New Music Review – Dio: This is Your Life

        There are a lot of tribute albums out there in the musical ether.  Most of those albums are made with one thing in mind: money.  Record executives put together as many relatively known artists as they can to cover a few of a band’s greatest hits in order to get die-hard fans to shell out an extra twelve to fifteen dollars for a “complete” collection (I’ve fallen into this trap a couple times).  No one is denying the talent of the musicians compiled for most tribute albums, but it still doesn’t look like much more than a cash grab for the record company at the very least.

     

Here’s how you put together a proper tribute album:

1.       You make sure that, even though you’re still charging the full price for the album ($12.00), 100% of the proceeds goes directly to the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund.  That’s right, 100%.

2.       You compile some of the best bands and artists in the business to be a part of it.  Look at this list of the artists involved:

a.       Anthrax

b.      Tenacious D

c.       Halestorm

d.      Motorhead

e.      Killswitch Engage

f.        Metallica

And that’s not even the full list!  (the only thing that could have made it better is if they somehow got the current Black Sabbath with Ozzy to cover a Dio track).

                What you have, when all is said and done is one of the best tribute albums I have ever heard.  It doesn’t hurt that the songs in their original form are so strong (pulling from not only Dio’s solo work but also his time in both Black Sabbath and Rainbow).  My favorite tracks are all of the Black Sabbath covers (“I”, “The Mob Rules”, “Man on the Silver Mountain”) but there is not a bad track in the bunch. 

                If you loved Dio, or just want to honor his memory by doing something good for a good charity (and getting something out of it besides just that warm and fuzzy feeling) this is the album for you.  If you want to hear a great collection of metal music by some of the best in the business, both past and present, this is absolutely the album for you.  Hell, you can’t go wrong.  Buy this album.