DIO — The Last in Line (review)

DIO — The Last in Line album cover Album · 1984 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
siLLy puPPy
After the successful and phenomenal debut DIO wasted no time following up with their sophomore release THE LAST IN LINE which came out in 1984. The lineup is the same except that they added Rough Cutt keyboardist Claude Schnell to the band. On this album it is clear that a formula had been established and there seems to be a strange change in music in the 1983-84 timeline where highly original music was suddenly becoming more commercial and “dumbed” down. That is evident on this second release. The first release had a magical feel as it incorporated the best of what Ronnie James DIIO had been doing in his different incarnations as a band member in his career. On this album I get the feeling that other forces were intervening.

This is still a very good album because there are several excellent tracks like the title track, “Eat Your Heart Out,” “Egypt (The Chains Are On)” and to be fair the other tracks are not bad, however the flow of the album just feels stilted in a way that the band doesn't know exactly which way they want to go. It seems they are trying to keep the old audience while they make some more commercial sounding tracks like “Mystery” to appeal to a wider audience. This is a phenomena that would permeate the 80s but more surprising when a respected artist like Ronnie James DIO goes that direction. For me this album is pumped way up by the strong tracks but the weaker ones are so weak that I wish this was an EP of the best tracks. Of course, Ronnie's vocals are stellar and the musicianship is brilliant but it really boils down to the songwriting on this one that makes this a big step down in quality from the debut.
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Kingcrimsonprog wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Underrated album.

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