Published on Mar 17, 2000
Ronnie James Dio has become the grandfather of heavy metal music
– and that is meant in the most respectful of ways. From his stints
with Elf, Rainbow and Black Sabbath to his days as a solo artist
who cultivated some of the genre’s finest musicians, Dio could
easily take the easy way out with his music and record albums
similar to 1982’s
Holy Diver and thrill his long-time fans.
Ah, but that would be too easy, one thinks. So Dio chose to
record the closest thing to a concept album he’s done in his
career,
Magica. And while there are pieces on this disc that show
why Dio is such a legendary singer and songwriter, it’s easy to see
why concept albums are so tricky to do, as some pieces fall
flat.
Magica reunites Dio with several former band members –
guitarist Craig Goldy (who took over the guitar chores on
Dream Evil), bassist Jimmy Bain (whose four-string work
helped to shape the sound of Dio’s early solo works) and drummer
Simon Wright (who left AC/DC to provide the trap work for
Lock Up The Wolves). What is disappointing is that none of
these musicians really steps up to the plate and demonstrates just
why they are so respected on their instruments. Bain’s bass work
especially disappoints – and I’ll freely admit I was hoping to hear
some of the work like he did on the song “The Last In Line” to
really jazz up these pieces.
Dio himself is in fine voice throughout
Magica, and while he might not be reaching for the trademark
shrieks he once was able to do, time has added almost a more
sinister edge to his vocals. With some of the subject matter, this
turns out to be the perfect voice for Dio.
Musically, though,
Magica runs hot and cold. It takes far too long for the
energy level to get turned up on this disc, starting with two
interludes (“Discovery” and “Magica Theme”) before coasting into
the slow-lane-tempoed “Lord Of The Last Day”. It takes nearly a
quarter of the album for Dio and crew to really get things cooking
on tracks like “Fever Dreams,” “Turn To Stone” and “Challis (Marry
The Devil’s Daughter)” – and even these tracks take some time for
the listener to warm up to.
The real creative spark musically starts with the hard rock
ballad “As Long As It’s Not About Love,” a track that allows Dio
some room to expand his singing range. And if you don’t think this
is the kind of song that Dio should be doing, give it a good hard
listen and see if it doesn’t change your mind. The following track,
“Losing My Insanity,” is the perfect follow-up that cranks the
intensity level up to just the right pitch.
While I understand that Dio needed to complete the story that
takes place in the songs (a story I’m still having troubles
following), I question whether we really needed the two reprises –
one of “Magica,” one of “Lord Of The Last Day” – to close out the
musical portion of this disc.
The real highlight on
Magica is the 18-minute narrative featuring Dio telling the
story of “Magica” – a tale that convinces me that if Dio ever chose
to start writing science-fiction books, he’d be a best-seller. It’s
an engrossing tale between good and evil (not surprising, looking
at the body of Dio’s work), but the ending might be surprising to
people. Normally, this kind of stuff bores me, but Dio makes things
sound so convincing that it works – and 18 minutes passes far too
quickly.
Listening to the narrative helps to put some of the contexts of
the songs into perspective, but the ovall theme behind
Magica‘s songs is still a tough one to follow. If you drop
the idea of trying to follow the story behind the music, then
you’re left with a slightly above average Dio album. If you
approach it as a concept album, you’re probably going to be a
little disappointed. And I’m not faulting Dio for this; in all my
years of listening to music, I’ve heard only a handful of artists
get concept albums right.
Magica is a decent enough outing from Dio and crew, but it
does leave you with the feeling that the band in general could have
done something spectacular with this disc. Why they didn’t, I’ll
never comprehend. As for the songs, Dio has a knack for telling
stories, but he might be better off focusing on the music than the
stories behind the tunes.