Today I am reviewing some early power metal from one of the bands in the HUGE Black Sabbath family of bands. This is Dio's classic The Last in Line, featuring some pretty awesome cover art and even awesomer sound. There are some great melodic guitar riffs, that scream of proto-power metal. The most amazing part about the guitar is how full the sound feels despite their only being one guitarist. Then there is the steady bass, which has a couple great fills. In addition the drums are excellent and have a lot of originality behind them. Also Dio experiments with some added in keyboards which sound pretty nice. The vocals of Dio are filled with a fiery passion for music and that shows in his super awesome lyrics. All in all this is a extremely melodic and beautiful album with an impressive sound.
The guitar sound is incendiary, INCENDIARY, it has so many beautiful and melodic riffs that it boggles the mind. There are different genres of heavy metal covered by the guitar, the most notable is of course proto-powermetal. Some of the greatest power metal bands have cited this album as a lasting influence. The guitar has a similar sound to that of Iron Maiden;s Adrian Smith who is known for his beautiful melodic guitar solos. Some of the riffs remind me of Judas Priest, other riffs from this album were pretty much stolen by Zakk Wylde. The bass is solid and helps drive the music on and gets quite a few nice fills. In a 4 piece band it has quite a big roll, and it satisfies it's roll well. The drums are pretty original and are a pinnacle of Vinnie Appice's ability. Finally the keyboards have a pretty decent sound and are a good listen adding a melodic feel to a lot of songs.
Dio's (like the guy not the band) voice is spectacular. His vocals have fire and passion and are amazing because of that. Dio has the ability to hold a note for bars on end. The best word to describe Dio's amazing voice is Power, just that 'Power' when you listen to him you realize that he has more of himself behind his music than nearly any other musician in the world. Asides from Dio's clean vocals there are some weird experimental death growls in some parts of songs, these help accentuate the music but do not dominate it. The lyrics are pure Dio, they talk mostly about sex and drugs but also have a lot of fantasy topics.
Overall this is a great album and one of Dio's (both the guy and the band's) best. It has amazing instrumental work great vocals and cool sing a long lyrics. The guitar is powerful and features a lot of great sounds. In particular it has some great solos. Then there are the nice bass fills, these are helped by the great drumming of Vinnie Appice, who is one of my favorite All-Time drummers. The keyboards add a nice melodic feel to the music. Finally Dio's vocals are like... wow. He has everything that makes a great vocalist. An amazing voice and fire behind his lyrics. This is a good album with some killer songs for any metalhead to enjoy.
OVERALL 9.5/10
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