freakin' fantastic album, and I am not saying that because Ronnie has passed away. I've loved this album since the day it was released. Killer album cover art to boot.

Thank you for continuing the thread Chairman, I will listen to the CD again tonight, but I agree with ULT an excellent album.

I listened to this CD this evening and it was an excellent CD and was a great return to form. Like ULT said an excellent Dio release and severely under rated.

KILLING THE DRAGON was the album that got me back into Dio in a big way. For whatever reason, I hadn't paid much attention to his stuff during the bulk of the 90s. Most likely there were too many other bands/albums demanding my $$, so poor ol' RJD got lost in the shuffle.

But by the late 90s the Euro power metal boom had sparked my interest in Dio again cuz pretty much damn near every one of those bands was either covering a Dio song or giving him props in interviews. I hadn't bought a Dio album in probably ten years at that point, and all of my old Dio stuff was on either LP or tape, so I sez to myself "Self, you really oughta pick up some Dio on CD." KILLING THE DRAGON had just been released at that time so I bought it and was knocked for a loop. I was like "Damn, Dio still rules! Where the hell have I been?" and that started me off on a quest to pick up all of his material that I'd missed out on in the interim. KTD remains a personal latter-era Dio fave of mine.

Love the art. Also, I love the fact that Cold Feet has 4 verses, rather than the usual 3.

Every DIO album rules. The guy is a DIO indeed. Luckily we have his albums. He still lives through the music.

I just got a signed Tournado boxed set. \m/ RIP Dio... watching him perform brings tears to my eyes...

Chairman, we are almost to finish line if you could get to the next Dio album when you get a chance, please.

I'll get to in a few days. I've got three more, but i've loaded them onto my Zune and should be able to get plenty of listens in.

Master of The Moon
Evil or Divine: Live in NYC
Holy Diver Live

Master of The Moon (2004)


The last Dio studio album...

Its with a heavy heart I type those words. Although there was another release with Heaven & Hell (and a damn fine way to go out I might add) this was the last of his solo efforts and also a damn fine final album I must say.

When this one was coming out was when I was actually first starting to get into Dio and most music in general, I don't think this was my first Dio album, but it was my first NEW Dio album. In 2004 I was 17, I didn't own very many CDs at the time. The music on this one simply blew me away, it was heavy not only musically but lyrically. The doomy feel is just awesome, I love slow doomy music and its ashame Dio didn't do more of it.

I can say with all honesty that I listen to this one more than any other Dio album (not counting his Sabbath material which I listen to the most.) From start to finish this album is just a great listen when you're in one of those gloomy moods.

The album opener starts in standard Dio tradition with a hooky fast anthem-like song, its great I love this song. The title track is also amazing, I love how creepy this song is! So many layers of slow creepy music with lyrics that run the hair up on the back of your neck.

In fact all the the lyrics and vocal melodys on this album are pretty creepy, honestly this album is a great warm up for The Devil You Know that came a few years later. The only thing missing is Tony and Geezer's signature sounds. This really is the closest Dio came to the Sabbath sound on his own.

The lyrics to The End of the World are amazing.

"What ever happened to the rock and roll song
Breaking your brain
Making you stronger"

Describing all the songs after this would just be repetitive, all of these songs are great. Slow and Doomy. I love this album, which might be nostalgia because this was MY first Dio album.

R.I.P. Ronnie, your life and music has been a influence to my own.

I also love this album and I think it was a great way to end his solo career, like you stated it had doomy almost gothic feel to it, more of combination of style he did with Rainbow and Dio, a great album with a great set of songs.

Amazing album that did not get enough attention from fans or even metal critics.

I've listened to Master of the Moon a good deal this year. It's a very good album, and in general I think Dio had a nice run in this decade between his solo stuff and Heaven and Hell.

The opening track for this album sounds like what updated "Rainbow" could sound like...

