Dio – The Studio Albums – 1996-2004
Dio – The Studio Albums – 1996-2004
BMG
Release Date: 22/09/23
Running Time: 03:10:10
Review by Simon Black
9/10
There aren’t many artists that nearly all Metalheads can all agree on, but Ronnie James Dio is most definitely and categorically one of them. Whether it’s huge contribution to Rainbow in the 70’s, to breathing new life into a drug-tired Black Sabbath in the early 80’s or his formidable solo work from the mid-80’s onwards, this one man has had a huge impact on the whole Metal genre, which continues to this day as new generations discover his huge canon of work after his untimely death in 2010.
That said, many fans (myself included) are not so familiar with his later work under the Dio brand, partly because (as ever) the older stuff always dominated, but also towards the end of his life the work he was doing to reboot his era of Sabbath under the name of Heaven and Hell (with Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Vinny Appice) really rather captured our opinions and attention more brightly at the time. So, I find myself actually listening to these four albums with very fresh ears, having never listened to any of them end to end before.
Originally all four of them were released across a trio of smaller labels, because as we join this set it’s the mid-90’s and traditional Heavy Metal ain’t quite so in vogue anymore, as the big labels had all ditched anything with just a hint of big hair and leather from their rosters. That’s deeply ironic when you consider that nowadays it’s keeping most of them on life support, since we’re the only people who still buy music in a regular way.
“Angry Machines” is one of many releases in this period where old artistic square pegs attempted to squeeze themselves into Grungier or more Industrial sounding holes in order to sound relevant to the kids of the age at the behest of labels and management, rather than sticking to their guns. You can’t blame RJD for this – the whole industry was going through a paroxysm of reinvention in an attempt to survive the turmoil of this period. It’s also an album that’s been almost universally panned by the Dio core fanbase, because quite frankly (and ahead of a lot of the rest of the market), they weren’t backwards about coming forward regarding Dio sticking to what he did best.
It’s also a period when Dio himself was getting a little older, and in the process of having to adjust his style and approach to the rigours of an ageing body, as don’t forget at this point, he’s already in his mid-50’s. It’s no surprise that he’s using a lower register for the most part, although it does suit the tonally darker feel of the record. It doesn’t feel like any Dio solo album that preceded it, and I can see why there was reaction at the time, but hindsight is a wonderful thing and if it was released now people would be talking about this very differently as it suits the darker tone that the last few years in particular have wrought to the scene post-Covid and all the disruptive turmoil taking the world to pieces. Personally, I think it just reflects how pissed off he was at having to follow a trend that he did not care for, and which clearly did not suit him…
It’s also the album though, with a surprise in the tail, being the source of what’s probably the single best ballad the man ever penned in ‘This Is Your Life’. It breaks not only the form of the rest of the album, but as a piece where Dio is accompanied only by a piano is a million miles away from the power ballads that his solo work periodically produced (although it wouldn’t have sounded amiss on an old Rainbow record).
“Magica” is a step back into familiar territory, but surprisingly also the first time he took on a concept story album (albeit one that takes all the familiar sword and sorcery tropes for which we know and love the man). As so often happens with concept albums, the bits that tell the story can be a little intrusive, as it’s not clear why a cheesy robot voice is part of a sword and sorcery epic, but this is RJD letting rip with the theatrics, and indeed with his voice, which is back soaring the heights we love him for. To make the story clear, the original version of the album actually has an 18-minute sequence with Dio talking through the concept back story, but for some reason this is missing on this version, but to be honest it makes no difference to the enjoyment of the music, because this is Dio firing on all cylinders, and then some.
The music also makes thematic nods to many of his career highlights, from the awesome riffage of ‘Fever Dreams’ evoking his original “Holy Diver” release when Vivian Campbell was slinging the strings, but with musical refrains echoing that nod to his Sabbath days in ‘Eriel’, the whole thing is intended to scream that he’s back doing what everyone wants him to. By 2000 when this came out, the audience was more than happy to embrace once more. And rightly so, as it’s probably the best since “Dream Evil” in terms of quality and consistency. It’s also an astoundingly well-written piece of music, and the one I had to listen to a full three times, to make sure I still felt the same way, and I’m left kicking myself for being completely oblivious of what is a stone cold classic record for all these years.
