Audio Fidelity, has set January 31st as the release date for the audiophile label’s Gold CD reissues of Dio’s HOLY DIVER.

Audio Fidelity, has set January 31st as the release date for the audiophile label’s Gold CD reissue of Dio‘s HOLY DIVER. The album will be issued as numbered, limited editions that will be available through both online and brick-and-mortar retailers and will be retired after it has reached 5000 units in sales.

The album hails from 1983, a year when rock was reasserting its place on a music landscape then dominated by dance and pop records. Long acknowledged as classic entry in Ronnie James Dio‘s catalog, HOLY DIVER represents key turns in his career. The album enjoyed the longest tenure of any Dio set on Billboard’s chart, logging 38 weeks.

HOLY DIVER peaked at No. 56 on Billboard’s album chart (and reached 13 in the U.K.) and was certified Gold a year after its release and Platinum in 1989. The song “Holy Diver” retains considerable popularity almost three decades after it was first recorded, having been featured on TV’s South Park and in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. “Rainbow in the Dark” was featured in Rock Band 3. Dio himself appears in the opening musical performance of the 2006 comedy Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny starring Jack Black.

Audio Fidelity’s reissue of HOLY DIVER includes a two-page spread reproducing the original vinyl LP’s photo montage of images from Dio’s time with Black Sabbath and Rainbow.

Founded in 2002 by music industry veteran Marshall Blonstein, Audio Fidelity specializes in deluxe reissues of classic popular-music recordings for the audiophile and collector markets The Camarillo, California-based label is best known for its 24-Karat Gold CDs and its 180-gram virgin-vinyl album editions, as well as a line of popular DVD titles. Audio Fidelity emerged out of the pioneering DCC Compact Classics label that Blonstein started in 1986, following stints as president of Island Records and co-founder of Ode Records (where he helped make Carole King’s Tapestry one of the best-selling albums of all time and built the cult-film franchises The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke).

For more information visit www.audiofidelity.net