Track Listing

1. Killing the dragon
2. Along comes a spider
3. Scream
4. Better in the dark
5. Rock 'n' roll
6. Push
7. Guilty
8. Throw away children
9. Before the fall
10. Cold feet

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77329 in Music
• Released on: 2002-05-20
• Number of discs: 1

CD Description
Sword-and-sorcery maven Ronnie James Dio keeps trucking in these Lord Of The Rings/Harry Potter times with KILLING THE DRAGON, his ninth studio album. Retaining the same line-up as 2000's MAGICA, the only change comes in the shape of former Hurricane/House Of Lords guitarist Doug Aldrich. Although it's easy to dismiss Dio the lyricist as some guy who tends to write about rainbows, spells and other fantasy-linked matter, this particular outing has him penning allegories firmly rooted in the 21st century. The galloping title track alludes to electronic serfdom and digital dreams while taking aim at the grip computers and the internet have on society. "Rock & Roll" addresses the knee-jerk self-censorship some radio stations perpetuated immediately following 9/11's tragic events.
The longtime supporter of the charity The Children of the Night enlisted the aid of the King's Harbor Church Children's Choir to deliver the poignant-but-heavy "Throw Away Children". The rocking "Push" features an Aldrich guitar solo that cleaves closely to predecessor Vivian Campbell's penchant for tossing in Middle Eastern-flavoured flourishes, while Scott Warren's keyboard runs on "Before The Fall" bring to mind Deep Purple great Jon Lord.

Customer Reviews

The best Dio album since “Dream Evil”
I really like this album. I think it’s much better than “Magica” and has a maturity found in some of Dio’s earlier offerings. I thought Magica was possibly aimed at a younger audience. I wasn’t really taken in with the whole concept (I’m 31 years old) and the narration by RJDio at the end made be cringe. I have been listening to Dio since 1985 and the first album I ever heard from them was “Last In Line”. I have all his offerings when he was in Rainbow and Black Sabbath. Most of tracks on this album are excellent. I think it’s the best Dio album since “Dream Evil”. The highlights for me are “Better in the Dark” (reminds me of the sound heard on Dream Evil), “Before The Fall” (great keyboards!) and “Killing the Dragon” (what a cracker! Reminds me of Dehumanizer). Classic Metal this is!

Ignore all bad reviews...THIS ROCKS!
Any fan of Dio/Black Sabbath/Rainbow and music in general should and WILL love this.

Song after song Dio demonstraites that after all his years in the business he's still got what it takes to rock harder better and pay more attention to melody and chords than anyone else.

BETTER THAN MAGICA,
BETTER THAN LAST IN LINE,
BETTER THAN...dare i say it...HOLY DIVER (Well, maybe in some places)
Not better then the Dio era's of Black Sabbath and Rainbow but it's just an album... not a miracle!

KEEP ROCKING RONNIE!!!

Trying too hard
Don't get me wrong this is a good album, but dio as a group seems to have lost the ingredient that made the early records so special. The album is fast and heavy and rekindles the 80's sound to a degree. It seems to me that dio are trying too hard to be what they were, and in doing so have turned a potentially superb album into just a good one with clumsy tracks such as 'Guilty' and the Van Halen inspired 'Push'. Tracks such as 'Along Came a Spider' and 'Throw Away Children' show how it still can be done. Dio are always best when progressing forward and in my opinion this is a step backwards.