Various Artists
Dio - This Is Your Life

I can't exactly describe the feelings I experienced when I learned that Ronnie James Dio had passed away. Sadness, obviously. Anger, frustration, I felt these too, it was as if someone had forcibly ripped a part of my life away, without warning, with immense cruelty, ignoring how special he was to me.

As is customary when an artist dies, I thought I should listen to/watch something they created. But I couldn't bring myself to do it, the melancholy was still too great, and I still thought it wasn't true, I tried with all my might to deny what I had just read with my eyes. It's a strange feeling, you know? Being aware of what has happened, yet at the same time, persistently rejecting it.

Like when years pass, and you look at a photograph, for quite some time I've been incessantly revisiting Ronnie James. And like one does with a photograph, which you can stare at for hours trying to bring your mind back to the exact second of the shot and attempt to relive those emotions, I listened and re-listened to those songs that led me to know that small, great man. Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, the solo career, everything. I traveled on the notes of "Gates Of Babylon", the immense "Stargazer", the frantic rhythms of "Neon Knights" and "The Mob Rules", or the adrenaline-filled "We Rock" and "Night People". Everything was fine, as long as I could hear that voice again. That voice which years ago, completely unaware of what I was listening to, I considered off-key, now has been able to give me more emotions than any experience I have had.

It is impossible not to talk about the legacy Dio left to the music scene and various artists. Artists who, united to pay tribute to the Houston elf, decided to create a tribute album, released in 2014 under the name "Dio - This Is Your Life", taking the title from the song contained in the album "Angry Machines" (1996), probably one of the most beautiful pieces of Dio's entire solo career.

I found quite a few unexpected surprises in this album, the first being Metallica's performance executing the medley of songs from "Rising", exceptional, or Doro Pesch's rendition of "Egypt (The Chains Are On), and still staying on the theme of female voices, the cover of "Straight Through The Heart" by Halestorm, with Lzzy Hale's angry tone that perfectly fits a piece like this.

I wasn't able to fully appreciate Killswitch Engage's rendition of "Holy Diver", most likely because the group's genre does not align with what I typically listen to, but I don't doubt the passion the group put into playing this song. Still to be praised are Biff Byford of Saxon and Motorhead for the interpretation of "Starstruck", where the former showcases a vocal performance not bad at all, and the same goes for Rob Halford, who excellently interprets "Man On The Silver Mountain". While instrumentally magnificent, I found it difficult to enjoy "Temple Of The King" redone by the Scorpions, mostly because Klaus Meine's voice doesn't fit my tastes, but these are small issues.

Leaving personal tastes aside, passion is what best represents this album. If I had to find faults, I would only cite the absence of figures like Ritchie Blackmore, who helped make Dio known to the world with Rainbow, but nothing more. A participation of many artists, who contributed to expressing their admiration for the one who has been able to give countless emotions to the soul of anyone who has listened to him at least once, to the one who made the devil horn gesture famous, to that small, great man who is still remembered in the hearts of many people today. Simply, Ronnie James Dio. And now, listening to "Rainbow Eyes", the journey continues...