Friday Full-Length: Dio, Sacred Heart

While by no means maligned, 1985’s Sacred Heart is very much considered the third-of-three in the Dio band’s holy trinity of releases — Holy Diver (discussed here) in 1983, The Last in Line (discussed here) in 1984 and Sacred Heart in 1985; successive landmarks and, as an era, a commercial peak that Dio wouldn’t hit again — all massive and ongoing in their influence. And fair enough. Some of its highlight material, songs like “Hungry for Heaven” or “King of Rock and Roll” (which were both issued as singles) is also its most radio friendly, playing to a broader audience after the success of the first two albums. I might add “Just Another Day” to that list, though it’s more of a rocker and the later vocal layering is a thing to appreciate. But cuts like “Another Lie,” “Like the Beat of a Heart,” and “Fallen Angels” and “Shoot Shoot” at the end are bruisers, with grittier tone in Vivian Campbell‘s guitar able to transpose itself onto the rush of “King of Rock and Roll” or the keyboardy grandiosity of “Sacred Heart” and “Rock and Roll Children,” to drive a part or take a back seat to Ronnie James Dio‘s vocals, complement Claude Schnell‘s keys or set up bassist Jimmy Bain and drummer Vinny Appice with a righteous classic headbanger groove, and Sacred Heart does all of that, fluidly and with purpose.

The thing about it is there isn’t much that it introduces that’s new to the actual sound of the band. The Last in Line expanded on what Holy Diver had on offer, with a conversation happening between songs like “Egypt (The Chains are On)” and “Holy Diver” itself as much as Black Sabbath‘s “Heaven and Hell” from when Dio fronted doom’s progenitors from 1979-’82, and Sacred Heart continues that conversation. But “Sacred Heart” appears second in the tracklisting, precisely where both “Holy Diver” and “The Last in Line” could be found, after a raucous opener, and where Holy Diver offered “Rainbow in the Dark” for late-album punch and The Last in Line put “Egypt (The Chains are On)” in the role of big-finish-closer, Sacred Heart offers “Just Another Day,” “Fallen Angels” and “Shoot Shoot” back-to-back-to-back, all of which have something to offer listeners and fans either of the Dio band or Ronnie James Dio‘s work more broadly, be it in Sabbath, alongside Ritchie Blackmore in Rainbow, in Elf before that, etc., but none of which is a landmark even at the level of “Egypt (The Chains are On),” which is preceded by “Mystery” and “Eat Your Heart Out” on The Last in Line.

But even as third-of-three, the bulk of what Sacred Heart does remains inarguable. The title-track is forward-looking enough to the rougher edges Dio‘s vocal delivery would take dio sacred hearton in the ’90s, the coming of a new kind of heavy rock, while “King of Rock and Roll” lives up to Rainbow‘s “Long Live Rock and Roll” or Dio‘s own “We Rock” in putting the live experience and energy at the forefront. There’s even a crowd sample at the start of “King of Rock and Roll,” to underscore the point. And some of what Sacred Heart does best is in its biggest moments reaches further than Dio could on either Holy Diver or The Last in Line. “Rock and Roll Children” and “Hungry for Heaven,” right next to each other at the end of side A and the start of side B, expand the melodic reach of the heavy metal genre, not just for Dio as a singer or the band as a whole. Sure, glam was ascendant in the mid-’80s, but so was thrash, and Dio were neither; if you wanted to place this record in a niche today, would it be classic heavy rock, proto-power metal and doom? Sacred Heart could never catch listeners off guard and create a sensation in the way Holy Diver did, but when it came out in 1985, it had still only been two years since the debut. While a lot of the moves the band makes are familiar in the context of the two LPs before, Dio must have seemed unstoppable at least to some degree.

And yeah, the back half of the record has some filler. You might recognize “Just Another Day” or “Fallen Angels” when they’re on, but I doubt you’re already hearing them in your head just by reading the titles (and if you are, by all means, I welcome your comment giving yourself credit for it; well earned). Consider “Like the Beat of a Heart” here next to “Straight Through the Heart” on Holy Diver and you’ll see what I mean. But at least it’s heavy. If you’re gonna have filler, make it rock. Dio would’ve been grinding out tours upon tours at this point, and of course this lineup would unravel after this record, leading to a revamped Dio band issuing Dream Evil in 1987 with new vigor, so if the band was tired when it was time to knuckle down and pen album three, fair enough for it not being their greatest achievement in craft, but as a band, the lineup of DioGoldy, Schnell, Bain and Appice were never tighter or more in command of their material. Sacred Heart is a dynamic listen, able to evoke both a sense of ’70s strut in “Shoot Shoot” and a feeling of epic urgency in “Rock and Roll Children,” to ride a hard-hitting groove or set up high-stakes dramas one after the other. Sometimes both.

