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Inferno: Last In Live
Dio
Mayhem Records, 1998
REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/18/1998
A confession: It's been a long, long time since I have listened
to any of Ronnie James Dio's solo work.
When I was about ten years younger, I was banging my head to
albums like
Holy Diver and
The Last In Line just like the rest of my buddies in school.
But for some reason, I just lost interest in Dio, especially after
Sacred Heart and
Dream Evil failed to impress me.
But I've recently become interested in Dio's work again, for two
reasons. First, loyal reader Trent Nakagawa responded to my
five-year search for a copy of AC/DC's "Jailbreak" video - and was
nice enough to throw on other videos from MTV's "Headbanger's
Ball," including "The Last In Line". Second, I got a chance to
listen to Dio's first full-length live solo album,
Inferno: Last In Live, and was amazed at how good he still
sounds.
The star players in Dio's band are long gone (save for drummer
Vinny Appice), and guitarist Tracy G and bassist Larry Dennison
might not have the flash that some former members of the band
showed, but Dio has assembled a crew of musicians, a lineup which
debuted on Dio's last album
Angry Machines, that holds its own quite well. And Dio
himself has lost little - if any - of his vocal abilities, never
mind the fact it's been almost 20 years since he took over for Ozzy
Osbourne in Black Sabbath.
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