Dio’s Monumental ‘Holy Diver’ Will Be Expanded to Mark Late Singer’s 80th Birthday

Dio’s debut album, Holy Diver, will be reissued this summer to mark what would have been the 80th birthday of the late Ronnie James Dio. The four-CD set, dubbed Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition, contains a new remix of the album by Joe Barresi (Slipknot, Avenged Sevenfold), the original album remastered, a live album recorded in 1983, and a compendium of outtakes, single versions of tracks, and B-sides. It will come out on July 8, two days ahead of Dio’s birthday.

Barresi’s new mix of the title cut sounds crisp — Dio’s vocal harmonies pop out amid Vivian Campbell’s heavy riffage. There’s more separation between the instruments on the remix, giving it a unique power.

In addition to a digital release of the CD box set, Barraesi’s new mix will be available on 180-gram vinyl as a double-LP set, including the B-side “Evil Eyes” as a bonus cut. Side Four will feature an etching of Dio’s mascot, the demon Murry.

The CD and digital edition of the reissue’s live album comes from the band’s December 28, 1983, appearance at Fresno, California’s Selland Arena, about half a year after the album came out. The set list included songs from the new album, as well as fan favorites from Black Sabbath (“Children of the Sea,” “Heaven and Hell”) and Rainbow (“Man on the Silver Mountain”). The miscellany of outtakes on the fourth disc includes previously unreleased versions of “Invisible,” “Straight Through the Heart,” and a version of “Rainbow in the Dark” with an alternate guitar solo. It also includes an early version of “Evil Eyes,” which later appeared on the group’s second album, The Last in Line.

Dio started writing some of the songs on Holy Diver while still a member of Black Sabbath, hoping that band would record both “Holy Diver” and “Don’t Talk to Stranger.” But after the group split during the mixing of their Live Evil album, he formed Dio with his Sabbath bandmate drummer Vinny Appice, Campbell, and bassist Jimmy Bain, who had played with Dio in “Rainbow.”

When Rolling Stone ranked the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time in 2017, Holy Diver came in at Number 16. “After establishing himself as a top-tier hard-rock vocalist via his late-Seventies/early-Eighties stints in Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio truly ascended into the metal pantheon with his 1983 solo debut,” the magazine wrote. “More bracingly metallic than anything he had done before … Holy Diver‘s stirring anthems like ‘Stand Up and Shout,’ ‘Rainbow in the Dark,’ and the immortal title track found Dio planting one boot in Dungeons & Dragons–style fantasy and the other in contemporary social commentary.”

Holy Diver: Super Deluxe Edition track list:

Disc One: Holy Diver (2022 Joe Barresi Mix) *

1. “Stand Up and Shout”
2. “Holy Diver”
3. “Gypsy”
4. “Caught in the Middle”
5. “Don’t Talk to Strangers”
6. “Straight Through the Heart”
7. “Invisible”
8. “Rainbow in the Dark”
9. “Shame on the Night”

Disc Two: Holy Diver (2022 Remaster)

Disc Three: Live at Selland Arena, Fresno, CA, 1983

1. Intro *
2. “Stand Up and Shout” *
3. “Straight Through the Heart” *
4. “Shame on the Night” *
5. “Children of the Sea” *
6. “Holy Diver” *
7. “Heaven and Hell” – including guitar solo *
8. “Rainbow in the Dark” *
9. “Man on the Silver Mountain” *
10. “Starstuck” *
11. “Man on the Silver Mountain” – reprise *
12. “Don’t Talk to Strangers” *

Disc Four: Outtakes, Singles & B-Sides
Tracks 1-7 unreleased

1. “Evil Eyes” – Wyn Davis remix *
2. “Don’t Talk to Strangers” – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
3. “Invisible” – Take 1 (Joe Barresi mix) *
4. “Invisible” – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix) *
5. “Rainbow in the Dark” – Alternative Guitar Solo Version (Joe Barresi mix) *
6. “Straight Through the Heart” – Take 2 (Joe Barresi mix) *
7. “Straight Through the Heart” – Take 3 (Joe Barresi mix)*
8. “Rainbow in the Dark” – 7″ Mono Edit
9. “Evil Eyes” – 1983 Version. B-Side of “Holy Diver”
10. “Rainbow in the Dark” – 7″ Stereo Edit

* previously unreleased