As you are all aware heavy metal / rock lost one of it’s all time great vocalists Ronnie James Dio recently. I have been surprised that there have not been lots of tribute /best of releases so far. One cd that has appeared though is the cd ‘Dio’ by Jorn. Jorn is Jorn Lande and the band Jorn is a stable line up of guitarists Tor Erik Myhre, Tore Moren, Jgor Gianola, Bassist Nic Angileri and drummer Willy Bendik. I don’t think the band are that well known but they are very good. Albums,’ The Gathering’, ‘The Duke’, ‘Spirit Black’ and ‘Lonely Are The Brave’ are all really good whiile Jorn Lande is a really great singer, very much in the Coverdale style with a great vocal range – both powerful and emotive. There are tones of Dio throughout his songs too.
This tribute to Dio sounds heartfelt and geniune. Jorn’s choice of tracks is interesting. There’s some very well known tracks but quite alot of less well known stuff too. The cd starts with a ‘Song For Ronnie James’, an 8 Minute epic with lyrics by Jorn and a collage of lines by Dio himself. A good track, Dio himslef would probably have enjoyed this. ‘Holy Diver’ is well covered with 4 tracks, including my favourite, ‘ Invisible’. However, I was more impressed by the versions of ‘Night People’, ‘Sunset Superman’ and ‘Lord Of The Last Day’. The singing is superb as is the guitar playing and rhythm section. On some tracks it’s annoying that the solos are faded out in full flow but otherwise this is a really good tribute to a great singer. A must for fans of Dio, really.
By Chris Greenwood
