Trollheart

Title: Angry Machines
Artist: Dio
Genre: Heavy Metal
Year: 1996
Rank: High Priest
Why this doesn't cut it: I ran a six-part series on Dio's career in my main journal back in, again, 2012, and noted that there were peaks and troughs in that career, as there are in most if not all musician's repertoire after a while, certainly after ten years. But if there's a trough, then this is the lowest point of that trough, the nadir of a career that should have been full of promise but was dogged by band changes, style changes and perhaps a too-successful debut album that Dio never really ever truly equalled. Coming on the back of Strange Highways, which I did not enjoy either, this was a double disappointment. Too Sabbathlike, and why does Ronnie sound so much like Ozzy, huh? Answer me that! Like I said in my original review, this reads as a hangover from his time with them on Dehumanizer, almost as if he thinks Tony and the boys are still in the band.
Is there anything good about it? “Stay out of my mind” is pretty damn sweet. And we can't forget the superlative closing ballad “This is your life”.
Has my opinion changed now? No, sorry. I lost interest pretty quickly and though one or two tracks recovered it for me, mostly I was just waiting for it to finish. Poorest of the Dio catalogue by a mile for me, and always will be.

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018