Dio – The Last In Line (1984/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 41:28 minutes | 939 MB | Genre: Rock, Metal
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Front cover | © Rhino/Warner Bros.
The Last In Line is the second studio release by the heavy metal band Dio. The Last In Line is the first Dio album to include former Rough Cutt member Claude Schnell.
Following the extremely warm reception given his self-named band’s well-deserving debut album, Holy Diver, Ronnie James Dio figured there was no point in messing with a winning formula, and decided to play it safe with 1984’s sophomore effort, The Last in Line – with distinctly mixed results. Although technically cut from the same cloth as those first album nuggets, fist-pumping new songs like “We Rock,” and “I Speed at Night” curiously went from good to tiresome after just a few spins (a sign that the songwriting clichés were starting to pile up…read on); and the otherwise awesome, seven-minute epic, “Egypt (The Chains Are On),” inexplicably lost it’s strikingly sinister main riff halfway through, in what sounds like a mastering snafu of some kind. On the upside, more dramatic, mid-paced numbers such as the title track, “One Night in the City,” and “Eat Your Heart Out” – as well as the driving “Evil Eyes” – delivered enough compelling riffs and melodies to outweigh Ronnie’s once endearing, but now increasingly troublesome repetition of words like “rainbow,” “fire,” and “stone” in seemingly every song. Finally, the distinctly more commercial pairing of heavy rocker “Breathless” and the power ballad/single “Mystery” gave undisguised notice (along with the slightly sleeker production throughout and more generous keyboards from new member Claude Schnell) of Dio’s intention to broaden their audience by tapping into the rising tide of pop-metal. This would bring dire circumstances on their next album, Sacred Heart, but despite the telltale signs of decline cited above, anyone who loved Holy Diver will likely enjoy The Last in Line nearly as much.
Tracklist:
01 – We Rock
02 – The Last in Line
03 – Breathless
04 – I Speed at Night
05 – One Night in the City
06 – Evil Eyes
07 – Mystery
08 – Eat Your Heart Out
09 – Egypt (The Chains Are On)
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