Dio
Lock Up The Wolves

After a fantastic tour supporting the album "Dream Evil" (a tour that went down in hard'n'heavy history for its stage design), DIO returned to the scene in '90 (albeit with a drastically changed lineup) with this new studio album: "Lock Up The Wolves" produced by the record label "Reprise." Unfortunately, during that period, metal sales were decidedly declining and Dio's career suffered heavily from it. The album, therefore, was not well-received neither by critics, nor by metalheads, nor by the elf's own fans but, personally, I consider this an excellent piece of work even though I must admit it is inferior to the previous ones ("Holy Diver", "The Last In Line", "Sacred Heart", "Dream Evil").

The album opens with "Wild One", an extremely fast, frantic, and very "wild" track for which there's a video worthy of it, recorded on a stage with a very "Medieval" theme that I suggest watching (www.youtube.com). The next track, "Born On The Sun", can easily be skipped, unlike "Hey Angel", which is melodic in the first part but quite hard in the second. This too has a video recorded directly in the Reprise studios, decidedly inferior to that of "Wild One".
It's time for the fourth track, "Between Two Hearts", good but nothing remarkable. Skippable without any regret is "Night Music" which, personally, has never excited me. The title-track deserves a few more words, which will be included in various official anthologies of the Italian-American elf and with rhythms that are very close to those of the Australians AC/DC. An eight and a half minute long track, one of the first Dio songs I heard and which I remember liking from the very beginning. The album continues with "Evil On Queen Street", written to become the soundtrack for a film of the same name that was never released in theaters and which, unfortunately, I never had the chance to see.
Passable are "Walk On Water" and "Twisted", unlike the wonderful (wonderful in the true sense of the word) "Why Are They Watching Me?" (editor's note: the notes of this are currently playing in my stereo), a very fast track that slightly recalls "Wild One" but often overlooked by Ronnie James Dio himself, who decided to include it in only one best-of and rarely performed it live (there are no live albums where tracks from "Lock Up The Wolves" are included).
The CD closes with "My Eyes", with very "curious" and sad lyrics. Autobiographical lyrics that turn out to be a promise to the fans… in fact, through a series of metaphors, Ronnie James Dio promises that he will manage to revive his unfortunately declining career. In the lyrics, a series of elf's songs with Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and in his solo career are mentioned. The songs mentioned are "Falling Off The Edge Of The World" from "The Mob Rules" (Black Sabbath), "Man On The Silver Mountain" from the first of Blackmore's Rainbow, "Heaven And Hell" by Black Sabbath, "Stargazer" from "Rising" by Rainbow, "Invisible" from "Holy Diver" and, finally, "I Could Have Been A Dreamer" from "Dream Evil". The lyrics are quite explicit:

"I've fallen off the edge of the world, I've fallen from the top of the mountain, to rise again. I've seen it from heaven ad hell, I've seen it from the eyes of a stargazer! I want to be invisible, Just get me out of here, Could the dreamer be turning to stone, oh!".

Excellent work by sixteen-year-old guitarist Rowan Robertson, who will remain with the band just for this album and then leave, and who will be included in a ranking of the 5,000 best guitarists in the world.
Overall the album turns out to be well-played and well-structured but inferior to the previous works.

Track List:
Wild One / Born On The Sun / Hey Angel / Between Two Hearts / Night Music / Lock Up The Wolves / Evil On Queen Street / Walk On Water / Twisted / Why Are They Watching Me / My Eyes

Line-up:

Ronnie James Dio: vocals
Rowan Robertson: Guitar
Jens Johansson: Keyboards
Simon Wright: Drums
Teddy Cook: Bass

Discography:

Dio with Rainbow:
Blackmore’s Rainbow / Rising / On Stage / Live in Germany / Long Live Rock’n’Roll

Dio with Black Sabbath:
Heaven And Hell / The Mob Rules / On Stage / Dehumanizer

Dio:
Holy Diver / The Last In Line / Sacred Heart / Intermission (live)EP / Sacred Heart “The Dvd” (live dvd) / Dream Evil / Lock Up The Wolves /  Diamonds: The Best Of Dio (comp.) /  Strange Highways /  Angry Machines /  Anthology (comp.) /  Master Series (comp.) /  Inferno: Last In Live (live) /  Magica /  The Very Beast Of Dio (comp) /  Anthology vol. Two (comp.) /  Killing The Dragon /  Stand Up And Shout- The Dio Anthology (comp) / Evil Or Divine (live dvd) /  The Collection (comp.) / Master Of The Moon /  Evil Or Divine-Live in New York City (live) /  We Rock (dvd) /  Holy Diver Live (live) / Holy Diver Live (live dvd)

Special thanks: Jettojet for suggesting I review this album and everyone who gave me constructive criticism on reviews prior to this one, like, for instance, trying to be more objective.