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The name Dio is synonymous hard rock, as well it should be. The man behind the name, Ronnie James Dio, has been building his career through five decades now, singing in bands since the sixties. First, there was a group from upstate New York called Elf. From this band, Ritchie Blackmore, after leaving Deep Purple, created Rainbow minus the Elf guitarist, who got his walking papers to make room for Ritchie. Then Dio moved on to Black Sabbath, helping the creatively drug-weakened band to find its roots again and create two of its best albums. After a nasty split with Black Sabbath, Dio has pursued a successful solo career (although he has returned as Sabbath's vocalist twice), producing several albums of memorable metal. Now, in the year 2000, Dio has released his eleventh solo album called Magica.
The new album marks a return to the past for Dio in terms of his band members. Gone is Dio's band of the last few years, replaced by musicians plucked from the high water marks of his career. On guitar and co-writing the music is Craig Goldy, who was with Dio in the late eighties and played guitar on the now-legendary Dream Evil album. On drums is Simon Wright, who provided percussion for Dio in the early nineties before joining AC/DC for five years. On bass is Jimmy Bain, who's history with Ronnie James goes all the way back to Rainbow. Dio made these changes because he wanted to return to the "classic" Dio sound, and because the fans requested it. He listens to what fans have to say after shows and on the Internet. What he heard was a strong cry for the feel of Holy Diver, The Mob Rules, and even the days of Rainbow.
The new album, Magica, captures the power of earlier periods in Dio's career those that have made him so successful. With Dio's taste for lyrics in the realm of fantasy and science fiction, it is surprising that the new CD is his first concept album. It is a story about other civilizations on another planet at another time caught in a classic battle of good and evil. The story, however, would be nothing without heavy metal to back it up, and there are some tremendous songs on this album. In fact, Magica is the sort of disc that can and should be listened to from beginning to end. Songs that stand out include "Fever Dreams," "Losing My Insanity," and "Marry The Devil's Daughter," but almost every cut is worthwhile. The album ends with "Magica The Story," an almost twenty-minute spoken word piece that explains to us the world of Magica. While it is the last track on the album (because of its length), I would recommend listening to it first so that the rest of the album can be enjoyed within context of Dio's fantasy planet. Interestingly, the story seems to have an open end, and Dio says this was purposeful. He sees the Magica story as a trilogy to be continued on future albums. The saga, it would seem, will continue. |
