Perspective from the Dio Mix

In celebration of the new Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell CD The Devil You Know (which debuted at #8 on the Billboard chart!), I took all my Dio-related CDs and ripped them to my computer and then to my MP3 player. That means the three Rainbow albums, the three Black Sabbath albums (plus the three new songs on the Dio Years compilation), and the ten Dio band albums (and even Time to Burn, from Intermission). I added the songs from The Devil You Know, so I’m only missing a few soundtrack/charity items and Japanese bonus tracks. As it is, there’s a total of 155 songs. I’ve been playing those on random shuffle, to put new and old songs into some perspective, relative to Dio’s career since 1975.

I expected to be surprised in some ways, as this sort of exercise always brings out nuances that aren’t fully realized in listening to one CD at a time. I found that the new songs hold up well in the catalog. They aren’t Rainbow-esque- but they fit right in with many moments in Black Sabbath and Dio’s body of work from 1992’s Dehumanizer onward. That wasn’t a surprise to me, but it was nice to have confirmation for the feeling I got upon first listening to The Devil You Know. Also, The Devil Cried, from the 2007 The Dio Years, now sounds better than ever to me.

What was a bit surprising was to hear how solid Craig Goldy’s contribution was, over the years. I had always rated Goldy a bit behind Vivian Campbell and Doug Aldrich, but hearing his songs randomly in the mix of other Dio-related pieces made them become highlights, in many cases. Goldy isn’t flashy, his playing isn’t ostentatious, it simply serves the songs effectively.

I’ve tried many times to get into Angry Machines and Lock Up the Wolves, and it still just isn’t happening. There’s good moments and good songs on both, but they are at the bottom in my preference for the 17+ albums mixed together on my player.

I also ripped the five Tony Martin fronted Black Sabbath albums, and the Ozzy fronted compilation We Sold Our Soul For Rock ‘N’ Roll. I don’t have them in the same mix with the Dio fronted material described above, but I can still make comparisons. Riff-wise, the Tony Martin stuff sounds very much in the Black Sabbath tradition, much more so than it is usually credited for. The Ozzy material still sounds crude to my ears, and my dislike of his voice hasn’t been overcome yet. The only songs I really enjoy are Tomorrow’s Dream and Snowblind (I do like N.I.B. when Dio sings it on Live Evil, but I haven’t added any live tracks to these mixes yet).

I’ve now owned The Devil You Know for just over a week. My opinion could well change with time, but at this point I’m ready to declare it as being as good as anything its players have done in their careers. It isn’t the single best album any of them have recorded, but it is in the top tier of their work, alongside such famous albums as Heaven & Hell, Holy Diver, and Headless Cross (and it doesn’t even have an “H” in the title!). Rock On, everyone!