Dio
Master Of The Moon

THE REVIEW

After almost 50 years of musical career (starting at 8, combining music with school - he was extremely gifted in both), here comes Dio announcing the release of his new solo album "Master Of The Moon," a musical journey just over 45 minutes long, an album with cynical and political lyrics, where Ronnie James Dio doesn't shy away from making negative critiques (through the use of metaphor) of American Society and the US president G.W. Bush.

The album opens with the fast-paced "One More From The World" followed by the title track. And how could one not mention the third track "The End Of The World"? A beautiful song, in AC/DC style (some riffs are highly reminiscent of 'Back In Black'), where the influence of drummer Simon Wright, formerly with AC/DC, is clearly felt.
It's time for the fourth track, "Shivers," which, diverging from the sounds of "Master Of The Moon," could seem like it came out of Dio's other album "Angry Machines". Next is the song with the most politically significant lyrics of this album, "The Man Who Would Be King," which closely resembles the track "My Eyes" (also by Dio) from the album "Lock Up The Wolves".

"The Eyes," the sixth track of this masterpiece, is a very dark song (reminiscent of Black Sabbath's "Dehumanizer" album) with very precise rhythms. Then comes "Living The Lie," a powerful song that every time I hear it gives me a boost, as if I'd gotten an injection of adrenaline.
The eighth track is "I Am," with cynical lyrics that exalt evil. "Death By Love," the ninth song, tells of a man who died from love (as the title also indicates). The album closes with "In Dreams," simply a stunning song that I recommend everyone listen to!
In some editions of the album, there's a bonus track called "The Prisoner Of Paradise" which unfortunately I haven't had the chance to hear. An album worthy of listening to that cannot and should not be missing from a metalhead's music collection.

Dio is producing a new album that will be released in May with the same lineup as "Master Of The Moon": on vocals the charismatic Ronnie James Dio; on the white axe (guitar) Craig Goldy (debuted with Giuffria); on bass the legendary Rudy Sarzo, formerly with Ozzy Osbourne, Malmsteen, and Whitesnake; behind the drums (as I already mentioned) is Simon Wright and, finally, on keyboards we have Scott Warren. There is also a collector's edition of "Master Of The Moon" in vinyl (LP) that I am trying to purchase.