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DIO – The Very Beast Of Vol.2 – Niji

By Jeffrey Easton

With DIO, you can really separate his solo career in to two phases, pre 1992 Black Sabbath and post Sabbath.  Before the Sabbath reunion, his career was on a path with one sound that he made famous but post Sabbath he phased in new sounds and a heavier feel to the music.  Strange Highways and especially Angry Machines were darker with heavier grooves and riffs and it continued with the amazing records Killing The Dragon, Magica and Master Of The Moon.  That is where The Very Beast Of Vol. 2 comes in.  It seems as though that period of time is overlooked by casual Dio fans as they still bring up Holy Diver instead of Killing the Dragon or Push when the conversation turns to his career.  AS far as I am concerned, what he did after 1992 rivals what he did before and this collection cements that.  Black, Lord Of The Last Day and Along Comes A Spider are sinister tracks that are unnerving and just as dynamic as Holy Diver or Rainbow In The Dark.  It also goes into unreleased tracks with the final thing Ronnie did in the form of Electra which was meant for Magica 2.  Its stunning and it reveals that the second installment was going in a eerie direction.  Other bonus tracks feature the anthem bound Metal Will Never Die and the haunting Prisoner Of Paradise, both worthy of DIO adoration.  One day metal historians will look back on the second leg of Dio’s solo career with massive favor but until then you have this over view to provoke you into buying all of the records this set covers. 

BUY The Very Beast Of Vol.2



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