VARIOUS ARTISTS// Ronnie James Dio – This is Your Life

Various Artists: Ronnie James Dio—This is Your Life
(Warner Music)

To say Ronnie James Dio was universally loved is to say oxygen is universally breathed. Raising money for the Dio family’s “Stand Up and Shout” Cancer Fund, the assemblage of songs and people thrashing them out is impressive. Damned impressive. Anthrax, Motörhead, Glenn Hughes, and Tenacious D feature among the constellation of luminaries. Fellow metal god Rob Halford supremely belts out Rainbow classic Man on the Silver Mountain. Corey Taylor leads a couple Stone Sour dudes and Steel Panther’s Satchel to a lipstick-kissed Rainbow in the Dark (they should be a real band). It’s got rarities, too, such as Doro’s take on Egypt (The Chains are On). Surprisingly, Metallica kicks it up a notch, charging a nine-minute medley of A Light in the Black, Tarot Woman, Stargazer & Kill the King. It concludes with Dio himself bowing out to grand piano weepie This is Your Life. The one bit that sucks? It’s a huge reminder that the little big guy is gone forever. Horns up!

For fans of: Dio, Rainbow, Black Sabbath.

Buy here from iTunes!