16. Dio The Last in Line 1984 (Vertigo)
Heavy Metal
Are you evil, simply just divine or the last in line?
The Lowdown
How do you follow up on one of the best heavy metal albums of all time in
Holy Diver? Well the answer is usually one of three possibilities when this kind of situation arises. Firstly the artist can try and do something very different, secondly the artist releases something not as good or thirdly in rare cases the artist matches the quality of that previous album. In the case of Dio, the artist here falls firmly into category two but at the top end of that category in terms of quality.
The Last in Line the band’s second album, was largely an attempt to replicate the brilliance of
Holy Diver and keep the band’s winning formula intact.
The Last in Line is actually a very good album but not the masterpiece that
Holy Diver was, but across its nine tracks it’s obvious that the material is cut from exactly the same cloth as
Holy Diver, even if they’re not cut as pristine this time around. Ronnie James (as he’s referred to here as Dio was also the name of the band) must’ve been glad that the current line-up that he had assembled here was looking compact and most importantly would stay together for a time, as he’d had a history of being in bands where the line-up was constantly being changed. The only new face in the band was that of French keyboardist Claude Schnell who was largely there to flesh the band’s sound out on keyboards. One thing that is evident about
The Last in Line album, is its epic approach to metal where opening track “We Rock” which despite being being a brother track to “Stand Up and Shout” from the previous album, clearly sets out the band’s intention for the epic metal approach, it’s something that’s always been in Ronnie James’ metal locker anyway. Title track “The Last in Line” after its soppy start quickly emerges into a pounding rocker, the type of track in my mind that perfectly showcases the vocal capacity of Ronnie James. The album remains at mid-tempo for third track “Breathless” just the kind of poppy track I really like and its jumpy vibe is a real winner here. “I Speed at Night” then does the right thing and lifts the speed of the album up, but the problem is that despite its speed it’s not a particularly great song. This track is followed by the extremely generic sounding “One Night in the City” which again is nothing special and is largely carried by the vocals of Ronnie James, who can often turn an average song into something special anyway. “Evil Eyes” picks up the poppier theme once again that was found on “Breathless” and it opens the second side of the album. Next comes “Mystery” a super commercial track and one of my favourites from the band, quite simply for its poppy and enchanting keyboard effects that are provided by keyboardist Claude Schnell and in many ways this is the perfect feel good track. The album closes out with the hard rocking “Eat Your Heart Out” and “Egypt (The Chains Are On)” and the latter here is a strong track that is really highlighted by its haunting ambient section, that is very similar in places to a certain soundtrack on a certain survival horror film. The best summary that I can give
The Last in Line, is that on occasional listens it’s a great album as are some of its songs, but on constant listening it can become somewhat tiresome as you notice the glitches in its material, that are totally absent on
Holy Diver which of course makes that album a timeless classic.
The Last in Line though is a must hear album for Dio fans and some of its songs will have you running to do a Dio karaoke, but general metal listeners may just find the whole thing a bit too clichéd for their ears to really enjoy the album.
Ronnie James Dio- Vocals
Vivian Campbell- Guitar.
Jimmy Bain- Bass
Claude Schnell- Keyboards
Vinnie Appice- Drums
Production- Ronnie James Dio