Track Listing

1. King of Rock and Roll
2. Sacred Heart
3. Another Lie
4. Rock 'n' Roll Children
5. Hungry for Heaven
6. Like the Beat of a Heart
7. Just Another Day
8. Fallen Angels
9. Shoot Shoot

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #250807 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

Straight forward songs with poor production
The Last In Line was a high water mark for Dio in his solo career and nothing subsequently has come close to touching it's level of sheer craftsmanship and energy. Following it up was always going to be tricky and Sacred Heart really isn't up to the job. Whereas LIL crackled and sparkled with ideas, this is a fairly straightforward delivery of some pretty basic arrangements (in Dio terms). Opener `King of Rock n Roll' is a frenetic kick off, harping pack to Dios Rainbow harder moments. However it is dogged throughout by an annoying fake crowd noise which is designed to give a live energy feeling to the song but simply sounds electronic. The title track Sacred Heart is up second as Holy Diver, Last In Line and Dream Evil all sat in their respective albums running order. This plodder is distinctly the weakest of the aforementioned armoury of title tracks. It's not bad but it just isn't up to Dio's normal standard, lumbering as it does to a conclusion through a jarring and annoying keyboard effect. `Another Lie is a straight forward rocker and distinctly a high point in terms of catchiness and power. `Rock N Roll Children' is a keyboard layered melodic radio friendly single which closes out what was side 1 on a fairly high note. `Hungry for Heaven' is twaddle and quickly despatched before the pairing of `Beat of a Heart' and `Just Another Day' redeem the album back to 3 stars (the latter's opening riff copied straight from Black Sabbath's Neon Nights). Finally the album fizzles out with `Fallen Angels' and the wholly lamentable `Shoot Shoot'. The main problems with SH are that firstly Dio has a massive canon of quality work to compare it to and secondly the production is pedestrian so really doesn't lift the songs. I am happy I own it but is really isn't as involving as his earlier work.

Dio vs the rest
When this album came out Dio had the brilliant "Holy Diver" and "The Last in line" to follow up. His briliant work with Sabbath and Rainbow as well. Following this couldn`t have been easy, but Dio made it. I always thought of this album to be a bit more mainstream than his previous work but in later years I`ve changed my mind, just like Dio was changing in the 80`s. "Sacred Heart" is the album I`ve really enjoyed lately. Catchy hard rock songs with great musicianship, good production and overall: Songs that stick to your mind for a while. Dio has the best voice in rock, we all know that, but this is proof that not many can write music like him either. Following two strong albums with a third one like this is fantastic. Dio, influenced by the 80`s hard rock scene, but it`s still Dio. The King of rock`n roll..