Dio and Sabbath's influence

Ever noticed that DIO has been VERY influenced by his Sabbath days? Here's some examples. On the Holy Diver album, the title track and Shame On The Night sound like they could have been on Mob Rules or Heaven & Hell. His new material since 1992 has an almost doomy feel to it, much like Dehumanizer. Am I completely off base on this comparison?

I'm interested in your thoughts.

No you are not off base at all, but it makes since that is material carries over some left over influence from his stint with Sabbath, because unlike Ozzy he actually helped write some of the music on those Sabbath albums he was involved in.

I think Dio found his niche when he was in Sabbath so it makes sense.

I agree with you SF.

He has a lot of Rainbow in his song writing, too...

I can definitely hear that (even though alot of Dio's work has it's own vibe to it...I can't hear Sabbath doing "I Speed At Night" or "Rainbow In The Dark" for example. I'm not familiar with Dio's recent material, the last album I heard was Strange Highways.

But the influence I think works both ways...compare Heaven & Hell or Mob Rules to the Sabbath albums prior, there was a major stylistic change once Dio came aboard. That style pioneered on Heaven & Hell and Mob Rules has pretty much carried on through the Tony Martin era, the reunions with Dio, etc.

Tony & Dio are a good match, both changed by working with each other. That's kind of the way I look at it.

Yeah, even though Sabbath was/is Tony's and Geezer's band, Dio escaping out of Ritchie's shadow and finding his niche when he came to Sabbath, so it makes sense that he is forever closely linked to them, lyrically and musically.

who is this Dio person you all are refering to

When you think about it "Stargazer" fits in the Sabbath/Dio vibe, so he already had that in his blood, Sabbath was a natural fit for him.