By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and underappreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

DIO – THE LAST IN LINE (1984)

At the time this article posts, it will be three days past what would’ve been the 81st birthday of Ronnie James Dio. And it will have been more than thirteen years since he passed away.

He is ever missed, and still the best.

And in that spirit, I thought I’d mark the occasion of his birthday by writing about the second Dio album The Last in Line.  I didn’t come to my Dio fandom until 1987’s Dream Evil album, so clearly I had to go back in time to get my hands on his catalog once my love of Dio was born.

It didn’t take me long to get into this album back when I first bought it. I was familiar with two of the songs from hearing on the radio (again, after the fact). But what gets me is just how well this album holds up. I guess you can attribute it not only to the great songwriting employed, but the great performances from everyone involved as well. I mean, the album is almost 40 years old and yet it still pulls you in with the force of a black hole.

The album opens up with the song “We Rock”. It is a perfect song to kick off any album with because it is just a relentlessly fast song that is powered not just by a great vocal turn from Dio  but the guitar riff employed here is just insanely good. It’s funny how the song opens up this album but I’ve heard it used as a show closer on live performances from that time.

The album’s title track came up next and man this is such a classic song. It was the first one released as a single from the album and it still resonates strongly today. I love the way the song starts off in a far softer style before the track just explodes into a far heavier rock sound. Dio shines particularly bright on this song. I realize that’s stating the obvious of course, but when you take his performance along with the lyrics…this is amazing. Plus the line from the chorus that reads “We’ll know for the first time. If we’re evil or divine” is just EPIC!

And while there are songs on the album that play as maybe a little deeper in the subject matter than others, I love it when the band goes full throttle with a straightforward rocker like “Breathless”.

Of course, the band knows how to create an atmosphere to set up their songs as well. The intro to the song “I Speed at Night” actually feels like a revving engine. The song is a blazing sonic attack and the guitar solo from Vivian Campbell is just flat out great.

The closing track on Side One is “One Night in the City” and while the rest of the first side is pretty much all uptempo, this track employs more of a methodically precise pacing even during the song’s faster portions.

The second side of The Last in Line has only four songs on it. And two of them, like “Breathless” are more geared towards that flat out rock your socks off style. “Evil Eyes” is the first song on the 2nd side which gets you as the listener ready to pump your fists in the air in lightning quick fashion. As for “Eat Your Heart Out”, I really hope it never gets dismissed as simply an “album track” because it is a killer track as well.

That said, I found the other two tracks to be a little more involving for me. That’s back in the day and as I listened to the album to write this piece. “Mystery” was the third of the three singles released from the album. If I’m being honest, it is also the one that probably sounded the most like a song geared towards being played on the radio a lot. The song’s intro leans heavily on the keyboards. As the song progresses, it has a great hook while still keeping itself as a pretty uptempo number. The melodies here are great. The funny thing is that while I’ve heard this song so many times over the years, as I was listening this time around I was struck by how much I liked the lyrics. Lines like “And is the wise man always right. No, he can play the fool” just hit me different for some reason. Stone cold classic cut in my eyes.

The album wraps up with Dio’s epic jaunt “Egypt (The Chains Are On)”. The band establishes a mood pretty quickly. In the intro, you hear sounds that make you feel like you can hear the wind blowing across a desert. Once the band comes in fully, musically speaking, the song tempo ranges all over the place. This gives the song a depth and scope that feels bigger than its just under 7-minute running time. I loved when the drums (from Vinny Appice) kicked off the song into a more aggressive gear complete with a lights out guitar solo.

It’s not breaking any new ground to say that Dio’s The Last in Line album is a flat out classic record. But when you get to the chance to appreciate a master at work, how can you not follow through on doing just that? Ronnie James Dio may have left this world, but every day you can listen to his music is one to celebrate fully. So go ahead and give The Last in Line another listen. It’s a great way to honor Dio’s legacy and just give you some fantastic metal music that will always leave you better than before you started listening to it. What more needs being said?

NOTES OF INTEREST: The Last In Line album, which peaked at #23 on the Billboard album chart is one of two Dio albums that was certified platinum (Holy Diver was the other one). It got a 2 CD reissue in 2012. The second disc had 12 live tracks on it.

The songs on the album had music written by Dio in varying combinations with guitarist Vivian Campbell and bassist Jimmy Bain. The lyrics were all written by Dio, who also produced the album himself.

Though he played on the tour for Holy Diver, keyboardist Claude Schnell (ex-Rough Cutt) didn’t appear on a Dio release until The Last in Line. He spent seven years with the band. He’s appeared on albums by Y&T, Neil Turbin, Gary Hoey, Loudness and Doro as well.