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Dio - Magica Audio CD

A fair review of the Dio "Magica" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Dio reviews here, or go back to the Dio tabs.

Dio Band: Dio
Title: Magica
Rating:
Release Date: 2000-03-21
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Discovery 2: Magica Theme 3: Lord of the Last Day 4: Fever Dreams 5: Turn to Stone 6: Feed My Head 7: Eriel 8: Challis 9: As Long as It's Not About Love 10: Losing My Insanity 11: Otherworld 12: Magica (Reprise) 13: Lord of the Last Day (Reprise) 14: Magica Story

The Master Magician behind Magica
I felt it would have been better if in between songs instead of left to the very end the narrative of Ronnie mixed in and overlaid by the robotic discovery would have fuelled the albums pace much better. The only caveat i found to the recording is the narrative left to the end of the story. But i am highly pleased with the quality of sound and skill displayed by all involved. As long as its not about Love just spoke to my soul and the chilling Lord of the Last Day gave me shivers i cant begin to describe. Bravissimo!!!!!!!!.


Gnomes, Elves, Black Magic and Heavy Metal
He has to go by Ronnie James Dio because we may confuse him with the other famous Ronnie Dio if he doesn't. I love Dio just for the comedy factor. Always singing about gnomes and goblins and occult magic and ranting against "organized religion". Plus he likes to sing about the glories of being a heavy metal singer who sings about the glories of heavy metal. Dio is the real Spinal Tap. Plus his album covers are cool, too. They remind me of cheap horror paperbacks. And he's always throwing around the devil horns. Way to go Ronnie! Give 'em heck!.


Dio + Goldy = Genius
Not only did Craig's axe shredding take my breath away but I was also lucky enough to enjoy dinner with the band. I was lucky enough to see Dio axeman Craig Goldy recently when he was the guest guitarist during the Australian tour with ledgendary UK rock band "Budgie". During the dinner, Craig suggested that if I wanted to hear more of his playing that I should listen to the "Magica" albumn by Dio. Well I made the decision to purchase this albumn and boy was he right, the playing, layout of tracks on the albumn are truly magnificent. I highly recommend this albumn to anybody who loves refined metal, without the music being overly heavy or excessively guitar based. A great collaboration between Ronnie James Dio and Craig Goldy. You will love it. Well done Dio, well done Craig.

Cheers yaxman1964.


Dio's Masterwork
"Magica" is a concept album that tells a story from beginning to end. After all these years and several mediocre albums Ronnie James Dio pulls out all the stops to produce what is in my opinion the best album of his career. Although the songs are broken down into individual tracks the album is really one long story. I have always thought the Dio would be great at it if he ever tried to move in this direction and I am not disappointed. Being a fan of progressive rock, this album for me is the culmination of the potential Dio has shown over the years. The album is not a pure prog-metal album, but certainly leans in that direction with expanded use of keyboards and several tunes that stretch out musically in a more complicated direction. The storyline of the album concerns a fantasy world in which would rival many of our modern fantasy novel writers. The story is included in written form with the album and Ronnie also reads the whole thing as a spoken word piece as a bonus at the end of the album. In all it is just over 18 minutes long. I am not going to go into the particulars of the story here, but suffice to say it is complicated and well thought out. The music on the album is also very good with Craig Goldie putting in by far his best studio effort on a Dio album. Jimmy Bain is back in the fold on bass and Simon Wright is allowed a much more expansive roll on drums that we ever heard in his AC/DC days. Scott Warren completes the lineup on keys. Dio's voice is as strong as ever and the album contains his best vocal work since "Lock Up The Wolves" a decade earlier. I caught Dio on this tour and he had the guts enough to do this entire album live from start to finish. Some of the fans, just there to hear the hits, seemed disappointed, but for those of us who are a bit more musically adventurous it was an incredible musical journey. Fans looking for the more straight ahead metal Dio might be disappointed in this release, but given a few spins you realize just how strong an album this is. Along with "Lock Up The Wolves" this album is essential listening to my ears.


Dio's best album? Yes.
After two lesser albums, Dio comes back with Magica. This is the best album Dio has ever recorded. I know it isn't another Holy Diver or Last In Line, it's totaly different, but also better, if you ask me. It's a concept album, which makes the music interesting. The soundquality is very high, much better then the older Dio albums. Ronnie James Dio sings as good as on Holy Diver, maybe even better. Simon Wright does a very good job here, I like him a lot better then Vinni Appice. The keyboardplay is also a lot more on this album then on other Dio-albums. it's great. You can really feel the magic when you're listening to this masterpiece. Every song is great, no metal fan should be without this album.
The band is:
Ronnie James Dio - Vocals
Craig Goldy - Guitars
Simon Wright - Drums
Jimmy Bain - Bass
Scot Warren - Keyboard

If you don't have it yet, then buy it today! Like I said before, no metal fan should be without this masterpiece.


You can see a complete list of all Dio discography, or go back to the Dio tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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