Heavy Maytal- Dio's "Strange Highways'

One of Dio's heavier solo albums, where he carried the energy from the "Dehumanizer" sessions into this one. The staccato riff in the verse of the opening tracks reminds me a bit of "21st Century Schizoid Man," but the song rocks out pretty hard. Tracy G's playing on "Firehead' makes this feel almsot more like solo Ozzy. The opening track sets the bar pretty high for the rest of the album, but Dio proved he can still be relevant in a post-grunge world. The title track features a great vocal performance from Dio as the verse riff crunches into a doomy territory. It is darker than the previous song. Jeff Pilson's bass crunches through to bring more weight to the riffs. 

According to Tony Iommi "Hollywood Black " does, in fact, go back to the session they did with Dio, as they demo'ed it out, but did not use it, so Dio resurrected it for this album. It works well enough. At this juncture in the album, he is beginning to get back in his formula when it comes to marching metal anthems. This can also be heard on "Evolution," which has more of a 90s groove to it. "Pain" adds more urgency and passion to the verses of "Pain". There is a dark power-ballad dynamic in place for "Give Her the Gun." I also enjoy Dio's more melodic moment, as his softer vocal is more nuanced. 

"Blood From a Stone' is a more straightforward rocker. The first song that has felt like filler to me, but even then, it works for what they are doing. "Here's to You' is another fast-paced rocker, less rock n roll and more metal than something like "We Rock" that is similarly paced. The last song is less memorable for some reason, it works, but doesn't hook me in. I will give this album a 9.5, so not quite perfect, but he benefited from this reset, and this is an underated album that put him ahead of most of his peers during this time.

pst205