DIO

MASTER OF THE MOON
SPV 80000725 Promotional Copy



The new Dio album is recorded with the following line-up: Ronnie James Dio (vocals), Craig Goldy (guitar), Jeff Pilson (bass), Simon Wright (drums) & Scott Warren (keyboards). In the mean time Jeff Pilson is replaced by Rudy Sarzo for the European Tour which is about to get finished one of these days.

This album has 10 good heavy rockin' songs. There is not too much variation between the songs. They're all in the slow to mid-tempo range, a bit dark and doomy. They kinda take us back to Black Sabbath's Dehumanizer album. So, is it a weak album? No, not at all, It's a good steady rock album.

On the last album "Killing The Dragon" there was an overall more melodic sound, probably due to the composing and playing skills of guitarplayer Doug Aldrich. Here we get the typical Black Sabbath style of power riffs and heavy songs. Craig Goldy plays live very well versions of Rainbow classics "Stargazer" and "Gates Of Babylon", but composing songs like Ritchie Blackmore does is a total different story.

The album kicks of with the rocker "One More For The Road", a good opener. If you have to pick some the highlights of the album you've to name the titletrack "Master Of The Moon" along with "The Eyes". The beginning of "The End Of The World" sounds very much like AC/DC. "Shivers" is another good song. "The Man Who Would Be King" is a powerballad, it starts off slowly and Ronnie takes here (again) the spotlights. "I Am" is another one of the better tracks on this album, there's a little more melody and it's more in the vein of the first few Dio albums. "Living The Lie", "Death By Love" and "In Dreams" again are good rocksongs.

This album is a very good rock album, no weak songs, but also no real outstanding tracks. Ronnie is still the master with a golden voice. Instrumental it's also very steady. Craig has some very heavy riffs, Jeff sounds very tight, Simon has a good heavy drumsound and Scott fills things good up with his keyboards.

Releasedate: August 30th, 2004 (Europe) - September 7th, 2004 (USA)