Search - Black Sabbath :: Dio Years

Ah, Those Golden Dio Years.....

Eric Ericson | Venice, Florida USA | 04/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okay, I'm biased as anything. Black Sabbath is my favorite band of all time. I own every piece of Black Sabbath music out there, and I mean EVERYTHING! And when I say I'm a fan of Black Sabbath, I mean every single era/version of Black Sabbath, be it the classic era of Ozzy Osbourne, the one off shots with Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes, the rocky Tony Martin years, and most importantly the legendary periods with Ronnie James Dio.



You see, it was Ronnie James Dio's time in Sabbath that got me into them in the first place! 1981:Thirteen years old, sneaking into the R rated animated feature "Heavy Metal" and hearing that legendary opus "The Mob Rules" blasting through the screen like nothing my ears had ever heard before.



I've been hooked ever since.



Now, Rhino Records has finally given this line-up it's proper due with "The Dio Years". Within this fully remastered compilation is 13 select cuts from Black Sabbath's four officially released albums with Dio: Heaven And Hell, Mob Rules, Live Evil, and Dehumanizer. While to fully please any fan of this era, one disc doesn't fully cut it (where's The Sign Of The Southern Cross, Walk Away, or their biggest hit from the 90's Time Machine?!!?), it does give members of this new generation a great sample of what they may have missed while growing up in this Alternative/Rap/Nu-Metal world of today.



Most of the big ones are here: Neon Knights, Heaven And Hell, The Mob Rules, TV Crimes, and the live (and superior to the studio) version of Children Of The Sea. As well as deeper cuts like Lonely Is The Word, Voodoo, and others. Each track has been remastered with Warner Bros original first generation tapes and they have never, and I mean NEVER, sounded this good ever! No edits, no goofy remixes, just the classic Black Sabbath sound most of us grew up on, just louder and crisper than ever before. Just as how the Black Sabbath/Ozzy era release "The Black Box" received superior & proper remastering, "The Dio Years" seem to have been given the exact same attention. Thank you, thank you Rhino for that!



And if that wasn't enough, the original Mob Rules line-up (including Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and drummer Vinny Appice) recorded new songs! Not just one, or two, but THREE brand new tracks, making this Best Of to any Sabbath fan a must buy! The Devil Cried, Shadow Of The Wind, and Ear In The Wall, all written and recorded around late 2006 show that these guys still have alot of power left in them, sounding just like where they left off in 92's Dehumanizer. And they'll need that strength too, as most already know that they are currently on tour as "Heaven And Hell" to promote this release along with the 5000 only pressing of Rhino Handmade's "Live At The Hammersmith Odeon 1981" release due in early May. It's good to see this line-up finally get it's due, especially after a decade of overshadowing by the original Ozzy Osbourne version, which quite frankly, needed a break.



Oh and before I go, I dare anyone who thinks Black Sabbath is "only Ozzy" to purchase this, give it a listen, and you WILL see that The Dio Years WERE just as important! I couldn't imagine Black Sabbath without those classic Dio led albums.



No true Black Sabbath fan ever would."

The Neon Knights are Back!

Sampson Simpson | Canada | 04/29/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Compilations are always fun to quibble about. You can always complain about which songs are missing, and which songs you'd replace. I won't spend too much time talking about that as most of the reviews have already pointed out that Sign Of The Southern Cross and Time Machine are missing from the new Black Sabbath compilation, The Dio Years.



It's very important to remember two things. One, this album contains the first new Black Sabbath material released in nine years. Nine years! This is a band that used to release an album every year, up until the point that Ozzy Osbourne rejoined the band. Since then, the band has released exactly two new songs (both with the Ozzman singing) and has stagnated live on stage playing the same setlist over and over again. Since The Dio Years represents the first new Sabbath material in almost a decade, it bears a listen.



Two, this set was originally supposed to be a 2-CD boxed set. As such I'm sure a lot of songs were dropped along the way, Yes, Southern Cross is missing. However, this reviewer's only quibble is Southern Cross. I would have replaced Lady Evil myself (a song I never liked), but perhaps the fine folks at Rhino felt that one 7+ minute epic was enought for a single disc. I can understand that logic. Besides, I, like every Sabbath fan worth his or her own salt, already own Mob Rules.



This disc was freshly remastered. I should point out that this remastering session was not the same one that produced the excellent series of Sabbath remasters in the late 90's, but one that occured in 2006/7. As such the sound is even crisper and heavier. I actually found that I had to roll down the bass a bit, as my normal settings made the bass just too heavy. This is also the first time that the material from Dehumanizer (15 years young!) has been remastered.



The liner notes are excellent, very detailed, with lots of facts that casual Sabbath fans didn't know (like the fact that Craig Gruber from Rainbow, and Sabbath keyboard man Geoff Nicholls were brought in to play some bass when Geezer briefly left the band). There are a bunch of cool pictures and artwork as well, which fit in nicely with the Sabbath vibe.



Every Dio-era album get a look-in, even the controversial Live Evil via a great version of Children Of The Sea, almost as memorable as its studio counterpart. Rhino, however, are not including any rarities, such as the non-album versions of Mob Rules (Heavy Metal soundtrack CD), Letters From Earth (TV Crimes single), or the rare live B-sides from old 12" singles. This is dissapointing since Rhino often include such rarities on their compilations. However, Rhino are supposed to be releasing some unissued Mob Rules-era live stuff shortly anyway.



What you get instead are the aformentioned three new songs. That's one more than Ozzy gave you on the Sabbath Reunion CD, by the way! When Dio is with Sabbath he tends to talk about his songs in terms of tempo. As such, you get one fast one (Ear In The Wall), one slow one (Shadow Of The Wind) and one mid-tempo song (the single The Devil Cried). I almost always prefer the fast Sabbath stuff, so obviously Ear In The Wall is my favourite. It is important to note that Vinny Appice is the drummer on the new material, not Bill Ward as originally announced. This is therefore the Mob Rules/Dehumanizer lineup reunited once again (and touring under the name Heaven And Hell). Sound-wise, these three new songs pick up where Dehumanizer left off. Geezer, unfortunately, was not involved in the writing, and Iommi and Dio did the production themselves. This might have something to do with the fact that I can't hear nearly enough of Geezer's trademark slinky bass lines--something I identify with the Sabbath sound more than any singer they've ever had. Iommi's playing some good riffs and some scorching solos here, although I have found his guitar tone over the last decade to be too modern and distorted. I much prefer it when he gets a nice amp-driven sound rather than something so processed. However, bottom line is, these three new songs are good, albeit not essential, parts of the Sabbath catalogue. I much prefer them to the two new songs they did with Ozzy.



That is where we stand: Sabbath have given us numerous compilations, a handful of live albums, and exactly 5 new songs since their last studio record Forbidden in 1995. We now have two versions of Sabbath in existence, one calling itself Heaven And Hell. Maybe things are picking up and we'll get more music in the future? In the meantime, fans new and old alike are recommended to pick up The Dio Years. The heavy remastered sound, new songs, and old songs you may have forgotten will re-ignite your passion for this heavy metal institution."