Metallica have their share of naysayers, but after hearing the band’s new Ronnie James Dio tribute medley, ‘Ronnie Rising,’ we have a feeling the lips of those naysayers will be sewn shut. The nine-minute song is masterfully put together, combining the iconic tracks ‘A Light in the Black,’ ‘Tarot Woman,’ ‘Stargazer’ and ‘Kill the King.’
The ‘Ronnie James Dio: This is Your Life‘ tribute album is set for an April 1 release via Rhino, with an all-star gathering of legends uniting to pay respects for one of metal’s greatest vocalists. Along with Metallica, acts such as Anthax, Killswitch Engage, Motorhead, Rob Halford, Corey Taylor and many others have joined forces for ‘This is Your Life,’ and if their contributions are anything like Metallica’s, we’ll have an essential tribute album on our hands.
“Ronnie’s music, and what he was, was part of my life,” Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. “[Dio's] music is so much a part of what’s in Metallica’s DNA, the harder, edgier, blues-based hard rock from the ’70s. It was fairly effortless to put this together, because it’s something that we were all reared on. I don’t recall sitting there in a band meeting or anything deciding what to play. Somebody starts playing ‘Stargazer’ — which is sort of just like something that’s in our arsenal to jam — and then that whole period there, ‘Tarot Woman,’ ‘Kill the King,’ ‘A Light in the Black ‘ — that’s just really effortless to jump into.”
Ulrich continues, “You just try and do your own thing, respectfully, in the shadow of these legends. It becomes more of an homage and respect thing rather than trying to copy the song — it’s not even about outdoing them.”
Listen to Metallica’s ‘Ronnie Rising’ medley in the player below!
Metallica, ‘Ronnie Rising’
