Dio - Evil or Divine DVD
Eagle Rock Entertainment
Heavy Metal
17 songs (98:13)
Release year: 2003
Dio, Eagle Rock Entertainment
Reviewed by Jay
Major event

Ronnie James Dio is the metal god. Creating the horns alone would be enough to immortalize this man but his music lives on. This new DVD is a true testament to his prowess and strength as a musician. The voice is legendary and the songs are magical. I was pleased with this DVD because it was a return to the old time over-the-top larger than life concert videos.

Shot on Friday, December 13th at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, Dio turned in a hell of a performance. His voice sounds as good as it did 20 years ago. “Don’t Talk To Strangers” is as metal as it comes especially with Dio hitting all those incredible notes live. Of the multitude of standouts, this is definitely one of them. Doug Aldrich is a master of the guitar. He has the stamina to keep himself speedy for the whole show. These solos are works of art. Aldrich can truly fill Vivian Campbell’s shoes here. Aside from his goofy faces and antics, he is the man on guitar. Jimmy Bain is his usual self on bass. Not the best player but he can keep the beat and makes himself known by looking more and more like Jimmy Page. Simon Wright pounds away on drums as usual. His solo was particularly killer and he adds flair to the older songs with the perfect extra nuances to spice things up. Scott Warren is a keyboard master but you do not ever see his face. The camera focuses on his fingers repeatedly, only showing his face once or twice.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is not worth listening to. Stick with the stereo mix or if you have it, the DTS mix sounds incredible. This disc really proves the superiority of DTS over Dolby Digital 5.1 when it comes to music. The highs are higher and the lows are lower, the cymbals sound like they’re right next to you and don’t get me started on how Dio’s voice sounds in surround sound. The great thing about this video is that is has been presented completely unedited. It appears that the sound hasn’t been fooled with either. I couldn’t see any visual mess ups when it comes to synchronization so either they did an amazing job with overdubs or they were just this good live. “Stand Up and Shout” sounded as good as ever especially with the extended solo. Dio knows how to put on a concert. Play a few new songs and then everyone’s favorites.

There are problems with this disc however. Firstly, the camera occasionally switches to stop-motion and sepia toned modes. These are annoying and detract from the show. When will people realize that they don’t need video effects to look cool? If they had left the normal raw footage alone it would have been much better. Dio sounds just like an old Italian New Yorker when he talks to the crowd. He rambles on and on before introducing songs. The drum and guitar solos were a nice touch but they were (especially the guitar solo) too long. In addition, several songs have endings that are several minutes long. If they cut the excessive endings until the last songs, there might have been room for one more song on this DVD.

The extras are standard. There is an interview with Dio about many topics like his influences and his spiritual beliefs. It is worth watching because Dio is such an articulate speaker. However his arguments aren’t too well reasoned. The behind the scenes montage is about five minutes of some woman following the band around and taping the sound check. Nothing special. The video for “Push” is great though. One of the best video’s I’ve seen in a long time. I never liked Tenacious D before but they are funny and the video effects are awesome. Overall it’s a good value and you get a special bonus too (The bonus I speak of is the dork holding up the shield in the crowd. I’ll let you guess who that is!).

Killing Songs :
Dio Classics live
Jay quoted no quote
Other albums by Dio that we have reviewed:
Dio - Sacred Heart reviewed by Goat and quoted 80 / 100
Dio - The Last In Line reviewed by Goat and quoted CLASSIC
Dio - Dream Evil reviewed by Thomas and quoted 93 / 100
Dio - Holy Diver Live reviewed by Jeff and quoted no quote
Dio - Master of the Moon reviewed by Jeff and quoted 78 / 100
To see all 10 reviews click here
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