I’m not going to lie and say I’m some super-huge Dio fan. I don’t own and Dio or Rainbow records (although I do own an Elf record for some reason – my music collection is just stupid sometimes). My Dio knowledge is pretty much limited to what he did with Sabbath, and even that’s pretty light. Aside from “Mob Rules” and “Neon Knights” I don’t think I ever heard a Dio-era Sabbath song until I moved to Pittsburgh a few years ago, when newly acquired metal-loving friends showed me what was what. A couple years later I got to see Dio in concert with Heaven & Hell (which is what Dio Sabbath calls themselves) and proceeded to have my mind blown. Holy shit. He was 65 at the time I think. I hope I am half that fucking metal when I’m 65. Shit. I’m not now and I’m less than half that age. I got some rocking to do.

If I may lighten the mood a bit; I have this joke I use (a lot). Whenever someone/something lets someone down I say “Well, it’s like David Lee Roth, the concept of him is better than the reality. David Lee Roth is great in theory, but not in practice.”

Stupid I know, but relevant. Because while the concept/myth/mystique of Dio was legendary, it was actually matched by the epic voice, presence and legacy of the man himself. Dio wasn’t just a monster of metal. He fucking WAS metal. And he still is.

Black Sabbath (Heaven & Hell)
The Devil Creed
Shadow Of The Wind
Ear In the Wall
These three tracks are from The Dio Years greatest hits from a few years back. I posted them a couple years ago and I’m posting them again with the same instructions. Download these three songs and then go buy the The Rules Of Hell box set, which collects every album Dio ever did with Sabbath, including Live Evil and Dehumanizer.