“Killing The Dragon” may be stylistically and thematically from the same stable as its predecessor, but sadly from a quality perspective it’s not in the same league, and sadly plays into the old argument about established artists just going through the motions as time ticks by, and in this one, it really does not feel like his heart and soul are into this release at all.
Whereas the four-year gestation period of “Magica” meant that it had been distilled into a pillar of focussed excellence, this one by comparison feels rushed, unfinished and more filler than killer. Even the higher points, such as ‘Scream’ are only higher by comparison with what surrounds it and doesn’t even get on the bottom rung of the ladder when compared to almost any other album. “Angry Machines” may have been derided, but at least it has an identity and elements of experimentation that distinguish it, whereas this feels like a caricature of a Dio album, or what might happen if an AI programme got instructed to write one.
Dio’s final album both was and wasn’t the end. Released in 2004, “Master of the Moon” was the final studio release under the brand Dio, and in the way of that solo band, but he had plenty of other things occupying his final years, other than fighting cancer. Not long after this he cropped up as Dr X on Queensrÿche’s desperate reboot cash-in of “Operation: Mindcrime II” and was the only thing that saved this release from being completely pointless. Not long after this, Heaven and Hell came to pass.
Given that the Black Sabbath brand name was locked down elsewhere in shackles of pure Ardenite, the wish to tour that two-album incarnation of the monumental act meant they needed a name, and the title of the first album he delivered with them and more or less wrote was a wise one. As these things do, it grew wings beyond a greatest hits tour, and became a writing, recording and touring entity in its own right, and was clearly where his heart was at towards the end, which perhaps explains why “Master of the Moon” marks the finale of his solo career.
As a Dio album, it’s definitely back to form. Ironically it picks some of the Industrial tropes that jarred with “Angry Machines”, but effortlessly drops these as extra layers because at its heart, it’s a Dio album and a good one. Ronnie’s voice sounded worn back in 1996, but not here, where it soars, roars and effortlessly controls your attention with a set of songs that have been well-crafted and of the calibre you would expect from an artist of his pedigree. It’s not the greatest Dio album, but it’s way better than two others on this set, and I’m going to be coming back to it, because at the end of the day it’s that fantastic and charismatic vocal delivery that always gets you in the heart, and he absolutely nails it here.
This set of albums shows a roller-coaster period, from the forced directional change of the opener (although time is kinder to it than its original release), to the epic and fantastic heights of “Magica” (which as a result of this exercise has moved into my second favourite Dio album slot behind “Holy Diver”), to the depths of blandness of filler “Killing The Dragon” to the consistent and top drawer vocal delivery of “Master of the Moon” has been an eye-opener. I’ve got some new favourites (and one I’m never going to listen to again), and a spotlight has been shone on a disregarded period of his career, and one with plenty of gems.
TRACKLISTING:
1 – Angry Machines
01. Institutional Man
02. Don’t Tell The Kids
03. Black
04. Hunter Of The Heart
05. Stay Out Of My Mind
06. Big Sister
07. Double Monday
08. Golden Rules
09. Dying In America
10. This Is Your Life
2 – Magica
01. Discovery
02. Magica Theme
03. Lord Of The Last Day
04. Fever Dreams
05. Turn To Stone
06. Feed My Head
07. Eriel
08. Chalis
09. As Long As It’s Not About Love
10. Losing My Insanity
11. Otherworld
12. Magica (Reprise)
13. Lord Of the Last Day (Reprise)
3 – Killing The Dragon
01. Killing The Dragon
02. Along Comes A Spider
03. Scream
04. Better In The Dark
05. Rock and Roll
06. Push
07. Guilty
08. Throw Away Children
09. Before The Fall
10. Cold Feet
4 – Master Of The Moon
01. One More For The Road
02. Master Of The Moon
03. The End Of The World
04. Shivers
05. The Man Who Would Be King
06. The Eyes
07. Living The Lie
08. I Am
09. Death By Love
10. In Dreams
LINE-UP:
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals
Tracy G – Guitars (Angry Machines)
Craig Goldy – Guitars (Magica, Master of the Moon)
Doug Aldrich – Guitars (Killing The Dragon)
Jeff Pilson – Bass (Angry Machine, Master of the Moon)
Vinny Appice – Drums (Angry Machines)
Scott Warren – Keyboards (Angry Machines)
Jimmy Bain – Bass (Magica, Killing The Dragon)
Simon Wright – Drums (Magica, Killing The Dragon, Master of the Moon)
LINKS:
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