News from Official Prog Suppliers - Metal Minds re-release Dio live "Evil or divine"

Label: Metal Mind Records
Cat. No.: MASS CD 1342 DG
Barcode: 5907785035706
Format: CD Digipak (limited edition of 1000 numerated copies)
Genre: heavy metal
Release date: 02.11.2009

Bio
Dio’s career began in his youth, when as a trumpet player he performed with a number of local rockabilly bands. During his high school years, Dio (at that time using his real name – Ronald James Padavona) played bass guitar in a group called The Vegas Kings. He eventually became the band’s lead singer, which resulted in changing the name to Ronnie & The Rumblers and later Ronnie and The Red Carps. The stage name Ronnie Dio (taken up after mafia member Johnny Dio) appeared for the first time in the early 1960’s, when Dio was the frontman of the group called Ronnie Dio and the Prophets. The group eventually disbanded, leading Dio and guitarist Nick Pantas to form a new project – Electric Elves. The name was shortened to Elf in 1969 and the band became quite successful, opening for Deep Purple on several occasions. When Deep Purple’s guitarist Ritchie Blackmore left his original group and decided to form his own project, Dio and other members of Elf were invited in, thus forming the legendary Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow. The band released their first album in 1975 and recorded three more with Dio as the lead singer, until his departure in 1979 due to creative differences (Blackmore wanted to take the group into a more commercial direction). In the very same year Dio joined Black Sabbath, replacing their original vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. He recorded two albums with the legendary group – “Heaven and Hell” and “Mob Rules” – both achieving huge commercial success.
During the mixing of Black Sabbath’s live album “Live Evil” in 1982, Dio along with drummer Vinny Apice left the group to form Dio’s solo project. The band’s first release was the legendary album from 1983 - “Holy Diver”, which to this very day is considered as one of the most amazing heavy metal offerings of all times. The successful release was followed by four more albums – “The Last In Line”, “Sacred Heart”, “Dream Evil” and “Lock Up The Wolves” (the last one being recorded in a completely new line-up). In 1990, during the promotional tour for his latest album, Dio had a chance meeting with former Black Sabbath bandmate, Geezer Butler. This resulted in a brief reunion with Black Sabbath and the recording of the “Dehumanizer” album in 1992. After that period Dio focused again on his solo career, in the following years releasing two albums – “Strange Highways” (1994) and “Angry Machines” (1996), both of which took the band into a new stylistic direction. In 2000 Dio returned to his former style with the epic concept album “Magica”. The successful release was followed by another classic offering – “Killing the Dragon” – which saw the light of day in 2002.
“Evil or Divine” was initially released in 2003 as a DVD and then re-released in a CD format as “Evil or Divine – Live in New York City” in 2005. The album features fifteen tracks of pure heavy metal madness, brilliantly capturing the brightest moments in Dio’s career. The concert took place at the Roseland ballroom in New York City in 2002, following the promotional tour for “Killing the Dragon”. The set list included three tracks from that album (“Killing the Dragon”, “Push” and “Rock and Roll”), as well as one track from Dio’s previous offering – “Magica” (“Fever Dream”). The rest of the material covered classics from Dio’s solo releases and also the Rainbow and Black Sabbath era. One of the most surprising highlights of the album is a 9-minute guitar solo performed by Doug Aldrich, who managed to present an astonishing variation of guitar styles, from blues to neo-classical metal. The album ends with an amazing performance of the all-time Dio classic “We Rock”, leaving the audience breathless.
Dio recorded one more album under his name – “Master of the Moon” in 2004 – before teaming up with former Black Sabbath bandmates in late 2006 to form Heaven and Hell - a project bringing back the Black Sabbath line-up from the early 1980’s. The group went on a world tour in 2008 (playing the material from “Heaven and Hell”, “The Mob Rules” and “Dehumanizer”) and in 2009 released their first studio album – “The Devil You Know” – which gained huge success all around the globe.