Former DIO members Rudy Sarzo (bass), Simon Wright (drums),
Craig Goldy (guitar) and Scott Warren (keyboards) will join forces
with singers Tim “Ripper” Owens (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, BEYOND
FEAR, JUDAS PRIEST, ICED EARTH) and Toby Jepson
(LITTLE ANGELS, GUN) to play a number of shows in Europe under the
name DIO DISCIPLES.

Commented Ronnie James Dio‘s widow and
manager Wendy: “There will never be another Ronnie, but we want to
keep his music alive and hope you will support the band and become one of the
DIO DISCIPLES.

“We will [announce] the U.K./European tour dates as
they are confirmed, and we are planning some U.S. dates also.

“Hope to
see you at one of the shows.”

Wendy Dio recently revealed to
AOL‘s Noisecreep that Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST),
Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, BLACK COUNTRY
COMMUNION), Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA),
Lemmy Kimister (MOTÖRHEAD), Alice Cooper, Sebastian
Bach (SKID ROW) and Chris Jericho (FOZZY) are among the
artists who will appear on a forthcoming tribute album to Ronnie.
Grohl will do the BLACK SABBATH hit “Mob Rules” and
Halford will take on “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”. Cooper
already has a song in mind, going back to the ELF days, according to
Wendy.

“Rainbow In The Dark: The Autobiography Of Ronnie James
Dio”, the revealing memoir of the heavy metal master, will be published in
the spring of 2012 via MTV Books.

With nearly five decades of
worldwide success and album sales in the tens of millions as the front man of
ELF, RAINBOW, DIO, BLACK SABBATH, and, most
recently, HEAVEN & HELL, Ronnie James Dio grabbed the mic,
took the stage, and led a movement whose influence resonates to this day. In
“Rainbow In The Dark”, Dio himself will introduce the reader to
this incredible life and the over 50 photographs included will provide readers
with an unprecedented all-access pass to the rock concert of a lifetime.

Wendy Dio revealed in a recent interview that Ronnie James
Dio‘s memoir was three-quarters written before the singer’s death and that
she has until June 2011 to finish it so that it could be released the following
spring.

“Everything Ronnie did, lyrics or anything, was always
handwritten,” Wendy told VH1 Classic Rock Nights. “He didn’t do
anything on the computer. So he would handwrite it and then he’d give it to me
and then I’d give it to my assistant, she’d type it up. So that’s how it went
and, of course, I’d read it along the way and it’s very, very interesting. It’s
just interesting the way his stories are; he was a storyteller. Ronnie
was always a storyteller and it’s just great stories.”

METALLICA, JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN and BLACK
SABBATH are among the artists who have made Gibson.com‘s list of “Top 50 Metal Songs Of All Time”.

Check out the entire list below:

01. “Master of Puppets”
– METALLICA
02. “Ace of Spades” – MOTÖRHEAD
03. “Crazy
Train” – OZZY OSBOURNE
04. “Iron Man” – BLACK SABBATH
05.
“The Number of the Beast” – IRON MAIDEN
06. “War Pigs” – BLACK
SABBATH
07. “Paranoid” – BLACK SABBATH
08. “One” –
METALLICA
09. “Hallowed Be Thy Name” – IRON MAIDEN
10.
“Breaking the Law” – JUDAS PRIEST
11. “Children of the Grave”
– BLACK SABBATH
12. “Welcome to the Jungle” – GUNS N’ ROSES
13.
“Black Sabbath” – BLACK SABBATH
14. “Hells Bells” – AC/DC

15. “The Trooper” – IRON MAIDEN
16. “Painkiller” – JUDAS
PRIEST
17. “Stargazer” – RAINBOW
18. “Enter Sandman” –
METALLICA
19. “Back in Black” – AC/DC
20. “Runnin’ with the
Devil” – VAN HALEN
21. “The Hellion/Electric Eye” – JUDAS PRIEST

22. “Run to the Hills” – IRON MAIDEN
23. “Let it Go” – DEF
LEPPARD
24. “Epic” – FAITH NO MORE
25. “Hangar 18” –
MEGADETH
26. “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” – IRON MAIDEN
27.
“You’ve Got Another Thing Comin'” – JUDAS PRIEST
28. “Fear of the
Dark” – IRON MAIDEN
29. “Raining Blood” – SLAYER
30.
“Walk” – PANTERA
31. “Holy Diver” – DIO
32. “Highway to
Hell” – AC/DC
33. “Heaven and Hell” – BLACK SABBATH
34.
“Bulls on Parade” – RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
35. “Fade to
Black” – METALLICA
36. “Angel of Death” – SLAYER
37.
“Peace Sells” – MEGADETH
38. “Freak on a Leash” – KORN
39.
“Them Bones” – ALICE IN CHAINS
40. “Cemetery Gates” – PANTERA

41. “Detroit Rock City” – KISS
42. “Devil’s Child” – JUDAS
PRIEST
43. “Run with the Wolf” – RAINBOW
44. “Would?” –
ALICE IN CHAINS
45. “We’re Not Gonna Take It” – TWISTED SISTER

46. “Hell Bent for Leather” – JUDAS PRIEST
47. “Beyond the
Realms of Death” – JUDAS PRIEST
48. “Bomber” – MOTÖRHEAD
49.
“Unchained” – VAN HALEN
50. “10,000 Days (Wings, Part II)” –
TOOL

According to The Pulse Of Radio, it was 25 years ago this
month that METALLICA released its epic third studio album, “Master Of
Puppets”. The disc was released on March 3, 1986 and was produced by
Flemming Rasmussen, who also produced 1984’s “Ride The Lightning”
and 1988’s “…And Justice For All” for the band. In an interview with
Phoenix New Times, Rasmussen was asked if he knew the album was
special while he was working on it. He replied, “Oh yes. Right from the demos,
we pretty much knew this was gonna be a killer album. I think we all felt that
this was gonna be the best METALLICA album yet, as we had a bunch of
really strong songs. Even the instrumentals were awesome.”

“Master Of
Puppets” was the last album to feature bassist Cliff Burton, who died
in a tour bus crash in September 1986 and was replaced by Jason Newsted.
Rasmussen said about Burton, “He was surely one of a kind, and
even though Jason is a great bass player, it was impossible to fill out
Cliff‘s shoes.”

Many fans consider “Master Of Puppets”
METALLICA‘s greatest album, which the band itself acknowledged when it
played the record in its entirety on a summer 2006 tour of Europe. The Pulse
Of Radio asked frontman James Hetfield if the band would ever like to
play another album in its entirety in concert. “It’s pretty important that the
fan be involved in that, you know,” he said. “It was more of a fan’s asking for
that than us wanting to do it. You know, that was a pretty important album in
our career, so pretty historic for a lot of people and that made sense. But as
far as, you know — I’d love to play any and every one of them, but you know, it
does really come down to the fans really holding that dear to their heart or
not.”

“Master Of Puppets” was METALLICA‘s first gold album,
for sales of more than half a million copies. Many songs from the disc,
including “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”, “Battery”, “Leper
Messiah” and the title track are still part of the band’s live set to this
day.

Published by rbtaleman

Heavy metal (fiend/friend?) Writer, frustrat(or), frustrat(ee), decorated U.S. Navy veteran, Husband(twice), father(three times), grandfather(of seven), FM radio veteran, Concertgoer, music collector, muscle car aficianado. Grown up since five. Child since 45. View all posts by rbtaleman