Ronnie James Dio – July 10, 1942 to May 16, 2010
This morning, over breakfast, I learnt the sad new that Ronnie James Dio had lost his battle with stomach cancer on Sunday morning.
So, I though I would dedicate today’s post to the great man. It is always difficult to do people justice when writing an obituary, so, I think I will just let his contributions to music do the talking.
However, what I can say is that I know that he will be sadly missed by fans. Anyone who has the experience and privilege of seeing him perform live, whether in Elf, Rainbow, Sabbath, Dio or Heaven and Hell, will know exactly why he is held in such high regard. His performances in the studio were excellent, but there was something about seeing him live and the professionalism that he exuded which really made you appreciate the greatness of the man. I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to see him at the Brighton Centre (UK) as part of Heaven and Hell in November 2007. Unbelievable performance and I have managed to find a clip of the gig on Youtube – Sign Of The Southern Cross.
I think I should start with a summary list of his studio performances (with relevant Spotify links where available) , although this list is by no means exhaustive it does give a good indication of how much he has recorded. You can check out a more thorough listing of his work starting from his page on Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_James_Dio
Elf
Rainbow
Black Sabbath
- Heaven and Hell (1980) – http://open.spotify.com/album/2xlljcaxcJxmnGO4xJq7YZ
- Mob Rules (1981) – http://open.spotify.com/album/239f6HFDmTWbBKNezUR4BX
- Dehumanizer (1992) – http://open.spotify.com/album/2qyXLZvoWxsqb0ILGbyDNK
Dio
Heaven And Hell
- The Devil You Know (2009) – http://open.spotify.com/album/2eLwBr4FWHB9XUoeloyyzf
There are also a number of live albums that he appears on and are worth checking out as a snapshot of his live performances from a particular era, apart from Dio stuff, I’ve only listed one from each ‘band’. I also particularly enjoy the posthumous Rainbow live albums.
Live performances
- The Elves – Live at the Bank (1972)
- Rainbow – On Stage (1977) – http://open.spotify.com/album/6DyINdfRW7rp5JKmskckJd
- Black Sabbath – Live Evil (1983) – http://open.spotify.com/album/0pTZWu6m0CCXWuLRZIVhgM
- Dio – Intermission (1986) – http://open.spotify.com/album/5VEEoVMgFelq51Xx9pPT8r
- Dio – Inferno: Last In Live (1998) – http://open.spotify.com/album/16uWU6R3s5DzdTiARtjYow
- Heaven and Hell – Live from Radio City Music Hall (2007) – http://open.spotify.com/album/35rdERkWtUtHjj2krS8wWh
Check out the live performance at Rockplast 2009 of Bible Black, from the album, The Devil You Know.
Then of course there is the Devil Horns…
Ronnie, you’re da man!
“Enemies Of Metal Your Death Is Our Reward!”
The mighty 3 Inches Of Blood played The Paragon Theatre in Halifax on Saturday, and we were there!! Support was provided by Goatwhore, Barn Burner and local Cole Harbour band Black Moor. However, I must admit to being only familiar with 3 Inches Of Blood.
Goatwhore play a pretty intense combination of Blackened Death and Blackened Thrash Metal, the most recent album is Carving Out The Eyes Of God and you can check it out on Spotify. http://open.spotify.com/album/1VkjJSzSg5JZrB8e7ehFi2
And, check out the video for Apocalyptic Havoc on YouTube.
Barnburner are a bit more ‘conventional’ in that they, sound to me, like a reasonably straightforward NWOBHM inspired Hard Rock/Metal, their album Bangers is also on Spotify. http://open.spotify.com/album/77o8exUj9jnNEf2t7g70nY
Unfortunately, we missed local band Black Moor, as they were added after the tickets were printed and so we arrived at the door as they had just finished up their set. I’m sure we will get to check them out again around the Cole Harbour/Dartmouth/Halifax area. Check out the lead track from their 2009 album The Conquering, they sound awesome! “Black Moor’s commin’ after you”.
