Martin Popoff is the author of the book Dio: Light Beyond The Black, a fascinating behind the scenes look at Ronnie James Dio and the making of each Dio album. It's told mainly from the perspective of Dio, his bandmates, and those that were there during that time. After delving so deeply into Dio and their discography, which albums does Popoff think are their best? Here are his top 5 Dio albums:
1. The Last In Line (1984)
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Bold and magical and temporally relevant like Holy Diver, this one’s just better all around in the detailing. The Last In Line is the work of a band on fire, slaying all comers, building on a grand surprise entrance and blowing the doors off the competition. Recommended dark horse tracks: “Eat Your Heart Out” and “One Night In The City.”
2. Dream Evil (1987)
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Sort of the belligerent doppelganger to The Last In Line, Dream Evil saw Ronnie writing with a new guitarist in Craig Goldy, who somehow captures the magic of vintage Viv while cloaking the proceedings in a malevolence and quiet desperation, which sums up the Dio band at this point. Fans of the first two much more celebrated records would do well to revisit “Naked In The Rain,” “Faces In The Window” and “When A Woman Cries.”
3. Holy Diver (1983)
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Sure, you’re shocked I didn’t put this first or second, but I find a certain simplicity and rawness to this record that detracts, compared to the note-density and layering of The Last In Line. Still, Holy Diver is wall-to-wall classics, an expertly sequenced, lively record that showed Ronnie could stand up and fight after two hard luck personal and personnel situations in Rainbow and Sabbath.
4. Killing The Dragon (2002)
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Ronnie bounces back from years of thick, slow songs with his rock ‘n’ rolling flash man record. Of course, jammin’ along with Doug Aldrich certainly helps, the man’s ‘70s-vibed fireworks bringing spring to a band that for quite a while was leaden in its approach and stormy stance.
5. Angry Machines (1996)
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An odd choice to be sure, but I like the way Ronnie’s lyrics are a little more real life here, plus Tracy G is writing quite aggressively and uptempo, at least in comparison to the records around this one. This was Dio as an angry (and semi-indie) ‘90s band, his embattled snarling through a collection of songs built on roughshod riffs and violent deliveries.
