Okay, here's a different take on Ronnie James Dio's music: There's no vocals! Dio stuff with no vocals must be joke, right?! I am not joking. This is fully an instrumental album with guitars, bass and drums. Can you fucking do that?!?! Well, renowned guitarist Paul Gilbert did, and here is the result from his dungeons. You know, dungeons and dragons, not like sadomasochistic activity...

Mr. Gilbert known from heavy metal band Racer X (in which one Scott Travis was drumming) and rockers Mr. Big, had an idea to do Dio's vocals on guitar. Here, he chose twelve classic tracks to cover: Four each from Dio's band, Rainbow and Black Sabbath. So, this choices could never include everyone's favourites, really. Nothing from Elf and older Dio's work. Well, Paul chose more well-known songs. Simple as that. I have to say Paul picked a couple of surprises, being 'Country Girl' (one of my faves, but still not the cream of the crop of 'Mob Rules' album) and 'Starstruck' (instead of 'Stargazer'!!!!). The Japanese CD contains Roger Glover song 'Love Is All' as a bonus; easily the chilliest piece done for this project. Okay, this is what we have to deal with. Maybe we can expect part two, then...

RJD's voice is emulated by different tones of guitar, precisely researched for every mood and vibe. So just like the master's voice, you can expect to hear a multitude of details in the lead guitar work. Maybe some tones are not friendly to ears, at least mine, but damn, this is some pedantic deed. Same can be said about the rhythm guitar and solo parts; well accomplished, thinking that he was covering Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi and Vivian Campbell.

The bass was also handled by Paul. It's left in the shadows a bit. Makes me wonder, what it could have been, if Billy Sheehan was recruited to play here. I mean Geezer Butler, Jimmy Bain and Craig Gruber's styles are diverse and so unique. It's far from "lame", it's just maybe a tad less detailed as the guitars are, which of course is not any kind of a surprise as Paul is a guitarist after all. The drums were another huge obstacle. Performed here by Bill Ray, who was a totally unknown fellow to me (seems that playing in Ike Turner's band was his biggest gig). And the reason for this is that...

The sound on the album is too trebly and light! I especially miss heavy snare drums of Cozy Powell, Vinny Appice and Bill Ward. Here we get a snappy, high-toned... well, it's not going *bing*, but it is way, way too flimsy. The tom drums sound empty, and even the kicks feel like powerless. The drums sound compressed. I don't know, maybe they wanted to keep the bass guitar well audible, and did it this way. The rhythm guitars and the bass are a bit too lightweight too. These songs need more mass, period.

I am sure many guitarists can find things outta this way more than a regular Joe like me. I heard one song, liked it and ordered the album, and while there are some truly enjoyable moments here, almost an hour of instrumental music worshiping the legendary vocalist is a bit too much at one sitting; this is just an overpowering assault of guitaring into my brain! It lacks of some real punch in the production department, sadly. Therefore I find it more like a curiosity than anything else. However, I think this thing has never been done before, with Dio or any other vocalist. So, this is unique, definitely.

Rating: 6+ (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
07/16/2023 14:12