I haven't heard this one in years - I will have to say when it came out, I was disappointed. A friend had picked it up and I was so disappointed, I didn't even buy it!!!! I may have to find it cheap somewhere and give it another spin!

When Sacred Heart came out I was a full fledged Dio fanatic, having seen him twice in concert over the previous years. I ate this album up. It seemed a bit more commercial, not quite as heavy, but it was still DIO. King of Rock and Roll, Hungry For Heaven, Rock and Roll Children are all classic Dio. However, there are a few weaker tracks like Shoot Shoot.

Last album for Vivian Campbell who moved on to "bigger and better things".

This is another great Dio album and the margin of favoritbilty between this and the previous (and next two albums) are is very small. Once again another Dio great and this one contains two of my most favorite Dio songs, Hungry For Heaven and Rock And Roll Children (the latter is perhaps my all time favorite). Another album I enjoy all the way through even Shoot Shoot (while the lyrics are horid, it's a fun song).

SACRED HEART is a bit slicker and more polished (therefore less "metal") than its two predecessors. Still a decent record but you can sorta tell that Ronnie was reachin' for the ol' brass ring with this release. "Hungry For Heaven" was in the movie "Iron Eagle" if memory serves.

This album holds the distinction of being one of my best bargain bin buys EVER - when it was still a fairly current release I found it on vinyl at a department store that was going out of business, I only paid 49 cents for it.

Great album! Not as good as the first two, but hey, it's Dio! Hungry for Heaven is my favorite from this disc.

Wow, Ronnie James seems a little bitter toward Vivian.

Speaking of Dio discography, I've just added two live albums to my collection, Inferno: Last In Live and Holy Diver Live. Two more live albums and I have a complete collection (minus comps and the Dio EP which was only released in the U.K.).

I got Sacred Heart around ten years ago, some time after I got Holy Diver, Last in Line and Dream Evil. Initially I only liked Rock'n'Roll Children (it's still among my favourite Dio tracks), but the rest of the album I felt was lacking the hooks in comparison to the first two especially.

I've grown to like around half the tracks, and the album as a whole has a very nice sound and feel to it, but I just cannot rank it very high in the Dio catalogue. Certainly not as mind-blowing awesome as Holy Diver or Last in Line.

I had a friend who had this on vinyl. It was the only Dio album he had, and perhaps the 'mediocrity' of the album scared him off the rest of Dio material.

My favourite tracks: Rock'n'Roll Children, Sacred Heart

I pretty much agree 100% with you Lari.

I bought Sacred Heart as a new release on cassette. It's a little more "commercial" than the first 2 but who cares ? It's still a good album. Hungry For Heaven and the title track are great tunes.I lucked out and was able to upgrade to cd rather cheaply.

I don't really care how much of an ass Vivian Campbell is or has become, he still did put in a great performance, as usual, on Sacred Heart.

This album starts out just as good as it's predecessors. The 5 first tunes are heavy-metal classics, and "Rock 'n' Roll Children" is my all-time favorite song by this band. The music-video for this track fascinated me immensely as a kid. But after these tracks, the album fades. "Just Another Day" is as almost forgotten gem, but the rest are just sad. All in all I think 'Sacred Heart' is a great album, but not Dio's best. 'Hungry For Heaven' was also featured on the soundtrack for a movie called 'Vision Quest', starring Matthew Modine, Linda Fiorentino and Daphne Zuniga, and featuring a movie score recorded by Tangerine Dream.

Killer tracks: King Of Rock And Roll, Sacred Heart, Rock 'n' Roll Children, Hungry For Heaven

Dio should release a 'rarities' album with all the songs that never got an official release IMO. A lot of bands do this.

I was p.o'd when I heard Vivian split from Dio. This is an okay lp. I still listen to it often enough.