To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the passing and honor the legacy of iconic vocalist Ronnie James Dio, BMG Records have reissued Dio’s long out-of-print 1996-2004 studio albums Angry Machines (1996), Magica (2000), Killing The Dragon (2002), and Master Of The Moon (2004).
It’s interesting coming back to these four albums after so many years with fresh ears. As fans will tell you those first four Dio albums were magical from ‘Holy Diver’ to ‘Dream Evil’ and the two that followed ‘Lock Up The Wolves’ and ‘Strange Highways’ get a few mixed reviews but this collection from 1996 – 2004 are really the overlooked era of the band what with Dio returning to Black Sabbath in 1992 with Vinny Appice for ‘Dehuminizer’ they make up the lat recordings of the band.
These final four studio albums are in truth a mixed bag. If I’m honest I always saw ‘Strange Highways’ as an inferior yet musically similar take on the ground that both ‘Lock Up The Wolves’ and ‘Dehuminizer’ to a degree trod. It’s a world away from those first four albums, chasing as it does a sound that really doesn’t suit Ronnie’s voice (or writing style?). Now whilst not quite the peak of Metal’s mid-90’s morass when the old guard still didn’t quite know what to do with themselves four years after Grunge, it’s not cohesive at all.
ANGRY MACHINES (1996)
‘Strange Highways’ before it had tried unsuccessfully to chase prevailing trends without much luck and ‘Angry Machines’ just seems to venture further down the rabbit-hole. In truth opener ‘Institutional Man’ isn’t bad and it does have a cool solo; and the upbeat ‘Don’t Tell the Kids’ is nice and like ‘Hunter of the Heart’ is saved partly by the bass-line and some inspired speedy guitars from Gus G.
Interestingly for me at least its the tracks I largely forgot that fare quite well and whilst there are a few duffers like ‘Back’ and ‘Big Sister’ (nice concept forgettable song) tracks like the brooding doom-laden ‘Stay Out of My Mind’ are quite en-vogue in 2020 again.And after possibly years without hearing them I actually find ‘Every Sunday, double Monday’ and ‘Golden Rules’ hitting the spot.
The one huge song here though is the closing track ‘This Is Your Life’ a Queen-like ballad with voice and piano that sees Ronnie on the absolute top of his game, it’s a song strangely out of place and time here and perhaps underlines what most bands should have been doing instead of chasing trends – producing timeless, simple, stunning music.
These releases of course have bonus tracks and ‘Angry Machines’ comes with the best of all – twelve live tracks from the ‘Angry Machines’ tour in 1997. It’s a set that tellingly recalls far more of the past than the present – only opener ‘Jesus Mary and The Holy Ghost’ from ’93’s ‘Strange Highways’ makes it from recent albums along with ‘Double Monday’ and ‘Hunter of the Heart’ come from Angry Machines released the year before in 1996. The rest is a combination of classic Dio, Rainbow and Black Sabbath. I’d honesty but this one just for the live set and ‘This Is Your Life’!
MAGICA (2000)
The new millennium brought a completely new line-up: 2000’s ‘Magica’ saw a complete change of guard aside from Ronnie – Tracy G was replaced by Craig Goldy, Jeff Pilson by Jimmy Bain and Vinny Appice by Simon Wright. It was interesting in that it was Dio’s first real ‘concept album’ inspired as it was by the eternal battle of Good vs. Evil realised on the album as the ‘Magica’ story that Dio recites at the end after a number of vocal interludes.
I must admit I didn’t buy ‘Magica’ when it came out after the disappointment of ‘Angry Machines’ making it the only Dio album I didn’t and years later I still hate the computerized voices in the interludes, though the music on the album itself is something else! Musically ‘Magica’ is great – like the ‘real’ Dio had clicked back in place and though there’s only ten real tracks they take you right back to the glory days! (even if the excuse is the concept!)
Opener ‘Lord of the Last Day’ might lightly echo the doom of previous albums but it also takes us half way back to classic Dio with those sublime backing vocals and Ronnie’s phrasing before ‘Fever Dreams’ and Craig Goldy’s riff (that steals this album) reminds us of the glories of the past. I can’t tell you how much I loved this song at the time and still now it’s up there with Dio’s best!
