heard much of Motorhead's music. I knew some of their better known songs like Ace of Spades, and Damaged Case (thanks to Metallica covering it on Garage Inc.). My brother said he'd heard a couple songs on Monday Night Raw, since one wrestler always had a Motorhead song played for a theme song. However for the most part the majority of their set was a totally new experience for us.

Not being familiar with most of the lyrics, I found most songs difficult to follow. Lemmy Killmister's thick English accent didn't help much either, and his interludes between numbers wasn't any easier. However the one thing I have to give Motorhead credit for is their attitude and delivery. They really played with a 'go-for-the-kill' attitude. The vibe of their live set was like metal-meets-punk brawl. My personal favorite part of their show had to be the drum solo. That dude can drum fast!

Next up was Heaven And Hell, the Black Sabbath line-up that features Ronnie James Dio on vocals with Vinnie Appice on drums. This time around they are calling themselves Heaven And Hell and their set list was composed entirely from material on the Dio-recorded Black Sabbath albums. I knew this was their approach ahead of time, so I was hyped to hear such an era-focused collection of songs. Some may have been disappointed by the absence of any "classic" Black Sabbath songs, but beggars can't be choosers.

Their stage set up was pretty elaborate; hulking gargoyles flanked both sides of the stage with eyes that glowed red, and wrought-iron fencing lined parts of the stage. The show began with the instrumental "E5150" as an intro, slow buzzing notes from distorted guitar with a bit of volume-swell effect... When Tony Iommi's scheaching guitar burst forth with heavy riffs, we were off and rocking with Heaven & Hell!

"Mob Rules" was the first song and it got the crowd rolling. The rest of the set was no disappointment either, as they mainly played numbers from their 1st album together, Heaven & Hell, balanced by selections from Mob Rules & Dehumanizer plus one of their new songs from the Black Sabbath: The Dio Years collection. Most memorable moment had to be when the gargoyles' heads pivoted and spewed smoke during the song "Heaven and Hell".

As great as that set was, the best was yet to come, for Judas Priest was about come on stage...

With stage lights swirling about the darkened stage, "Dawn of Creation", the intro to Judas Priest's Nostradamus album, set the tone for the show while the band took their positions on-stage among the shadows. When the lights came on the band jumped straight into "Prophecy", also from the Nostradamus album. I was transfixed.
Here I was, finally seeing the legendary Judas Priest unleashing the best of their heavy metal glory! Only one thing had me perplexed.... Where the hell was Rob-Frickin'-Halford!?!? Glen Tipton, KK Downing, & Ian Hill were all on stage, chugging out their heavy riffs, and Scott Travis behind the drum kit (obviously), and I was hearing the Metal God's unmistakable voice narrating the essence of Nostradamus.... but where was he?!? For the first entire verse of the song I couldn't have told you where he was singing from. But then the Nostradamus 'statue' (which I thought was part of the stage-set), high on a platform stage-left, moved its staff about one foot to the left!

Draped in a golden cloak, Rob Halford continued singing as he slowly descended from the platform to the main level of the stage. Once there, he removed his hood as he continued belting out the lyrics of the song. What a master of stage-presence!!! Halford's voice has always been one of my favorites in metal music. Now I can truly consider him as one of the greatest front-men of all time. As the band delivered an awe-inspiring performance of Priest classic after classic I was banging my head and pumping my fists as never before! Tipton & Downing exhibited some of the best guitar soloing I'd ever seen live in concert, especially during 'Painkiller'-one of my all-time favorite Priest songs. Judas Priest are ever-deserving of their nick-name; The Metal Gods. Even on this night of The Metal Masters, they shone the brightest of them all!

Here are the set lists from this show. For the most part they are from my own memory and/or jotted notes during the show. I could be mistaken on some of the songs from the Testament & Motorhead segments, but these should be pretty close...

Testament

-Over The Wall
-Electric Crown
-Practice What You Preach
-More Than Meets The Eye
-Henchmen Ride
-Formation of Damnation
-Dog-Faced Gods

Motorhead
-Dr. Rock
-Stay Clean
-Be My Baby
-Killers
-Metropolis
-Over the Top
-In The Name of Tragedy
(drum solo)
-Just Cos' You Got the Power
-Killed by Death
-Ace of Spades
-Overkill

Heaven & Hell
-E5150
-Mob Rules
-Children of the Sea
-I
-Sign of the Southern Cross
(drum solo)
-Time Machine
-Falling Off the Edge of the World
-Ear in the Wall
-Die Young
-Heaven and Hell
-Neon Knights

JUDAS PRIEST
-Dawn of Creation
-Prophecy
-Metal Gods
-Eat Me Alive
-Between the Hammer and the Anvil
-Devil's Child
-Breaking the Law
-Hell Patrol
-Dissident Aggressor
-Angel
-The Hellion
-Electric Eye
-Rock Hard, Ride Free
-Painkiller
(encores)
-Hell Bent for Leather
-The Green Manalishi (With Two-Pronged Crown)
-You've Got Another Thing Coming

(image references: Testament from www.cloomisfotos.com; Motorhead from www.rollingstone.com; Heaven & Hell from musicaenprogreso.blogspot.com; Judas Priest from juniors-eyes.blogspot.com)