Album Review: "This is Your Life- A Tribute to Ronnie James Dio"

Date: August 8, 2014

To all metal fans, and probably to all music fans in general, Ronnie James Dio was and still is considered to be one of the faces of the metal genre. Before his untimely death from stomach cancer in 2010, Dio had been melting faces globally as the lead vocalist of household name bands such as Rainbow and Black Sabbath.

Nowadays, since his passing, his still-mourning fans still yearn for his stage presence and some newer metal fans just becoming part of the scene may not know who Ronnie James Dio was or how his music greatly influenced the artists these devil-horn flashing rebels currently listen to.However, his legacy may have been reborn as a multitude of successful artists paid homage to Dio by taking their favorite songs and recreating them on a new album released in March entitled, This Is Your Life.

The album opens with an explosive rendition of Dio's "Neon Knights" performed by thrash metal heavyweight, Anthrax.Between Joey Belladonna's majestic vocals and Scott Ian's superb shredding techniques, this fast-paced, powerful song delivers the first blow to the listener's ear drums.The album becomes more interesting when even contemporary bands such as Killswitch Engage, whose piercing vocals add a twist to Dio's masterpiece that is "Holy Diver", start to make appearances.Tenacious D ("The Last in Line") is a surprise to not only because of how awesome their final product was, but also because, with all due respect, D was chosen to be on the album in the first place.Known for being more of a satirical representation of metal and hard rock, to hear the duo perform seriously was quite refreshing.Metallica and company's "Ronnie Rising Medley" proved to be one of the biggest hits on the album as evidence on iTunes proved that sales of this single alone skyrocketed since it was released. Along with other rock legends such as Scorpions, Motörhead, and even Corey Taylor from Slipknot, whose soulful voice in his take on "Rainbow in the Dark" provided a nice change of pace for listeners' ears that were used to his growling and yelling in his earlier material, this album has shown and will continue to show the world that although Ronnie James Dio is gone for good, his legacy shall eternally live on.This is a must listen for any fan of metal, hard rock, and definitely Dio.You will not be disappointed.

Please note that all review opinions are the opinions of the writer's alone. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of those at WSOU 89.5 FM, Seton Hall University, or any of its affiliates.

Posted in: Metal, WSOU Exclusive, Album Review