Paul Gilbert Shares 'Man On A Silver Mountain' From The Dio Album

Michael Angulia | 03-22-2023

Album art

Mr. Big guitarist Paul Gilbert has shared his cover of the Rainbow classic "Man On A Silver Mountain", from his forthcoming tribute to Ronnie James Dio, "The Dio Album", which will arrive on April 7th.

From the album announcement: "The Dio Album" consists of 10 standout and career-defining tracks, from "Neon Knights" and "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" to "Holy Diver" and "Man On The Silver Mountain". As well as analyzing Ronnie James Dio's electrifying vocal melodies, Paul also enjoyed paying tribute to three incredibly talented guitar legends - Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Ritchie Blackmore of Rainbow and Vivian Campbell from the Dio band, who has been a member of British stadium rockers Def Leppard since 1992.

"Playing all these metal riffs like 'Stand Up And Shout', 'Neon Knights' and 'Kill The King' gave me serious chills," said Paul. "The guitar parts of Ritchie, Tony and Vivian brought no small number of goosebumps." "These amazing riffs are the steel girders of the songs, upon which everything else rests," smiles Paul. "It had been a while since I'd been this deep into metal rhythm guitar playing, and it felt like I was digging up gold nuggets of fire with a magic platinum shovel. All while wearing a star-covered wizard hat! The guitar solos in these songs came screaming from distant mountaintops. Ritchie, Tony, and Vivian set the standard breathtakingly high."

Engineered by Zach Bloomstein with Paul handling all of the instrumentation, save for Bill Ray's inspired drum work, "The Dio Album" is undoubtedly the most sonically accurate tribute to the songs that made Ronnie James Dio a bona fide rock and roll legend. In order to truly hone in on the late singer's essence, Paul Gilbert dissected many of the melodies line by line, throwing every inch of himself into the music. It was the only way to capture every ounce of the energy and emotion.

"Just like he sang: 'The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams... it's Heaven and Hell!' Thank you, Ronnie, and long live rock and roll."