Holy Diver (song)
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| “Holy Diver” | |||||
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| Single by Dio from the album Holy Diver |
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| B-side | Evil Eyes Don't Talk to Strangers |
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| Released | August 1983 | ||||
| Format | 7", 12" | ||||
| Recorded | 1983 Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, USA |
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| Genre | Heavy metal | ||||
| Length | 5:51 | ||||
| Label | Vertigo Records Mercury Records Warner Bros. Records |
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| Writer(s) | Ronnie James Dio, Jimmy Bain | ||||
| Producer | Ronnie James Dio | ||||
| Dio singles chronology | |||||
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| “Holy Diver” | |||||
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| Single by Killswitch Engage from the album As Daylight Dies Special Edition |
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| Released | 2007 | ||||
| Format | CD | ||||
| Genre | Alternative metal, metalcore | ||||
| Length | 4:05 | ||||
| Label | Roadrunner Records | ||||
| Killswitch Engage singles chronology | |||||
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"Holy Diver" is the first single released by heavy metal band Dio, appearing on their 1983 LP, Holy Diver. Although it only reached #40 on the charts, it is one of Dio's most popular songs.
The song is prominently featured on the soundtrack to the radio station V-Rock in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and is also one of the tracks on the game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. It was also played in the South Park episode Hooked on Monkey Phonics, and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Pat Burrell used the song in 2005 and 2006 as his at-bat music. The song was also the lead off song in the Matchstick Films Ski Movie trilogy.
[edit] Music Video
The music video for Holy Diver, directed and edited by Arthur Ellis, features Dio as a barbarian adventuring through a desolate town, First he strikes with his sword two rascals, but instead of killing them he turns them into rats. Then he later visits a blacksmith who reforges his sword.
[edit] Covers
Artists who have covered the song include:
- Pat Boone, on his album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy, with Ronnie James Dio himself on backing vocals.
- Metalcore band Killswitch Engage covers the song on a compilation album entitled High Voltage!: A Brief History of Rock for Kerrang! magazine. They also perform this song in their live shows. The song is in the re-release of the band's As Daylight Dies album, with an accompanying video already released for it. It is KSE's first top 20 single on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts and also includes a music video similar to the Dio one.
- Folk metal band Otyg, who also have performed it live.
- Sum 41 played the song on acoustic guitar for the MTV Show Jammed.
- Children of Bodom paid homage to this theme including its initial riff in the intro to their song "Downfall" in live shows; this can be heard and seen in the Chaos Ridden Years live album/dvd.
- Sons of Butcher (band) have also performed it live.
- Tenacious D has performed parts of the song live.
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