A Dio tribute done right!Jorn Lande must be the busiest man in hard rock and heavy metal. Jorn is currently fronting his solo band as well as returning to Masterplan, and believe it or not he is even on tap to join Glenn Hughes, at the High Voltage Festival, to co-front Heaven and Hell. He and Glenn will pay tribute to the late great Ronnie James Dio. It is no secret that Jorn is a huge fan of Ronnie’s music, because he has covered several of his tracks, in the past. It will be a monumental day in metal history, in which I hope will get some sort of professional release down the line. That being said, Jorn has just released a 13 track CD full of covers, of the legend that was RJD, appropriately titled Dio.
Dio is what you would expect; the songs are pretty true to form with a few twists. As always Jorn and his band sound amazing and their rendition’s of the Dio tunes are spot on. If you’re a Jorn fan you’ve heard a few of these before. Jorn is no stranger to Dio covers and some of those covers re-appear on this release like Kill the King (Rainbow) and Lonely is the World/Letter From Earth (Black Sabbath). The interesting thing about this release is that he covered a couple tracks from Dream Evil and Sacred Heart. I was surprised to see those represented in the track listing. I think some of the best covers on this CD are the ones he did from the Holy Diver record. I really like his interpretations of Invisible and Shame on the Night. Jorn has also included one original for the CD titled Song for Ronnie James Dio. It is a song in which most of the lyrics are made up of Dio song titles. It is a cool tune and would have made Ronnie proud. That being said, I believe Ronnie would have enjoyed the full record. I’m not sure if he heard it before his passing, because it was almost completed before he left us, but I think he would have dug it. He was a fan of other great vocalist, and Jorn is definitely one of them. A solid effort and fitting tribute to one of the greatest vocalists that heavy metal has ever seen.
Bottom Line: Jorn paying homage to one of his idols and doing it well. The great thing about the Jorn solo band sound is that they are so heavy, which in turn breathes life into some of the older tunes.
Standout Tracks: Song for Ronnie James Dio, Invisible, Sham on the Night and Letters From Earth.
- Ragman misses the great one.