ALBUM REVIEW: The Dio Album – Paul Gilbert

The life and music of the late great Ronnie James Dio is rightly celebrated. The rock and metal scene hails him as a hero providing a plethora of anthems and being integral to bands that have helped shape the path through which the genre has grown. It is only proper therefore that the man who gave metal its universal salute with the maloik, (depending on who you ask), gets the tribute album treatment. This, as many will know, is not the first collection to celebrate the works of Dio. The all-star cast of 2014’s Ronnie James Dio – This is Your Life delivered some of his best-known songs with an exceptional roster of musicians taking up the reigns. While the tracks were all delivered with authenticity with performances of a high quality befitting a legend, there was still a whiff of karaoke that some picked up on which is always to be expected with albums of this nature.

Enter Mr Gilbert. Guitar virtuoso of MR. BIG, RACER X as well as numerous solo endeavours, his salute to Dio features twelve of his greatest tracks spanning the entirety of his career. The twist is that vocal duties are also handled by PAUL GILBERT‘s six string capabilities. This means that not only has Gilbert charged himself with reworking the riffs and solos of the likes of Ritchie Blackmore, Vivian Campbell and Tony Iommi, he is also reimagining one of the foremost voices in metal’s pantheon of greats on the guitar.

Launching straight into the chugging riff-led Neon Knights several things become immediately apparent. First, Gilbert is absolutely up to the task of replicating music by some of the greatest guitarists in metal. Secondly, the vocal melodies of Dio fully work as reimagined guitar melodies, to the point that it’s so instantly recognisable one forgets that there aren’t any words. Thirdly, this is clearly a labour of love for Gilbert. He has taken the time to accurately represent all of the elements of these tracks. This isn’t just a half-arsed plank spank fest of look at me virtuosity, Gilbert not only clearly cares about the music; he is also very obviously enjoying himself.

Revelling in the celebration of these tracks, Gilbert utilises all of his talents with the delivery of the instrumentation. Responsible for everything heard apart from the excellent drum tracks provided by Bill Ray, tracks such as the mighty Kill The King and Man On The Silver Mountain are delivered with an unbridled exuberance matched only by the epic sweeps of Heaven And Hell, Long Live Rock And Roll and the anthemic Holy Diver. Zach Bloomstein on engineer duties had the enviable task of capturing the audio challenge that Gilbert had laid down.  With the tracks mentioned right through to the closing The Last In Line, he has successfully committed to tape a raw energy and passion that Dio had originally weaved into these tracks while allowing Gilbert the space to take them onto a new and exalted height. The overall result is, in short, mesmerising and spell-binding.

On paper this is an album that shouldn’t work as well as it does. An entirely instrumental tribute album to one of the genre’s greatest vocalists is a madcap idea. However, it absolutely does work. The calibre of Gilbert’s guitar skills is very clearly matched by his joy and passion at undertaking such a weighty task. It’s a testament to the quality of Dio’s song-writing (if there was any doubt) that the vocal melodies that made him a legend are of such a quality that they can be replicated and interpreted in an instrumental fashion yet still be so clearly recognisable. Gilbert should absolutely be lauded for his take on Dio and it will surely have all fans of rock and metal grinning from ear to ear. Long live rock ‘n’ roll!

Rating: 9/10

The Dio Album is set for release on April 7th via Music Theories Recordings/Mascot Label Group.

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