Review Summary: One of the greatest 34 minutes in the history of music combined into one flawless masterpiece.
Rising is the second album by American/British proto-metal band
Rainbow. The follow-up to their great debut Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow, Rising manages to improve upon its predecessor in almost every way. Simultaneously creating one of the greatest metal albums of all time.
The line-up of Rainbow (Anno 1976)
Ronnio James Dio: Lead vocals
Richie Blackmore: Guitar
Rony Carey: Keyboards
Jimmy Bain: Bass
Cozy Powell: Drums
~~~The review~~~
"Tarot Woman" starts with a sweet keyboard intro by Carey. The intro slowly and steadily builds up until Ritchie Blackmore's guitar fades in, and quickly both are joined by the rest of the band making for the perfect start to the album with Dio himself starting off with a strong verse. Before the song moves on to a catchy and powerful chorus. The rest of the song is in the middle interrupted by a fabulous and melodic minute-or-so-long solo by Blackmore before the rest of the band goes back in for a last verse and chorus. Tarot Woman ends with a reprise of the solo in a strong fashion.
"Run With The Wolf" is more of a typical rocker and features less of the proto-metal elements of the previous song. Once again a strong offering by the band with a very tight rhythm section, where Carey's organ is one of the highlights of the song. On top of that, Ritchie chips in with a very bluesy and tasteful solo. At only 3:40 Run With The Wolf is a nice shorter track to make sure this album is not just a one-trick pony of grandiose epics.
"Starstuck" is a great little piece. The song is according to Ronnie James Dio about a french girl, who was completely obsessed with Ritchie, and this song feels like the boys having a laugh about it. Bordering between the proto-metal of Tarot Woman and the two epics and the hard rocking sound of the rest of the album, Starstruck makes for a fantastic, energetic, and hook-filled song, with quite possibly the album's most catchy chorus, with this track being one for the Dio fans.
"Do You Close Your Eyes" is the shortest song on the album but makes great use of its precious time. A hard rocker in the vein of AC/DC, Do You Close Your Eyes starts off with some loud power chords and some great ad-libs by the ever-fantastic Dio. Though at no fault of its own, this is definitely the weakest track Rising has to offer, but only because it is accompanied by all-time greats.
"Stargazer" starts off with Powell showing off while Blackmore slides his guitar before the whole band jumps in. Dio then drags all of us into an epic tale of a wizard whose slaves, at the expense of many lives, build him a tower, so he can fly, just for him to plummet to his death, and leave the slaves purposeless. Musically Stargazer might as well be one of the greatest songs of all time. Everything about this song is just perfection because most of the members get to shine together. Powell is probably the highlight of this song playing like a maniac and hitting his cymbals as if they were deserving of a good beating. Combined with Blackmore's guitar they manage to create an incredibly dense and powerful sound akin to Judas Priest. Lastly, Dio's vocals tie this song together in a nice package of pure musical bliss.
"A Light In The Black" is the conclusion to the story started by Stargazer. After the wizard has died the slaves are lost without a purpose, but find a light in the black, which can be interpreted as the slaves finding a new meaning to their lives. A Light In The Black is probably the only song ever created even remotely comparable to Stargazer in its sound and feel and somehow manages to be equally good. The second epic of the album, this one adds an almost three-and-a-half minute brilliant instrumental break featuring a fantastic keyboard solo by Carey and probably the highlight of Ritchie Blackmore's career during his solo. Not to be overshadowed Dio continues his top-notch performance from Stargazer. A Light In The Black bookends one of the greatest albums of the sadly shortlived genre of proto-metal. But holy shit it is a perfect way to do so.
Song ratings:
1. Tarot Woman: 5/5
2. Run With The Wolf: 4/5
3. Starstruck: 4,5/5
4. Do You Close Your Eyes: 4/5
5. Stargazer: 5/5
6. A Light In The Black: 5/5
In conclusion: This is not only one of the greatest proto-metal albums of all time it is one of the greatest albums of all time period. Ritchie Blackmore managed to do so with an all-star cast of musicians, and they did not disappoint in the slightest. The only sad part about this band and album is that this line-up was so short-lived only lasting for one more album before basically splitting up and changing their sound.
