''Sacred Heart'' is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Dio and the last to feature guitarist

Vivian Campbell Vivian Patrick Campbell (born 25 August 1962) is a Northern Irish musician. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as the guitarist of Dio. He has also been the guitarist of Def Leppard since 1992 (replacing Steve Clark after his death). C ...

. It was released on August 12, 1985, on

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

in North America, and

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

elsewhere. The record peaked at No. 29 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. It includes the singles " Rock 'n' Roll Children" and " Hungry for Heaven".

Overview

''Sacred Heart'' was the final Dio album to include original guitarist

, who was fired midway through the album's tour. Campbell went on to join

Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1978. The group were originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their ow ...

and later

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

. A serious rift developed between the guitarist and vocalist

Ronnie James Dio Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), known professionally as Ronnie James Dio, was an American heavy metal singer. He fronted numerous bands throughout his career, including Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio and Heaven & Hel ...

during the recording of ''Sacred Heart'', with Dio stating in an interview "...for me, (Campbell) wasn't even there for this record." When the band was formed, Dio had made an arrangement with his new band which saw them paid very little, but they were promised a larger piece of the pie beginning with their third album, which ended up being ''Sacred Heart''. Campbell has maintained over the years that Dio failed to follow through on that promise, and his unhappiness with the situation drove a wedge between the two. Dio had recently separated from his wife and manager Wendy Dio, and Campbell has stated that this personal turmoil resulted in the vocalist's demeanor in the studio becoming "really, really dark" during the recording of ''Sacred Heart''. As a result, the musicians were uncomfortable in the studio and would typically leave after recording their parts, and the band began to fall apart. The album, along with ''

Holy Diver ''Holy Diver'' is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Dio, released in 1983. The album was acclaimed by the music press and is the band's most successful album. History Released on May 25, 1983, the album has been hailed ...

'' and ''

The Last in Line ''The Last In Line'' is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Dio, released on July 2, 1984. It is the first Dio album to feature former Rough Cutt keyboardist Claude Schnell. It became the band's highest-charting album in bo ...

'', was released in a new 2-CD Deluxe Edition on March 19, 2012 through

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

for worldwide distribution outside the U.S. Clocking in at 38 minutes, ''Sacred Heart'' is the band's shortest album.

Tour

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 Dean (although the press renamed it “Denzil”).

Cover

The cover art is by Robert Florczak. The inscription around the border of the cover is in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

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".

Certifications

The

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

certified ''Sacred Heart'' Gold (500,000 units sold) on October 15, 1985. It was Dio's last album to receive this certification until November 3, 2009, when the 2000 compilation '' The Very Beast of Dio'' was certified gold.

Track listing

2012 Deluxe Edition CD 2

Personnel

;Dio *

– vocals *

Vinny Appice Vincent Samson Appice (born September 13, 1957) is an American rock and metal drummer best known for his work with the bands Dio (band), Dio, Black Sabbath, and Heaven & Hell (band), Heaven & Hell. Of Italian descent, he is the younger brother ...

– drums *

Jimmy Bain James Stewart Bain (19 December 1947 – 23 January 2016) was a Scottish musician, best known for playing bass guitar in the bands Rainbow and Dio. He also worked with Kate Bush and Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott, co-writing on his solo albu ...

– bass *

– guitar *

Claude Schnell Claude Schnell (born May 17, 1955) is an American keyboardist who has been a member of the bands Magic, Rough Cutt, Dio (band), Dio, and Last in Line. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in France, when he was six years old his ...

– keyboards ;Additional musician *

Craig Goldy Thomas "Craig" Goldy (born November 6, 1961) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist of the rock bands Dio (band), Dio and Giuffria. Early musical life Goldy was born in San Diego, California. Before Dio, he played in the bands Ve ...

– guitar on "Time to Burn" ;Production * Recorded at

Rumbo Recorders Rumbo Recorders was a recording studio in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. History In 1977, Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, the husband and wife team widely known as Captain & Tennille, began building the studio at 20215 ...

, Los Angeles, California * Produced by

* Engineered by Angelo Arcuri * Assistant engineered by Gary McGachan * Laser effects: LaserMedia Inc., Los Angeles, California * Laser operator: Michael Moorhead * Originally mastered by Greg Fulginiti at

Artisan Sound Recorders Artisan Sound Recorders was one of Southern California's premier disk mastering facilities. It was founded by Robert M. MacLeod Jr. in the 1960s, and acquired by Kent Duncan in 1979 when MacLeod retired. In the early 1990s, it was sold to Jon Lo ...

, Hollywood, California * Remastered by Andy Pearce (2012 Universal Deluxe Edition) * Mixed on Westlake Audio BBSM6 monitors * Illustration by Robert Florczak

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

"Rock 'n' Roll Children" video clip

"Hungry for Heaven" video clip

{{Authority control 1985 albums Dio (band) albums Warner Records albums Vertigo Records albums es:Sagrado Corazón (desambiguación)#Sacred Heart