...the riff and general groove sound like down-tuned Rainbow, similar to something from Long Live Rock N Roll.

This is a very interesting album, so much in fact that I wish the instrumentalists were able to branch out some more, which, really, has always been something of a weak spot for the Dio solo band. 'Master of the Moon' heavily reflects the 'solo' term somehow, this record sounds very isolated and personal in a way, most of it makes me think of stuff Dio may have wrote in a notebook somewhere or thought up and put together with the band but didn't really give much concern to whether it would come out or not, what the fan reaction would be, etc. The root style is some basic doom and heavy metal with the personal touch and conviction that Dio brings to make it his own, but there's all kinds of little progressive minded shades and colors, small experiments with a bridge here, a certain keyboard sound there, some stuff with the guitar pedals.....this is an odd album for Dio because it seems like almost something a different sort of band would make, yet remaining completely true to the Dio personality. A lot of 'Master of the Moon', in sound and songwriting, seems much more like something for the listener to play alone and looking inward, whereas most songs of the other Dio records were more suitable for a loud, wide eyed, cathartic *outward* experience, with only a few tuned to the former feel. It works well despite a few filler songs, and makes for a nice balance and contrast in the Dio catalog. This is not meant to be an official review, so it only sounds that way because my thoughts are actually put together at the moment. Favorite songs: 'In Dreams', 'The Eyes', 'One More For The Road', 'The Man Who Would Be King'.

"The Eyes" is a killer track, Ronnie's performance on that tune is amazing.

Excellent post OCI

Beautiful album; killer bass work on here.

Just updating this on two missing live albums on this thread:




My review is based on the DVD of this show, and it is a great show with a songlist that spawns most of the first two Dio releases, along with the usual suspects in the Black Sabbath and Rainbow song book that was standards for him this far into his career. the guitartist on this DVD is Doug Aldrich who adds a freshiness to the material and is clearly having a great time.



I do not own this album so basing this on memory, the album of course was for the shows they did where the band performed 'Holy Diver' . the band also performed two rarely performed Rainbow classics 'Tarot Woman' and Gates of Babylon' and Dio classic 'One Night in the City' . I plan to add these albums to my list.

Now if someone could please volunteer to do a review of the newest Dio live album that would be great.

I'm mostly a fan of his 80s stuff, Sacred Heart included.

I was pretty much blown away by this live album. Dio is in top form during these recordings and they are his best sounding live cuts, solo-wise . I think the only other live disc documenting this era is Intermission which was dubbed.

Disc one is my favourite out of the two, the sound is crisp and clear, the energy of a band on top of the world is clear as day. Compare it to Inferno or Live in NYC and those releases fall flat based on production alone. Whoever did this one did a great production job.

Disc two is also excellent, although the sound isn't quite as crisp and clear as disc one. It does still blow away the aforementioned live albums from the 90s and 00s.

Tracklist wise, on both I think they're excellent. Having to chose from his Rainbow, Black Sabbath and the excellent Holy Diver album must of been quite a decision. I was a little annoyed with Starstruck not being a full song, but just a short jam.

Also these songs are the best i've heard his Rainbow and Sabbath songs done by his solo band, pretty damn close to the same vibe you'd get off Iommi or Blackmore. I can't say I've gotten that same vibe off his future live albums. I suppose it doesn't help that the band was pretty much a combination of Black Sabbath and Rainbow, with Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain.

Packaging wise, its a 2 CD digi with a pretty small booklet, and someone talking about the show, could of been better, but i'm not complaining. Also the first pressings come with these cool backstage pass replicas.

This is a fitting tribute to Dio and his legacy.

They both sound good to me; I enjoyed the exceptionally long Shame On The Night for Holy Diver Live, though.

Ya know, I just looked at the first post in here, and realized Chairman said he couldn't find Ronnie's oldest stuff. Well, for anyof you who are interested, it's for listen/download here. Just figured I'd add that on here, in case any of you wanted to find it.