Holy Diver

This one is my submission to the user project! After I got done with the project I wanted to add some albums I felt should be on here (turns out some already are) but I felt a fifth Sabbath, Zeppelin, King Crimson or whatever, maybe would be tiring for a lot of people who don't share the same love for the deeper catalog. I ended up on Holy Diver by Dio since it was an artist that wasn't on the list, and although I don't think it's a flawless album on every track, I think it's pretty damn good. I do not think you can tell the story of Heavy Metal and it's history without Ronnie James Dio. A personal 5 for me, and I hope others enjoy it as much as I have throughout the years.

A milestone in heavy metal and one of Dio's best.

\m/ RIP DIO

Good metal album, very pleasing to my ears

I think I heard pieces of this many times through my high school and college years… at the time is wasn’t my think and I was warned that the “DIO” logo spelled “DEVIL” somehow. Hmmmm… looks more like IDILAD now that I study it. My strong familiarity for and appreciation of “Holy Diver” came from a cover version by Pat Boone released in 1997. I immediately recognized "Rainbow in the Dark" from hearing it around. Both are great songs. I can see why this album would be suggested. I liked it!

I'm or was not a heavy metal fan, but this list made me adore Iron Maiden as a band I always overlooked. So maybe that statement is history. Holy Diver is an album by Dio who is a legendary heavy metal singer. He was also the singer of Black Sabbath for a while. The vocals on this album are great. The songwriting is ok, but not great. Also the songs vary between subpar Iron Maiden heavy metal and mediocre ACDC hard rock. It's not bad, but not good either and certainly not my cup of tea.

One of my favorite Heavy Metal albums and it really should've been in the original list. Great addition!

Heavy metal. Varios megahits. Vinilo, va, por la mejor voz del heavy.

Are you ready to rock boys and girls? I said, are you ready to rock? Then let's hit it! I know you all remember this one, its off my first solo album. The song that you all helped me make number 1. (That's from South Park, if anyone is confused)

Titanic. Possibly the only good 80s metal that America ever produced, and its direct descendants never quite got the alchemy exactly right. Gotta channel Meat Loaf at least a little bit

Oh Ronnie James Dio. I just realized that I typed that as if I know the man well, and I only know the two singles off of this album. Whatever. I tend to enjoy heavy metal from the eighties, so I'm pretty sure that this will be a pretty fun album to rock out to today! Man, this was really fun to listen to, and I’m bummed that I’d never listened to this whole album until today. I thought the production was great, and drumming and guitars were really good as well. Dio’s vocal style is really unique, and I think his singing style fits this album really well. There were a couple of songs that felt like filler, but the high points of this album really soared. I do wish there had been more connective tissue between the songs on this album, especially with the character and settings that were created on the title track. Speaking of the title track, I don’t think I’d ever heard the full version of that song before, with the keyboard intro, and holy shit, that ruled. What a great way to craft a setting through sound. The drum fills really stood out to me as well. What an excellent song. “Caught in the Middle” and “Don’t Talk to Strangers” were really good too. They both had some great guitar work and drumming, and I really enjoyed the ebb and flow to “Don’t Talk to Strangers.” To me though, the pinnacle of this album is “Rainbow in the Dark.” That was the first Dio song I ever heard, and I’ve loved it ever since. The keyboards are so catchy, and they create this sound that somehow manages to be bright and dark at the same time. I’m pretty sure that keyboard riff could transport you to a real-life D&D game in an alternate dimension if you played it during an eclipse or something. Holy Diver was really fun, and I’m truly miffed that it’s not on the main list. In my opinion, it’s just as good as, if not better than some other metal albums from the same era that did make the main cut.

OG crazy metal that makes you think about Jack Black

This ripped – seen this one mentioned countless times in pop culture, but had never listened beyond the title track. Though some parts drag or feel a bit homogeneous, the heavy instrumentals and Dio's insane vocals make the whole LP feel like some epic quest in sonic form. Enjoyed rocking out to this one all in all, great to see some classic, narrative-driven heavy metal on here.

I kind of miss this old style metal, which seems to have survived less into the new century than various subgenres it spawned. This certainly belongs in the pantheon of foundational albums.

Dio never really did it for me. I don’t know if it makes much sense, but Black Sabbath with Ozzy was Black Fucking Sabbath, know what I mean? With Dio they kind of just felt like another metal band to me. Not trying to disparage Dio, he is a fantastic vocalist, easily among the all time greats in metal. The way I feel about Sabbath with Dio carries over here, though…I wish the music felt a little less generic and took some more risks.

Poor man's Ozzy/Sabbath at best and uncomfortably adjacent to Spinal Tap territory. Someday someone will explain will explain why mediocre perceive the need for mascots. Album cover speaks volumes, practically trolls anyone but suburban teenage boys (who want to be hard, but like neat licks, clear vocals, and no muddiness/ambiguity/actual darkness in their metal). Wonder how their latest tours of Renaissance Fairs and D&D conventions are going. And to think he could have been a major star in regional opera.

Fuck Yes!!!! Favourite songs: Rainbow in the Dark, Straight Through the Heart, Holy Diver, Shame on the Night, Stand Up and Shout, Don't Talk to Strangers, Gypsy Least favourite songs: none. Absolute perfection from the king of metal himself!!! 5/5

Hair rock meets heavy metal. I expected to find it hokey, it was not, it was gloriously cool.

What a record! One of the best Heavy Metal records ever! DIO is the GOAT!

Some tip-top 80s metal fur. Enjoyable. 🤘🤘🤘

Good fun, but not quite as full bodied as other rock of this era. I'm not sure what I mean by that but it sounds clever.