It’s true Sacred Heart doesn’t do a ton that Holy Diver and/or The Last in Line don’t do, but at this point that’s part of why I like it. It’s more of that thing. I’ll readily admit to going to the first half more than the second, but listening front-to-back to its 39-minute entirety, it feels like a necessary end to a trilogy. You wouldn’t have ended The Lord of the Rings without crowning Aragorn, right? Maybe there’s a bit of reaffirmation going on here — okay, more than “maybe” — but there’s expansion too around what’s been done before, and even as third-of-three in the Dio Trinity, it remains in a class of its own.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

Definitely picking Dio for some comfort to end the week. Which was not comfortable. Sad. Angry. Confused. Hurt. But not comfortable.

I’ve gotten so used to feeling disappointed in America that I forgot it can sting. Did we learn nothing in the last eight years? Do these people, people who look, sound and talk like me — my county went republican by 9,000 fucking votes! 9,000! — really just hate women and black people that much? Is that who we are?

Yeah, I guess it is. I guess we’re fascists. I’m not surprised at how the election turned out, but if you’re the type to drink liberal tears, I’ve got plenty for you. I genuinely think the country and the world are about to become worse places to be because of this result. The environment alone.

It’s astonishing. But expected? And consistent? With awfulness? And the last 50 years of the right in this country dismantling public education, actively dumbing down a populace while teaching them not to trust government? But isn’t that just about racism too?

Shit. Would a black woman have been so fucking terrible? Can someone tell me why?

People are mad about the direction the country is going in. Whatever that fucking means; it’s a poll question that gets cited all the time. So people are mad. Look back at every president we’ve ever had and look at who was running for the democrats. That’s new.

I swear it’s gonna blow when Nikki Fucking Haley becomes the first female US president. Our own Thatcher; embarrassingly late to the game.

But yeah, that was pretty much where the week stopped in my head — Tuesday night. Wednesday I didn’t wanna do or say or think fucking anything. Just dissociating — a full dedication of my mental and emotional faculties to not processing what had just happened or what it meant for me and my family. Yesterday was sad. Today’s sad and kinda angry and confused. We started paperwork to change The Pecan’s name, which is unaligned with her gender on her birth certificate, passport, etc., so there are ducks to get in a row there before these states’ rights advocates get their hands on federal proclamation power again. I don’t trust New Jersey being blue for a minute. These people are fucking psychopaths. And they’re in your neighborhood.

Have a great and safe weekend. Hopefully you’re somewhere else, but stay safe out there regardless and don’t forget to hydrate. I’m back Monday for more of this, which today feels somewhat empty as a thing to do in the face of such dark, stupid times.

FRM.

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6 Responses to “Friday Full-Length: Dio, Sacred Heart

  1. CM says:

    I agree 100% that Sacred Heart is underrated, and that Dio can be comfort. It has fared better (maybe because of more time in between?) but I always have had a soft spot for “Strange Highways.”

    For me, I played The Hawkins’ excellent “Ain’t Rock and Roll” as soon as I got to work on Wednesday. Opening with the poignant “Fuck You All I’m Outta Here” pretty much summed it all up nicely. I’m not surprised – although for a while there I foolishly dared hope – but that doesn’t make me any less disappointed. More than sad, I have found myself angrier than I think I have ever been at anything and with my wife out of town for work I have been left to stew in it all week.

    I had a first draft of this comment but I realized that the anger probably wasn’t productive. So instead, I have this:

    Small comfort, but you are not alone. It feels like we are. It doesn’t even help, really, to know that, but know it nonetheless. There are those of us that still represent safe spaces, that still fight for basic human decency, and who accept you and the Pecan and whoever else for who you are (unless you are a republican, then you can get fucked). And thank you. Your dogged coverage of the riff and the good tunes that get me through the day are a huge help and I can’t be alone in that. I also have enjoyed immensely your liner notes in the Postwax series. I particularly enjoyed your musings in the “Long Forever” split.

