Another great Dio album. This was the last Dio classic I added to my collection so I haven't listened to it as much as the other. Not my favorite Dio album but still great. If I Could Have Been A Dreamer is one of my top Dio songs. Other favoirtes are Sunset Superman, All The Fools Sailed Away, Dream Evil, When A Woman Cries, and Night People.

If Sacred Heart was a step down (which I didn't really think so) then Dream Evil was definitely a step back up.There's alot of great songs on it. My faves seem to be just about everyone else's - Dream Evil,I Could Have Beem A Dreamer, and All The Fools Sailed Away.

Holy Diver is the ultimate album

Craig Goldy is an accomplished player and writer, and added a new flavor to the Dio recipe. I prefer Vivian's style. Seeing this tour, Craig changed the vibe of the older tunes enough to cause notice. This is where my personal Dio collection ends, although I have heard alot of the stuff released afterwards.

Sorry I fell behind, been a hectic week. After I give the album a listen I'll post my review.

This album marks a complete lineup change and this time it was really reflected in the music. The album opens up with my favourite track, following the Dio tradition of opening up with a rocking anthem. The rest of the album is a little more slow and doomy. I guess I can't really say much beyond that, besides Wild One it doesn't seem like anything really reached out and grabbed me. With every other Dio album there seems to be some riffs or vocal melodys that catch me after a few listens, but not this one. Wild One is a great song anyway.

After this Dio rejoins Black Sabbath. While it was covered in the Black Sabbath thread i'll touch on it here. This one is actually my favourite Black Sabbath album with Dio and it sounds much more inspired than Lock Up The Wolves.

I always liked "Lock Up the Wolves".

For some reason it really grabbed me from the start.

I have a lot of memories associated with this album I guess might be why.

It was the two after this one that I never really clicked with (Strange Highways and Angry Machines).

But I look at this album as the last great Dio album until "Magica" came out. It was the end of an era for me.

IMHO, this is a very underrated album.

True it is.

I am a fan of 'Lock Up the Wolves' I loved the doomy feel to it, and I have always loved the title track, IMO 'Wild One' was the wrong single and song to release as the first video and it is really not characteristic of the rest of the album.

Young kid Rowan Robertson had some big shoes to fill and IMo did a very good job, and is style was almost a throw back to 70's guitar style as opposed to Vivvian Campbell and Craig Goldy's more modern sound ( of the that era)

"Wild One" seems to be the universal favorite from LOCK UP THE WOLVES, and with good reason... it's the best song on it. Unfortunately aside from "Wild One" and the title track, the rest of the album never did much for me. It's better than either of the two that followed it (STRANGE HIGHWAYS and ANGRY MACHINES) but still it's not something I reach for very often when I'm in a Dio mood.

Lock Up The Wolves is a good album and as stated earlier , underrrated. The title track is a great song. Wild One and My Eyes are pretty decent too.

This was my first Dio album and I still ranks as one of my favorites. Never understood the strong dislike people had for this album because I enjoy everything on it. I'd rank this behind the first two and slightly before Magica, Sacred Heart, and Dream Evil. Favorite songs are Wild One, Hey Angel, Between Two Hearts, Night Music, the title track, Walk On Water, Twisted, and My Eyes.

I wrote this in 2006 about Lock up the Wolves:

Quote:

I have a few CD's from some of my favourite artists that I've owned for years, and quite like, but that I never seem to fully get into and appreciate as much as I think they might deserve. One of them is Dio's Lock Up The Wolves. I don't remember exactly when I bought it, but it must have been late 90's or early 00's. Now that I think of it, it must have been soon after Dio's Magica, which was 2000. Anyway it was after I was already into Dio and loved all four Holy Diver, Last in Line, Sacred Heart and Dream Evil. I immediately felt Lock Up The Wolves was similar in style and the songs were quite good. Probably even better than those off of Sacred Heart. I don't know if it's possible to explain, but for some reason I wasn't able to get into the feel quite as much as I had hoped, so it's been sort of a letdown. I just gave it a couple listens today and am interested in hearing your thoughts on it and random experiences that have something to do with the album. Some random thoughts: - Awesome cover art. I know it sounds silly, but the cover probably made me expect more from this album. - I like the band members' bio in the sleeve. Especially since that's still pretty much all I know about Rowan Robertson (he disappeared completely after this album), but enjoy his playing a lot here. *while writing this I actually did Google for Robertson and found out some info, but yes, he hasn't done that many major projects since and even himself considers working with Dio his career highlight* - As I got this around the same time as Magica, and it's possible I've been overrating Magica quite some time now because I was less impressed by a 'classic' Dio album than I was by Magica. It probably felt a lot better than it actually was if you think it in a way "OMG it's better than a solidified Dio classic with a wicked awesome cover from his prime". Might be an interesting topic to discuss how acquiring several CD's at the same time affect your opinion on them. I know I've sure had quite a few discs that I've 'rediscovered' after a long time, while originally shunning them in favour of a disc I bought the same day. Also if you buy four stinkers, you might still think the best of those discs is very good since you spend more time getting into it. But that's a topic for another day. - I've seen Dio live twice, but don't think he played any tracks from this album. As for the songs, Wild One is a pretty good fast rocker to start off the album. But you immediately hear a different sound. Production is not as "80's metal" as in some of the earlier Dio releases, but it's still good. The guitar sound especially is good, though it's a bit low, which is actually a good thing since it's the drums and bass that drive the music in a lot of mid-tempo, heavy Dio stuff. It sounds a bit odd in the faster songs though. Dio's singing sounds a bit different too and I don't think it's just the production either. He is using a bit more aggressive style here and the enchanting, yet powerful metal voice isn't quite there. Born On The Sun is a pretty traditional sounding Dio song, but with very little innovation. Always liked it. Never wanted to come back and listen to it again. There's a few tracks that I could classify as filler, but aren't really that bad. Hey Angel, Between Two Hearts, Night Music and Twisted honestly aren't top-class Dio quality. The three tracks hidden in the middle are probably the best on the disc - Title Track, Evil on Queen Street and Walk on Water. But even those lack some of the Dio magic and fail to give the disc personality and that extra something. They are hardly classics. The album finishes off with three tracks that are all quite good, but by that time I'm already a bit bored. And being bored is bad. I listen to Dio in order to rock out. He is supposed to kick my ass, not bore me. Why Are They Watching Me certainly has its moments: the guitarwork and Dio's vocals - but all tracks are sort of generic. Okay, I know even some classic Dio pieces are by-the-numbers, but they still have that special feel. It could be the production or guitarist (though like I said, I enjoy Robertson's playing here, it's pretty impressive, but it also lacks some balls, to put it bluntly) that is hurting my efforts of getting into it. The semi-ballady My Eyes, while good (and a return to classic Dio both stylistically and lyrically - hear the intro - THAT is the mystical metal dwarf I am talking about), isn't good enough to end the disc, in my opinion.