Sometimes you get an album that's doesn't feel particularly unique or noteworthy but it's still pretty fun. As far as hard rock does, there's not much hear that you can't find elsewhere but, you know, it's still pretty damn fun. Best tracks: 'Holy Diver' and 'Rainbow in the Dark'.

🤟

4.5

Our Lord and Savior Ronald James Dio. Stand Up and Shout fucking rips. Holy Diver has never been my favorite but its solid. Very cool but feels dated in 2026.

Metaaaaaal!

I grew up in the early 90s very much as a child of grunge. I was 13 when Eddie Vedder sang - while you were sitting home alone at age 13. So my early and most powerful music development was the years that killed this type of metal/hard rock. Only now am I opening my mind to it and appreciating what it was. Dio has been a name I’ve seen around and known of forever. This was my first time sitting down to a record. I really enjoyed it. For anyone who is skeptical of this type of music I would suggesting sitting down and properly listening to it with an open mind. You may find you enjoy way more than you think.

Great stuff. Dio's voice just works for me (probably why I love the early Rainbow records). It's what I want out of metal vocals. My personal rating: 4/5 My rating relative to the list: 4/5 Should this have been included on the original list? Yes.

All time classic

This was heavy music back then, you know?

Technically speaking, this record aptly represents its elected genre, and Ronnie Dio was surely a powerhouse as a vocalist. The clear and loud production values of this thing are also on point for the time period. If I compare them to the awful sound of that stupid Mötley Crüe album in this second list, I just can't help having a good laugh again. Finally, the user who suggested *Holy Diver* seems to be an open-minded person, so I guess I can understand where they are coming from with this selection. That said, I would lie if I said I took the artistry within this record very seriously. The guitar riffage is efficient, and some more "atmospheric" touches here and there hit their intended marks for sure.. Yet what did Dio actually bring on the table in 1983 that the original Black Sabbath line-up had not already brought in a more striking fashion a decade ago? Some oblique Sci-Fi and fantasy themes for the lyrics? Aw, come on, give me a break! Led Zeppelin had referenced *The Lord Of The Rings* in their music as early as 1971 for pete's sake! And it's not as if Ronnie Dio's lyrics were particularly smart either. They just do their meat-and-potato job right. It is not always easy for prominent artists to push the needle forward, and this for *any* genre. So under that light, I guess it's nice that after his stint in Black Sabbath during the second era of their career, Ronnie finally made a name for himself with his new band, hereby offering an album that was in line with the relatively recent past of this music style -- instead of (holy) diving headfirst into horrible eighties hair metal clichés. Trying to push the needle forward can make you encounter tragic pitfalls at times, I can admit this, and at least Dio can't be accused of this particular mistake... Yet let's face it: with *Holy Diver*, we are still a notch under the great founders of metal, the so-called "reputation" of this album be damned. My favorite album in the overall metal genre last year was Agriculture's *The Spiritual Sound*. With this 2025 record, we are not merely leagues away from Dio during the eighties, it's as if we were in the "upside- down" -- in another dimension, or an alternate universe. With that context in mind, it's simply impossible for me to spend more time on the Dio debut -- I'd rather immerse myself in metal sounds that are relevant to this day and age. Sorry but life's too short to waste time for something that will never be for you in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I can also enjoy listening to old albums from time to time -- otherwise I wouldn't use this generator. But in this case, I am quite content having the first six Black Sabbath albums on my shelves, or the pre-stoner, hard-rock-adjacent artists from that same seventies era not far for them (BÖC, Deep Purple, Alice Cooper, Led Zep...), thank you very much. When it comes to metal's prehistory / early history, I don't have much use for anything else. Here's me breaking the chain some of you old-school metalheads are trying to put on me. I will swim my way to other shores now. Farewell. 2.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 3 7.5/10 for more general purposes (5 for the musicianship and production values + 2.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 120 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 136 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 301 (including this one) ---- Salut Émile, Tu pourras lire ma dernière réponse sous le *Little Criminals* de Randy Newman. A+.

Ehhhh

Tu vois Hugo, si t’avais pushed through +900 autres albums, tu serais tombé dessus! Imagine à quel point tu serais heureux!

This album is so over the top and ridiculous. Everything about it. Obviously had a lot of fun listening to it.

It was ok. Not my favorite genre.

a classic

I can’t listen to this again because of how dated it sounds, but it’s good hair metal.

The opening track sets the bar very high. Fast and furious. I don't like the rest as much. They're obviously good at what they do, I just don't like midtempo heavy rock. The best feature is the singer. He has a very powerful voice and he actually has it under control, unlike some of his colleagues.

Back when heavy metal was pretty tame and the lead singer could belt out notes. Holy Diver the album is a solid early 80s album that had the themes of some early metal with the rock of the arena bands that ruled the 80s. Holy Diver the song is a classic and deserves its praise. The remainder of the album is an energy filled ride that is fun and exciting from start to finish. 7.5/10

A solid suggestion for an album missed out of the original list. Certainly Holy Diver and Rainbow in the Dark are iconic songs. That said, Dio has never been my favorite, not quite ridiculous enough for me to feel like it is good fun but also not quite serious enough to do something for me in that direction either.

Pretty fun, honestly

Makes me think of Tenacious D or whatever. A lot of fun but doesn't reach the heights of your Iron Maidens, etc.

Enjoyable

This isn't even really my go-to type of metal or anything, but I mean, it's kind of impossible to not enjoy it at least slightly. Metal classic, kinda crazy this wasn't on the original list. Strong 3/5.

Good classic 80’s metal, could make room for this on the list.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: Caught in the middle

A stone cold classic

It just seems very generic. Instrumentally not interesting at all and lyrically just some very simple, dark themes. 3/10

At least I now know who this Dio that Jack black sings of is. Can definitely hear the influence on Tenacious D / Jack Black, but on the whole not for me.