”Holy Diver (Joe Barresi Remix)” has been remixed by engineer Joe Barresi (Tool, Queens of the Stone Age) taking as source the original master tapes. Cover art is also new done by longtime Dio artist, Marc Sasso.
The results? In our opinion are excellent.
With this 2022 remix ‘Holy Diver’ has been benefited by a rich, defined sound of the whole instrumentation in the mid-range of the sonic spectrum, and Ronnie’s vocals are clearer – something like ‘floating’ into your ears.
Wendy Dio said about the reasoning behind this Holy Diver new remix:
“We were just — Rhino and myself — were thinking that it would be nice to re-release it with a newly remixed version. And I went through lots of different producers and thinking who would make a good job of it for Ronnie and bring it a bit more modern.
So we picked Joe Barresi, who’s done lots of stuff with Tool, Queens of the Stone Age and so on. And he was quite reluctant in the beginning to do it because he said, ‘Oh, I can’t improve on what Ronnie did.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s not really to improve on it. It’s just to make it a little bit different and to bring it up to today’s standards.’
And so he did it, and I’m very pleased. I think he did an absolutely amazing job with it.”
”Holy Diver (Joe Barresi Remix)” sounds great. And there’s something we like a lot: there are no end fades in 6 tracks, all end as they were originally recorded, the band properly finishing the songs.
Barresi unearths outros that were initially lost to the album’s deeply ’80s fade-outs, providing a small behind-the-scenes glimpse of the sessions, and this is a must listen for fans of this incredible album.
The zenith of Ronnie James Dio’s formidable career, reissued / remixed on what would have been his 80th birthday, is a heavy metal holy grail – a beacon of iconic riffs and ecstatic, empowering anthems essential in your collection.
01. Stand Up and Shout (3:19)
02. Holy Diver (6:11)
03. Gypsy (3:53)
04. Caught in the Middle (4:51)
05. Don’t Talk to Strangers (4:55)
06. Straight Through the Heart (4:47)
07. Invisible (6:15)
08. Rainbow in the Dark (4:32)
09. Shame on the Night (5:42)
Ronnie James Dio – vocals, keyboards, production
Vinny Appice – drums
Jimmy Bain – bass, keyboards
Vivian Campbell – guitar