Sacred Heart (Dio album)
| Sacred Heart | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Cover art by Robert Florczak
|
||||
| Studio album by Dio | ||||
| Released | August 15, 1985 | |||
| Recorded | Rumbo Studios, Los Angeles, California, USA | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 38:50 | |||
| Label |
Warner Bros. (North America) Vertigo (rest of the world) |
|||
| Producer | Ronnie James Dio | |||
| Dio chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Sacred Heart | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 8/10 |
Sacred Heart is Dio's third studio album. It was released in August 15, 1985 on Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard 200 chart. It is one of Dio's most well-known albums, and includes singles such as "Sacred Heart", "Rock 'n' Roll Children" and "Hungry for Heaven".
This was the last Dio album to include guitarist Vivian Campbell, who was fired midway through the album's tour. Campbell went on to join several other bands, most notably Def Leppard, Riverdogs, Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy. A rift occurred during the recording of this album between Dio and the guitarist - "...for me, he (Viv) wasn't even there for this record." The album, along with Holy Diver and The Last in Line, was released in a new 2-CD Deluxe Edition on March 19, 2012 through Universal for worldwide distribution outside the U.S.
The accompanying stageshow was a spectacle involving a mechanised dragon and laser effects, as captured on the VHS (and later DVD reissue) Sacred Heart "The Video". Ronnie James Dio and his band referred to the dragon as Denzil (although originally it was called Dean).
The cover art is by Robert Florczak. The inscription around the border of the cover is in Latin and reads FINIS PER SOMNIVM REPERIO TIBI SACRA COR VENEFICVS OSTIVM AVRVM. A possible rendering is Along the borders of dreams I found for you the sacred poisonous heart and golden door. More data useful for the interpretation could be contained within the lyrics to the song "Sacred Heart". Since Latin relies on context for a translation the inscription could translate as follows, "comes the end by sleep I will prepare the sacred heart which is the magic that opens upon the altar"
...
Wikipedia