Heavy Maytal -Dio's "Lock Up the Wolves"

It's been thought that this album is where Dio fell from his peak popularity. I remember being unsure of the line-up change spearheaded by the inclusion of 18-year-old Rown Robetson, who has a blues-rock feel to his playing rather than the more overt style. Yngwie keyboardist Jens Johansen and AC/DC drummer Simon Wright were also part of this new line-up. The main difference lies in the guitar tones, as Robertson is a great guitar player with ample chops displayed in "Born on the Sun".  It plays off many of the typical Dio tropes, but they still have gas in the tank. 

"Hey Angel" was the lead single, which leans more in the direction of where commercial metal was going, particularly with the layered vocals on the chorus and the drum sound here. But the songs is pretty good, and hold up to Dio's standard. After this, Dio would need to get his batteries recharged by reuniting with Sabbath for the heavier "De-humanizer" album, after which his solo albums would be more on track with where metal was heading, but when it comes to the transitional records going into the 90s, he fared better than many of his peers, though this is a far cry from "Painkiller". 

"Between Two Hearts" follows the Dio "power ballad' formula with the softer melodic intro, but this time a blues-based verse that modulates into a creeping palm-muted groove that snakes around the sparse almsot doomy drumming. It's his best vocal performance so far on this album, as it is very soulful. There is some interesting guitar playing going on in "Night Music." They default to the more typical dynamic ebb and flow on this one, but it still works thanks to Dio's magic pipes. I think what I sensed back when this came out in high school was that it wasn't as heavy as what he had done up to that point, though I saw him on this tour, and it worked for me live. 

While the lyrics are a little silly, the title track has to be my favorite song on this album, as it's the one I have returned to the most over the years, thanks to the vocal hook on the chorus. It is also darker and heavier than the previous songs. The bluesy swagger of " Evil on Queen Street" benefited from Rowan's playing. A song like "Walk on Water' works in this context, but it goes to show that if Dio had not done a reset and kept making albums, he would have gone to the well too many times going into the 90s. "Twisted" certainly helps to cement this as Dio's most blues-based rock n roll album.  

"Why Are They Watching Me" is more of a return to form with a great vocal performance from Dio, despite revisiting many 80s metal tropes. "My Eyes" closes the album. The verse riff is more like classic Dio before it ebbs back down, but his softer vocal performance is pretty stunning, so no omplaints about this formula. Which could apply to this album as a whole, sure it's a shift in a more rock direction, but when I was combined with Dios raw vocal talent and Rowan's enthusiasm, they made this work, so I will round it up to a 10, as the songs that come close to fillere were better than where hard rock was heading during this time.