Here at ETS, we’re honoring fallen legend Ronnie James Dio, who passed away last week after losing his battle with cancer. As Mailo said, Dio more than held his own and was a big influence on many metal acts today.
His song “Holy Diver” starts off with eerie, empty wind-blowing leading into some light organ playing. This gives way to mid-tempo classic metal, which consists of distorted guitars and big drums. The intro actually reminds me of “Eye of the Tiger;” not just because Dio is singing about a tiger, but because of the sequence of the beginning part of the guitars and the meter of his lyrics.
Dio’s voice isn’t overwhelming; it’s got the perfect mixture of wailing and rough, abrupt singing. This is exactly the voice you think about when you hear about 80’s metal bands! Dio had it down to an art!
Of course when you think of metal, you also think of those guitar solos. The solo in the bridge of Dio’s “Holy Diver” is drawn out, with short muffles here and there along with some subtle string-tapping sprinkled in.
Killswitch Engage, one of the products of the metal-core scene, covered “Holy Diver” for Kerrang! Magazine’s compilation album, High Voltage!: A Brief History of Rock.
Instead of opting for the windy effects, KSE gets the song started immediately with their metal-y guitars. One difference you notice right away is either the amount of guitars or the amount of distortion on the guitars (or both) making for a much fuller guitar sound. The notes are held a lot longer on the guitar melodies but aside from being harder, the versions are pretty similar.
Lead singer Howard Jones’ voice sounds similar to Dio’s in the sense that he ranges from wailing to abrupt singing, but since KSE is in the metal-core genre, you know there’s going to be some screaming and growling involved. This is probably the biggest turn-off to the classic metal fans, but since I was a big fan of this genre (and still am in some cases), I think this twist is appealing.
I think it’s a pretty good modern twist of Dio’s original for the newer generation of metal-core followers. Killswitch Engage is a good band and does this song justice for it’s own fans. By staying fairly close to the original, KSE provides their fans with a bridge to some good, classic metal!