Label: Mercury Records (Japan), PPD-3070
Style: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Country: Portsmouth, New Hampshire, U.S. (July 10, 1942 - May 16, 2010)
Time: 41:32
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 269 Mb
The
first track, 'Stand Up and Shout', is reminiscent of 'Turn Up the
Night' from Sabbath's 'Mob Rules'. Fast, hard-hitting and a great
introduction. I reall enjoy this one.
Then comes the title track.
Listening to it now, properly and with my full attention (and great
headphones!), I realise that it's actually a good track. I still don't
really feel anything with it, but I certainly enjoy it more than I
thought. It still feels like a weak point of the album to me. I imagine
hearing it 40 years ago upon release would have had a greater impact.
'Gypsy' - this is more like it. Lovely soaring riffs above heavy, punchy riffs - with some banshee-like vocals from Dio.
Some
more fantastic vocals on 'Caught in the Middle', and I love the driving
bass throughout. The chorus on this track is a highlight of the album
for me. The way the guitars climb, then repeat with Dio giving it his
all over the top makes the hairs stand up on my arms.
'Don't Talk to
Strangers' - the intro to this reminded me of Tony Iommi's thinking
behind 'Master of Reality'. By putting some quieter songs on the album,
it made the heavier tracks feel heavier. I felt that on this song thanks
to the intro. Not only that, but it makes for a nice respite between
the metal. When the song kicks in, it makes me think of Iron Maiden. (I
should mention I'm not into Maiden, I only know their hits. It feels
like they've based all their songs off this track!).
'Straight Through the Heart' - monstrous intro! That riff is absolutely killer and the vocals are top-notch.
Another
moment of rest during the intro of 'Invisible'. At first this one fools
you into thinking a cheesy 80s ballad is coming, but that's not the
case. The riffs are back, and stomping their way through the stories Dio
sings to us here.
'Rainbow in the Dark' - I see this is one of
Dio's most famous tracks, and I can understand why! The keys on the
intro / chorus feel very 80s and that makes me think I've heard it
before, but it's such a generic 80s sound it could have been from any
song from the decade. I like it though, it's not over-the-top and only
dates the song slightly. Riff-wise, I love this and it easily features
one of Dios best vocals on the album.
I feel like 'Shame on the
Night' works really well as an album-closer. The vocals are ridiculously
strong on this one, the instrumental break and breakdown are excellent
and the epic backing vocals towards the outro give it a medievel
feeling.
(reddit.com/r/LetsTalkMusic/comments/18t8dn1/dios_holy_diver_album_is_fantastic_but/)
Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog.
D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The
second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the
format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).
01. Stand Up And Shout (03:18)
02. Holy Diver (05:51)
03. Gypsy (03:38)
04. Caught In The Middle (04:17)
05. Don't Talk To Strangers (04:53)
06. Straight Through The Heart (04:34)
07. Invisible (05:25)
08. Rainbow In The Dark (04:14)
09. Shame On The Night (05:19)
