DIO - This Means War!
by Martin Popoff
Despite more turmoil within his ranks - Jimmy Bain and Doug Aldrich are out; significantly, Craig Goldy returns - Ronnie James Dio has managed to put out a follow-up to Killing The Dragon rather quickly. And all of this, despite a busy touring schedule and a recent DVD. In fact, think about it. Given that the man's first recording is from 1958, Ronnie is among the longest active rock 'n' roll artists in existence, and is probably the #1 most active of the lot. In fact, anybody else still touring and/or making records, outside of jazz or classical, is likely an old blues guy. Is Ronnie, perhaps, the King Of Rock 'n' Roll?
A subject for further research, perhaps, but a fact that is indisputable, is that Ronnie's got a new record out called Master Of The Moon. And, although it is not among this writer's favourites (two words - too slow!), it is yet another quality piece of product, with elegant, pertinent lyrics, vocals for miles, and tracks that indeed grow on you. But it is dark.
"I think it's an awful lot more realistic," says Ronnie, contrasting the album with the flashier, speedier Killing The Dragon. "And I think the answer to all that is because of the time period in that we were writing this particular album. Not like anything has changed today, but it was a time of extreme terrorism, hundreds of thousands of people dying in Africa, rape in Sudan, global warming, the war in Iraq... the list goes on and on and on. And at that particular point, it was kind of difficult to be happy. I think Killing The Dragon was a lot more cheerful a rock album, than this one is. And I think it just wasn't as bad a time, in my mind. But because I was being bombarded with it all around me, and because I am a person of the world, I think that this album is a lot more realistic and there are things that touch upon the paranoid attitude that we all have to have now. Because who knows where the next bomb is going to go off? So I think once again, it's a product of the times in which it was written."
