Favorite Dio (band) album

Angry Machines is great too!

 

Holy Diver

After that, I just listen to The Very Beast and Metal Hits.

Saw them at Texxas Jam 1986. Performance was good. The sound board operator should have been shot. (Craig Goldy's guitar wasn't loud enough.)

 

How can I get Angry Machines- is this gonna be reissued soon??!!

 

You have great taste!

 

I have what I would call a super wide range in taste, can listen to Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath one minute, then Beatles, John Mayall, Eric Clapton or Pink Floyd the next and follow it up with Slayer or Dio. I have consistently stuck with my metal roots though and still love all the stuff I did when I was 16.

 

"Heaven And Hell" & "The Mob Rules"

 

This would be my ranking:

Holy Diver
Dream Evil
Last in Line
----------------
Strange Highways
Lock up the Wolves
Sacred Heart
Master of the Moon
Magica
-----------------
Killing the Dragon
Angry Machines


I agree that Magica and Master of the Moon are underrated, especially MotM. "One More for the Road" is a classic Dio opener, the title track is very good, "Shivers", "The Eyes", and "I Am" are all great, and "In Dreams" rules. I like how "I Am" feels like a spiritual successor to one of the best Dehumanizer tracks, "I", whereas "The Eyes" loops back in with classic "My Eyes", "Evil Eyes", etc.

The only two albums out of Dio's entire oeuvre I don't care for are Killing the Dragon and Angry Machines. Can't find a good song on either one.

 

Institutional Man sounds like it's right off Dehumanizer. Fantastic track...

 

Killing the Dragon's first song, the title cut, is a mighty good song!

 

Since I don't see a CD comparison thread for it, what's the definitive CD version of Dio's "Sacred Heart"?

 

I’d agree with that...same with Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules...like two sides of a coin

 

Holy Diver
Last In Line

Everything else was pretty much mediocre.

Saw them on both tours mentioned above.

 

I remember when Holy Diver came out and hearing it endlessly. I thought at the time the tunes were all good but maybe a little too obvious (contrived) compared with the 2 Sabbath albums Ronnie was on, and the 1st 2 Ozzy albums. Ronnie found his way onto the radio, and I don't remember his Sabbath stuff doing so, though undeniably popular.(Sabbath was never on the radio) There was something more straight forward about Holy Diver than Sabbath or Ozzy. Holy Diver was less artistic..... Anyway don't perceive what I'm saying to mean I think Holy Diver sucks, I played it a ton and consider it a classic. That said, I played it to death, felt the box was more than checked, became massively sick of the album and never bought any other DIO records.... I do have a video release of a Dio show from I think the late 90s (New York?) that I haven't watched in many years.
I always thought Ronnie was drunk in the performance......

I am watching e-bay for a cheap 80s CD version of Last in Line....

 

Last In Line can be had for $5 on Amazon

 

The deluxe edition is good.

 

Lock Up The Wolves
Dream Evil

 

I forget the name of the album (I only listened to it at a Blockbuster Music Listening Station in the late 1990's), but wasn't there a Dio album where he changed his vocal sound to an (almost) death metal growl?

Thank goodness he moved back to his striking melodic vocal style on the Sab "Heaven and Hell" 2000's recordings.

 

Master of the Moon.

 

Love Dio but to be honest the only Albums I have listened to is the first 2 I'm currently listening to Magica which I'm liking a lot. I love the long concept albums that's just me.

 

You have some catching up to do! Enjoy the journey.

 

I

what do you think of the 5 Classic albums box set? I was looking at 20 bucks can't beat that.

 

I'm not sure...you'd have to poke around the forum to see if others have commented on it.
I will say I do love the 3 albums from there that you are missing.

 

Magica by a country mile is my favourite Dio (band) album. Wonderful lush production with Ronnie’s towering regal singing on these absolutely fabulous and really well written songs. I thinks it’s absolutely spectacular - I’ve barely a clue what it’s all about (a bit of Star Wars space opera??) but the material is just so strong. And the original Japanese cd also has Annica inserted into the track listing. It’s a perfect album IMO.

Runner up is Killing The Dragon (Slaying shouldn’t it be?).

Really surprised at the love for Lock up the Wolves on this thread!

 

I like Killing the Dragon a lot so am glad to hear you also dig Magica. I never got around to buying that one originally, had heard it was awful from a friend but I recently picked up the new deluxe edition version. Haven't had time to give it an airing yet.

 

"Holy Diver" is probably the better of the two, but "The Last In Line" is my favorite one.