The real star for me here is Goldy’s guitar which in my mind served Dio better than Gus G before him or Doug after and on songs like ‘Fever Dreams’ its the burning force that makes them. And whilst songs like ‘Turn To Stone’ might fail to ignite tracks like ‘Feed My Head’ are a glorious return to the early Dio sound. The tracks that propel the story forward ‘Eriel’ and ‘Challis’ aren’t bad either, pretty solid, but used more to propel the story forward than anything else.
There’s more great stuff though here: ‘As Long as Its Not About Love’ is a decent ballad if a little ‘by numbers’ and I always had a soft spot for ‘Losing My Insanity’ and it’s Medieval intro. Whatever your feelings on the whole ‘concept’ there’s no doubt the ship was steering in the right direction again after the diversion of ‘Angry Machines’.
As far as the re-releases go the 2 Album Set includes a bonus 7″ of the track ‘Electra’ the last single recorded by the band and one originally released on the ‘Tournado Box Set’ back in 2010 before Ronnie died on May 16th that year. The CD also adds 10 tracks from the ‘Magica Tour’ in 2010 that have never before been released.
KILLING THE DRAGON (2002)
The ‘Dragon’ in question on Dio’s penultimate studio record is technology and particularly how that technology might threaten society in the future. Even 10 years later it’s hard to argue with the premise as we see technology used more to control and subdue society that to help its ordinary citizens.
By 2002 though it was time for more line-up changes and Burning Rain’s Doug Aldrich big break when he came in to replace Craig Goldy on guitar, joining Jimmy Bain and Simon Wright who were back for ‘Magica.’
‘Killing the Dragon’ is a ‘fan-pleaser‘ of an album built in the style of ‘Holy Diver’ where it all began. Sure it may not have the magic of that debut but all the elements are there in the incomparable voice and the solid musicianship that surrounds it.
With some songs including the single ‘Push’ co-written with Craig Goldy there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into. And the echoes of the past come thick and fast from opener and title track ‘Killing the Dragon’ which has that classic Dio feel to the wonderful ‘Better In The Dark’ which does indeed sound a lot like ‘Stand Up and Shout’. But there’s also the chunky and unmissable ‘Scream’ and the rather special riff-rider ‘Throw Away Children’ (another co-penned by Goldie) that make this one a really worthy addition to your collection.
The CD/digital version includes 6 tracks recorded live on the Killing The Dragon tour in 2002/2003 in this case the classics ‘Holy Diver’ and ‘Stand Up and Shout’.
MASTER OF THE MOON (2004)
There are some out there who even call the 10th and final album ‘Master of the Moon’ Dio’s best album. Now I wouldn’t go that far but it is an album that has it’s moments and does go some way towards recapturing that classic sound. The album also sees Craig Goldie return for Aldrich and Jimmy Bain tap out again for Jeff Pilson to come back in. ‘Master of the Moon’ also adds a keyboard credit for Scott Warren.
If I was harsh I’d say it’s an album that has no real classics but does have some great songs and most importantly does allow Dio to show why he is universally considered one of the very best voices for this kind of music.
‘One More for the Road’ is a nice start with some great riffs and a killer vocal and whilst it doesn’t take your breath away there’s a cool chorus, and even though the title track itself is a little ponderous it’s still a good song. It’s ‘The End of the World’ though is transportative – we’re right back with early Dio and it’s graced with another inspired Goldie solo.
‘Shivers’ is great too and one of my favourite Dio songs not just on this album and ‘Living a Lie’ is great classic Dio too. And whilst ‘The Man Who Would Be King’ has a nice intro it doesn’t quite take you there. The real wild-card comes with ‘The Eyes’ a chugging, menacing synth-infused epic seemingly about growing big brother style surveillance.
The last couple of tracks on Dio’s last album are great too for different reasons – ‘Death by Love’ is classic Dio with tales of Gypsy Queens and a vintage riff – it has it all. The final word on the final album though is just a little different – ‘In Dreams’ sounds like nothing here and is a song that you can’t place in time, it’s an enigma and Ronnie never sounded better.
The CD/digital version includes 4 bonus tracks recorded live on the Master Of The Moon tour in 2004/2005 as well as the Japanese bonus track ‘Prisoner of Paradise.’
There will never be anyone like RJD and ten years on it still hurts like hell.