DIO – Killing The Dragon

After the rather successful Magica, that saw several critics go out of their mind, the little man with the big voice – as Swedish magazine Okej once called Ronnie J. Dio – is back with Killing The Dragon. Magica in my opinion, was too mid tempo, though it had its moments. With Killing…, Dio is really onto something, and though it’s not musically very different, at least Dio is shifting gear and racing a little faster, sometimes reminding me of his greatness from the mid eighties. There’s no reason to overanalyze the songs, just note that they are what you expect from Dio, in other words, a nice bunch or hard rock songs. And Ronnie’s voice? Don’t even ask – he’s as good as ever. Sometimes I wonder why the veteran of hard rock hasn’t lost any single aspect of his voice – I know how old he is – but the answer is simply; pure professionalism. Lots of singers have their day when they are between 20 and 30 years old, but Dio still has his day, even now when he’s… No, I am not going to tell you.

Exit Craig Goldy, enter Dough Aldrich, who until now must have been one of the genre’s most underrated guitar players. Rhythm-wise, the album sounds very Dio, but the solos are without doubt the best on a Dio album since the Vivian Campbell era, if not more superior than those laid by the original Dio guitarist. Only credited with two songs on the album, two of the best, I really get high hopes for the next album by this man and his band, where I hope Aldrich will be involved with all songs. Yes, it might be stupid to think about Dio’s next album right now, ‘cause now it’s all about Killing The Dragon. Like I said, Ronnie is onto something, and that something started with inviting Doug Aldrich to join his band, who will lift Dio to the next level, a level Ronnie hasn’t been on since 1984.

Check out the album’s opener and title track, followed by “Along Comes The Spider” and “Scream”, and you’ll see that Dio is still rocking the crowd, and hear that he’s joined by a very talented guitar player.