Great job on the discog. so far! Keep it up (even as you reach his two least popular albums of all time)!

I'm going to touch on his album with Black Sabbath because it influenced the next two albums. So you're getting a double feature. Apparently Geezer Butler visited a Dio gig and the band reformed from that. The line-up continued with Cozy Powell from the previous album and was going to go forward in this way until Cozy reported he'd suffered some injury (other reports were that Dio and Cozy didn't get along.)

As the band progressed something soured with Dio, I can't find any info on it but Tony Martin was contacted twice to rejoin the band the retool the Dehumanizer material, however apparently Warner Bros did not find this acceptable and they worked something our with Dio.

The album is actually my favourite Dio Sabbath album, I never get tired of it and its so dark and pessimistic and evil like the Ozzy years. Computer God is such an awesome opener and really every song is great!

So whats happened? Dio said in interviews he wanted to retire with this band (which ironically could happen now) and in some interviews I saw in the Angry Machines era he ranted about how they ruined the best band in the world.

Well the roots of the breakup started when Ozzy Osbourne was playing his "last" show. He wanted to go out with the band that started it all. Now honestly, as much as I love Dio I think this was a very immature mood. He said he felt Sabbath was too great to be opening for anyone, let alone their former singer. However I feel at the same time that Ozzy wanted to put on an awesome show and really was extending an olive branch to his former band.

Well it didn't happen and they got Rob Halford to fill in. I have a bootleg and it sounded like a great show. But that as it may, Dio decided to reform.... well... Dio.

Just like back in the Holy Diver days, Dio brought Vinny with him. Recruiting new guitarist Tracy G they together recorded Strange Highways.

Well as mentioned by many, this album isn't very well loved. However I am in the minority because I LOVE this album. Just like Dehmanizer it is so dark and evil sounding, its so heavy and very cool sounding. The opening song Jesus, Mary and The Holy Ghost is such a cool sounding song and a perfect opening track.

It seems alot of the bitterness that was displayed on Holy Diver has returned 10 fold, the album is angry and dark which I fell is a good thing. I may be in the minority but I don't care, one of my favourite Dio albums.

Both albums are solid work. However, they suffer from having no real standout songs.

I actually love 'Strange Highways', how Dio seems to embrace the more modern metal sound (of that time) and not lose his identity in the process. Tracey G was no Vivian Campbell when it came to speed or Goldy in terms of classy solos that fit perfectly with the song, but what that man has is plenty of attitude and it shows in every cord he plays on this album.

Also lyrically this Dio's angriest album, the lyrics of 'Eviloution' still blow me away all these years later, both putting down corporate weasels 'I Hate You and You Hate me/ & Everybody Smiles". And within the same song he spews his anger at what these men have done to his art:

Oh plastic dreams and fast machines pushing it to the limit
Girls and boys who think that noise is music in the air
Twisted felon stay awhile here's your invitation dirty rags and body bags

Other songs in similar lyrically vein, personally I stand by the original statement Dio is an underrated lyricist.

I am huge Black Sabbath fanboy and feel that 'Dehumanizer' stands tall in terms of quality against any Black Sabbath album you care to throw against it.

I'm a HUGE Dio fanboy, but to be honest, this Dio album kinda leaves me cold.

Same with the follow-up, "Angry Machines".

To me, this was the low-point of Dio's career.



I never have owned that particular Black Sabbath album.

I have a tape of the BS album but haven't gotten around to listening to it yet. As for Strange Highways, I like it plenty. While not one of my top Dio albums it is above anything post Magica and light years ahead of the album to follow. This was my 2nd Dio album and I really enjoy it. Favorite songs are Jesus, Mary, & The Holy Ghost, s/t, Hollywood Black, Evilution, and Blood From A Stone (one of my all time favorite Dio songs).

NEXT PLEASE!