DIO: Holy Diver PROMO LP Check videos

Released on May 25, 1983, the album has been hailed by critics as Dio's best work and a classic staple in the heavy metal genre.The album was eventually certified Gold in the US on September 12, 1984 and Platinum on March 21, 1989.
In the UK, it attained Silver certification (60,000 units sold) by the British Phonographic Industry, achieving this in January 1986, at the same time as The Last in Line.
The original vinyl release had a photo-montage LP-liner, with images from both Rainbow and Black Sabbath days.

The cover was controversial, featuring a devil killing a cleric. Dio was quick to argue that appearances are misleading, that it could just as easily be a priest killing a devil, wanting people not to "judge a book by its cover."
The demon-like monster is the band's mascot known as "Murray" and is featured on several other Dio albums as well.

On IGN's list of "Top 25 Metal Albums", Holy Diver was number 8, and this statement followed, "It is one of metal's best albums and it spawned two of the greatest metal songs of the 80s - "Holy Diver" and "Rainbow in the Dark". Featuring the underrated Vivian Campbell on guitar, this album showed that [Ronnie James] Dio could do it on his own."
Allmusic reviewer Eduardo Rivadavia praised the album, stating "...aside from Ronnie's unquestionably stellar songwriting, Holy Diver's stunning quality and consistency owed much to his carefully chosen bandmates, including powerhouse drummer (and fellow [Black] Sabbath survivor) Vinny Appice, veteran bassist Jimmy Bain, and a phenomenal find in young Irish guitarist Vivian Campbell, whose tastefully pyrotechnic leads helped make this the definitive Dio lineup. Holy Diver still the undisputed highlight of Dio's career, and, indeed, one of the finest pure heavy metal albums of the 1980s."

Side one
"Stand Up and Shout" (Ronnie James Dio, Jimmy Bain) – 3:18
"Holy Diver" (Dio) – 5:51
"Gypsy" (Dio, Vivian Campbell) – 3:39
"Caught in the Middle" (Dio, Vinny Appice, Campbell) – 4:14
"Don't Talk to Strangers" (Dio) – 4:53

Side two
"Straight Through the Heart" (Dio, Bain) – 4:31
"Invisible" (Dio, Appice, Campbell) – 5:24
"Rainbow in the Dark" (Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell) – 4:15
"Shame on the Night" (Dio, Appice, Bain, Campbell) – 5:20

Length 41:29

Ronnie James Dio – vocals, keyboards
Vivian Campbell – guitar
Jimmy Bain – bass, keyboards
Vinny Appice – drums