Dio
Dream Evil

THE REVIEW

It's 1987, and the band "Dio" is about to release its latest effort: "Dream Evil".
This is their fourth album, and so far, they have never disappointed, producing masterpieces like "Holy Diver," "Last In Line," and "Sacred Heart." The lineup has changed compared to the past, and now we find Craig Goldie on guitar, who certainly does not disappoint expectations with this album.
The album cover fully reflects the record, dark, malevolent, but also fun (note the demonic hand making the horns under the bed). The dark satan figure is still present, and this time it will disturb a poor little girl, who sleeps peacefully in her bed unaware of the dangers.

So here we are at the album's tracklist:

1. "Night people"
2. "Dream evil"
3. "Sunset superman"
4. "All the fools is sailed away"
5. "Naked in the rain"
6. "Overlove"
7. "I could have been a dreamer"
8. "Faces in the windows"
9. "When a woman cries"

The album opens with "Night people", which projects us into a neon-lit atmosphere right from the first three notes; Dio immediately makes it clear that his performance will be on par with the previous ones, technically impeccable, with aggressive cadences and timbre. Vinny Appice manages to give a boost to a song that would otherwise depend almost exclusively on the vocals, but ultimately turns out to be enjoyable.
We proceed with the Title Track, "Dream Evil", an excellent piece, perhaps musically more polished than the previous one, with a catchy refrain that, combined with a beautiful guitar riff, makes it one of the best tracks on the album.
The third track, "Sunset Superman", starts off great, resulting in a fast piece with an almost desperate energy, but then gets lost in a silly refrain repeated endlessly in the last minute of the song. Too bad.
And here we are at the piece that, in my opinion, represents the peak of the album: "All The Fools Sailed Away", a triumph of sensations ranging from anger to melancholy for all 7 minutes during which Dio and his companions keep us isolated from the world with their notes. There is great harmony among the musicians, and everyone, none more so than the others, contributes to making this track the masterpiece of "Dream Evil".
Following is "Naked In The Rain", a good, relatively slow track that once again surprises with a refrain and riff rarely found elsewhere. Yes, because Craig Goldie's riffs may be simple compared to those of other guitarists, but, I dare say, I prefer his a thousand times over the cold and purely technical ones of many others.
Yet another adrenaline rush is injected by "Overlove", fast and fierce in full Hard & Heavy style; once again, an excellent performance by the elf's lineup.
The three tracks that close the album, "I could have been a dreamer", "Faces At The Window", and "When A Woman Cries" are also good songs, although, with the exception of "Faces At The Window", they seemed to me a notch below the previous ones, a sort of filler for an album that would otherwise have bordered on the level of "Holy Diver."
Particularly noteworthy is the structure of the refrains, which is similar in many songs, as well as the inevitable middle-of-the-song riff and the decent use of Claude Schnell's keyboards, which contribute to the creation of excellent atmospheres.

Ultimately, "Dream Evil" is a very good album, slightly inferior to its predecessors, but it begins to bring to the surface the subsequent creative shortage that the band will face in composing "Lock Up The Wolves."