Holy Diver (song)

"Holy Diver"
Single by Dio
from the album Holy Diver
B-side	"Evil Eyes" "Don't Talk to Strangers"
Released	August 1983
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	1983 Sound City Studios, Los Angeles, USA
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	5:51
Label	Vertigo Mercury Warner Bros.
Writer(s)	Ronnie James Dio
Producer	Ronnie James Dio
Dio singles chronology
"Holy Diver" (1983) "Rainbow in the Dark" (1984)

"Holy Diver" is the first single released by heavy metal band Dio, taken from the band's debut album of the same name. Although it only reached #40 on the Mainstream Rock chart at that time, today it is one of Dio's most popular songs. When played on the radio, many stations cut the extended instrumental intro sequence. Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the song was placed on the list of post-9/11 inappropriate titles distributed by Clear Channel. In 2009, Holy Diver placed 43rd on VH1's Top 100 Hard Rock Songs.

Music video

The music video for "Holy Diver", directed and edited by Arthur Ellis, features Dio as a hairy barbarian adventuring through a desolate church. First he strikes a shrouded figure and his hobgoblin friend with his sword, but instead of killing them he turns them into rats. He later visits a blacksmith who is forging a sword. He throws his sword in the trash and deftly catches the newly forged one.

Covers

• 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. The song is also in the re-release of the band's As Daylight Dies album. It is KSE's first top 20 single on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Charts and also includes a music video which is a slightly comical take on the original Dio version. A live version of the song is also featured on the Special Edition of their 2009 album Killswitch Engage.
• Folk metal band Otyg recorded a version and have also performed it live.
• Eläkeläiset (Humppa band from Finland) reinterpret it in their song Humpparaakki on their album Humppamaratooni.
• 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 have also performed it live.
• Tenacious D has performed parts of the song live.
• HolyHell has done a cover of the song at some live performances.
• After All, a Belgian thrash band, covered the song on their 2009 album Cult of Sin.
• Axel Rudi Pell, a good friend of Dio's, recorded a ballad cover on his compilation album, The Ballads IV in 2011.
• Holy Mother, played a cover of it in the tribute album Holy Dio.

Appearances

• Cover version is featured in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.
• It is featured in 2006 video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, on the in-game radio station V-Rock.
• It is downloadable content for Rock Band music video game series since September 14th, 2010.
• It is played in the South Park episode "Hooked on Monkey Fonics".
• It is featured in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.
• It is the lead-off song in the Matchstick Films "Ski Movie" trilogy.
• San Francisco Giants slugger Pat Burrell used the song in 2005, 2006, and 2009 as his at-bat music.