Here’s an interview, with the band, about the Cole Harbour metal scene.
Back to 3 Inches Of Blood, their most recent album is Here Waits Thy Doom, check it out here. http://open.spotify.com/album/6pHRtdZdLfmrKMF31KXjaZ
Here is Battles and Brotherhood from the aforementioned album.
Of course, 3 Inches Of Blood had to finish up their set with Deadly Sinners!
But no Forest King in the set, [sigh]. Well, better remedy that.
Top 10 Metal Albums – 1990
This morning we, over breakfast, were having a chat about the fact that the rescheduled Megadeth/Slayer Tour of Canada will have both bands playing their 1990s albums Rust In Peace and Seasons In The Abyss, in entirety. I then got thinking about metal albums from that year. Here is my list of 10 favourite albums from that year.
Alice in Chains – Facelift
Annihilator – Never, Neverland
Anthrax – Persistence of Time
Celtic Frost – Vanity/Nemesis
Death – Spiritual Healing
Iced Earth – Iced Earth
Judas Priest – Painkiller
Megadeth – Rust In Peace
Pantera – Cowboys from Hell
Slayer – Seasons in the Abyss
8 out of 10 of the above albums are featured on Spotify, here is the playlist – http://open.spotify.com/user/toxicmusic79/playlist/5h1SRJY8SkmPWeI0Y1rQTC
Better have something for the pain!
Similar Artists To: 3 Inches Of Blood
After posting yesterday about the forthcoming 3IOB tour, I felt like putting together a playlist of popular albums by similar artists to 3IOB. So, once again, I fed the band through my ‘listening suggestion’ procedure. Here is what I ended up with, a sort of Power/Thrash/Speed album list:
- 3 Inches Of Blood – Advance & Vanquish
- Iced Earth – The Dark Saga
- Primal Fear – Jaws Of Death
- Grave Digger – Heavy Metal Breakdown
- Mystic Prophecy – Vengeance
- Beyond Fear – Beyond Fear
- Rebellion – Miklagard
- Cellador – Enter Deception
- Running Wild – Port Royal
- Wolf – Wolf
Grab Your Plastic Sword – 3 Inches Of Blood On Tour – Awesome!!!
Excellent news! I was informed this morning, over breakfast, that Vancouver’s finest, the mighty 3 Inches Of Blood will play Halifax Paragon Theatre, NS, on the 8th May. Here are the other Canadian dates:
- 3 Apr 2010 Coasters Bar & Grill. Whitehorse, Yukon
- 29 Apr 2010 The Republik Calgary, Alberta
- 30 Apr 2010 The Distrikt Regina, Saskatchewan
- 1 May 2010 The Royal Albert Winnipeg, Manitoba
- 4 May 2010 Ritual Ottawa, Ontario
- 5 May 2010 Chez Dagobert Quebec City, Quebec
- 6 May 2010 Nicky Zee’s Fredericton, New Brunswick
- 7 May 2010 The Manhattan Club Moncton, New Brunswick
- 8 May 2010 Paragon Theatre Halifax, Nova Scotia
- 11 May 2010 Time To Laugh Club Kingston, Ontario
- 12 May 2010 Call The Office London, Ontario
- 13 May 2010 The Mod Club Toronto, Ontario
- 14 May 2010 Serbian Centre and Club Sudbury, Ontario
- 16 May 2010 Black Pirates Pub Thunder Bay, Ontario
- 18 May 2010 Louis’ Pub Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
- 19 May 2010 The Starlite Room Edmonton, Alberta
- 20 May 2010 Cactus Jacks Kamloops, British Columbia
- 22 May 2010 The Rickshaw Theatre Vancouver, British Columbia
MMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Suffice to say, I have just brought my tickets…
Definitely music to play in the car while hunting for Magic: The Gathering stuff – http://mtghunter.wordpress.com/
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