How Holy Diver made heavy metal history

Former Rainbow and Black Sabbath frontman Ronnie James Dio's debut album could have been called diminutive. Yet, the strong lunged Ronnie's album stands proudly at the upper most echelons of the canon of classics, that have defined the terms and conditions of heavy-metal music.

The album was recorded at the same time Ronnie was on his way out of the Birmingham quartet, and was in the process of putting together his own band of boys. Ronnie Dio got in ex-Sweet Savage and current Def Leppard guitar player Vivian Campbell, his Black Sabbath band mate Vinnie Appice on drums, former Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain and rookie keyboard player Claude Schnell, to assist him in crafting what would become one of the most influential heavy-metal anthems of all time.

The fact that he was now on his own, meant that Ronnie Dio could now indulge in his beloved 'dungeons and dragons' lyrical imagery to his heart’s content. The song begins with Ronnie intoning about "the holy diver who’s been down too long in the midnight sea."

While it might sound like hopeless mumbo-jumbo in isolation, the lyrics are inspired from the Book Of Revelations where Satan is cast to earth. Ronnie Dio observes that his pal, Mephistopheles has been away for quite a while and that he really ought to "ride the tiger" (another reference to Revelations where a wild beast comes out of the sea) and return to surface.

Musically, Holy Diver runs on the quintessential heavy-metal template right from the ominous keyboard intro to the chugging, steamroller of a riff that powers the track throughout. Ronnie James Dio’s voice is in fine form, as he negotiates the myriad peaks and troughs of the song, the vocal histrionics justifying his rightful place as one of metal’s most outstanding singers in the history.

Holy Diver’s enduring popularity can be gauged from the fact that Nintendo converted it into a game, South Park aired it on the Hooked On Monkey Phonics episode and everyone from comedy rock act Tenacious D to punk rockers Sum 41 have covered it.

Dio would go on to record bigger anthems – I Speed At Night [1984] and All The Fools Sailed Away [1987] – but nothing beats Holy Diver as a pompous, swaggering, statement of intent.

VITAL STATISTICS

Song Holy Diver
Artist Ronnie James Dio
Label Warner Bros.
Performers Ronnie James Dio (vocals); Vivian Campbell (guitars); Claude Schnell (keyboards); Jimmy Bain (bass); Vinnie Appice (drums)
Writers Ronnie James Dio and Jimmy Bain
Producer Ronnie James Dio
Chart Debut 05/25/83
Highest Chart Position 40