    Stay safe. Stay Strong. Choose love for those that need and deserve it. We may not get through this, not whole anyway, but we can for damn sure try.

  2. Gabriel says:

    This is a great line in your review: “You wouldn’t have ended The Lord of the Rings without crowning Aragorn, right?”, which I totally agree with.
    And yes, I did hear Fallen Angels in my head when reading the review.
    Great album. 100% Dio.

  3. Matt says:

    Feel/felt the same way this week. Can only go one day at a time and try to continue to be the better example that can hopefully influence others. Know it may be tough the next 4+ years, but just have to try and keep fighting the good fight. That’s not to say I haven’t looked into escaping to some tropical island at some point.

  4. CR says:

    There isn’t an issue with a black woman being president … so long as she’s competent. What exactly has she (not the other party, she) done in the last 4 years to tell you she would make for a good president? Destroy the economy some more? Continue to drive up the price of groceries? Keep the border a revolving door? Continue to send billions to Ukraine while our vets suffer? I’m not a fan of the other party either, far from it, but I can’t blame the general public for going against a cackling alky, regardless of race/sex, respectfully.

  5. Carter says:

    As a long time reader and appreciator of this blog, as someone who voted for Trump, and with the interest of this being a one time thing so as to not turn this into a political blog, I’ll step out for a moment and answer a couple of your questions:

    “Do these people, people who look, sound and talk like me…really just hate women and black people that much? Is that who we are?”

    No, I have literally 0 hatred toward black people or women, and I have literally no reason to hate them.

    “And the last 50 years of the right in this country dismantling public education, actively dumbing down a populace while teaching them not to trust government? But isn’t that just about racism too?”

    There can’t be much harm in dismantling the current public education system, when we’ve seen declining returns on our public investment (flagging levels of literacy, problem solving skills, and mathematics compared to other nations). Since our current public education system is so lacking, it would be beneficial to have an overhauling of said system, especially for minorities in inner cities, which are widely acknowledged as being poorly run. Many people who vote today don’t even properly understand how our government works, or are even able to name the three main branches of the federal government! How is that not a damning statement against the current education system?

    “People are mad about the direction the country is going in.”

    Yes, the economy is in the pits, everything is expensive, and people are feeling it in their bank accounts. People are sick of DEI policies because we can see how blatantly racist and sexist they are, and people want to live in a meritocracy, which is a good thing. People are tired of seeing the flood of people illegally crossing our southern border, with our federal government not only refusing to do anything about it, but actively suing border states that try to step up and take control of the situation in their stead. (Before I’m accused of being racist for the border, it’s definitely worth noting that there are literally people from all over the world coming through, from Central and South America to China to Africa to the Middle East to Eastern Europe, and literally none of them should be coddled for flaunting our sovereignty, regardless of their race.)

    People have an easy time finding themselves in echo chambers these days on the internet, especially with the algorithms feeding us what they think we want to hear, but it is also important to make sure to break out of them. While the majority of what I listen to is conservative news, I occasionally dip in to listen to David Pakman or The Young Turks to see what’s being said on the left as well. Additionally, people who are left-leaning really need to make an effort to get out of their echo chambers, because studies have shown that right-wingers and centrists tend to have at least some understanding of both sides, while left-wingers do not understand the right at all, and I think a lot of the reactions to the election results are another indicator of this being the case. https://intellectualtakeout.org/2023/03/why-left-cant-understand-right/

    If possible, I’d like to end this with at least one point of agreement between us: I agree about Nikki Haley potentially running for president again. I’m seriously so glad that Vivek Ramaswamy was up on stage during the Republican “primaries” to constantly call her out on being a stooge for Lockheed Martin, because I think the Republican establishment at that time was actually trying to astroturf her up into their “nomination”.

  6. Rumburak says:

    Dude, hang on in there. I am worried beyond belief about the state of the world and the universal rise of fascism and lack of decency in politics. But there is still hope. We need love, music and perhaps weed and websites like yours to keep our spirits high to be able to keep fighting the good fight. Yea, I am aware this sounds like hippie horseshit but hopelessness ain’t no way out.
    Please don’t forget that your work matters and is appreciated by more people than you might think.

    Iommic Love.

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