I was contacted yesterday by a man who said he was Santo Clemenzi, a member of the band 5th Element. I’ve never heard of Santo or his band (except for the fact that there’s a movie called the Fifth Element), but as always that didn’t phase me and I went on ahead and took a listen. Santo told me that 5th Element had recently done a cover for Dio’s “Rainbow In the Dark” and so did Corey Taylor (singer for both Stone Sour and Slipknot, for those who don’t know) on the latest Dio tribute album “This Is Your Life”. I was asked by Santo to listen both covers and then do a comparison. I even said out loud, “not a bad idea!” I meant why not, right?

Let’s start with Taylor’s cover. Since his was on the tribute album, it’s practically a given that more people would have and will hear that before hearing 5th Element’s version. The cover had a slightly more rougher, more grungy sound to it compared to the original. It obviously sounded more smoother, more refined, more high definition because it’s more recently made and it was recorded with more advanced recording technology. Taylor’s voice is, of course, much different from Ronnie James Dio’s so the song sounds quite different from the original vocals-wise. The guitars and drums are pretty accurate when compared to the original version, thankfully, so it actually makes it sound like the band really put time into their rehearsing to make it actually sound like Dio’s version as close as they could, and it paid off well with the instrumentals, but not so much with the vocals even though they were good nonetheless.

Now, for 5th Element’s cover. This was a more accurate cover in my opinion. Especially the beginning part with that… that… I don’t even know… is it a violin? I don’t know what exactly but hopefully you know what I mean if you’ve heard the song before. Anyway, that sound (whatever it is) sounds much more better than in Taylor’s version which does the cover a lot of good because then you get more of a familiar feel with it knowing that it sounds like the original version quite a bit almost straight from the get go. The vocals were also more accurate compared to Taylor’s in that they don’t sound so grungy but have more of an 80s tone to it which makes it sound like a Dio sounded but still with the refinement and high definition sound to it. The guitars and drums, however, are pretty much identical to the other cover with the instruments sounded more or less accurate to the original.

Santo also asked me to one other thing “above all” : choose which cover I like best. And that’s understandable. If you do a comparison… you almost have to say which you prefer because then what’s the point of comparing them? Kind of a stupid question, but that’s how my brain works. But in all honesty, I liked 5th Element’s version better because to me it was more accurate and sounded much more like the original Dio track that I love. Don’t get me wrong, Taylor’s version was good, but I like the other one just a little more. But don’t listen to me. I’m just one person. Click on the links below to listen to the covers and decide which one you think is better on your own.

5th Element’s cover : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYtvcOcYw_c

Corey Taylor’s cover : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI7Qzabt3hg