The Legend Continues To Live On
If there is one figure that sums up the feel and power of heavy metal it is the legendary late, great Ronnie James Dio, and with a career as long and successful as his, it would be impossible to contain all of his greatness on to one CD. So as a follow up to the gold certified Vol. 1 in this set, record label Niji Entertainment have released this Vol. 2 which covers the latter part of the band's career, taking music from the four albums across 1996-2004. And whilst of course Vol. 1 contains more of the well known hits taken from perhaps the 'golden' era, this compilation contains so many, I'd go as far to say, forgotten tracks. As soon as the first note is struck on the classic Killing The Dragon before ripping into the horrendously ignored and underrated Push you instantly become ready to immerse yourself into the wonder and magnificence that comes with a Dio album. Yes, of course the 1980's seen the peak of this band, but this compilation certainly proves that Ronnie James Dio and his band certainly still had it throughout the 90s and early 00s. Dio as a vocalist wasn't getting any weaker, and he wasn't afraid to still push boundaries when in the studio.
Initially when looking at the track-listing it is immediately noticeable that the balance across the four albums represented from the 1996-2004 era on this compilation is pretty even. Sometimes when you get compilation albums for certain bands it feels like you get a CD featuring tracks mainly from their best album with a few other songs added on, so the balance here gives a nice perspective during this time in the band's life cycle. Perhaps my only negative of the track-listing itself is the fact that it is not laid out chronologically like the first of these two compilations was, but that is quickly forgotten, as the tracks seam together almost effortlessly. A nice touch also for the more hardcore of Dio fans out there is the inclusion of three very special and rare, bonus tracks never previously released in the UK. The track Electra was originally intended for the album Magica II which was to be part of a trilogy and is a pretty epic song with the classic Dio sound whilst also feeling a bit different. Alongside this, one of the other two bonus tracks Prisoner of Paradise, originally featured only on the Japanese version of 2000's release Magica, is a good, fun and heavy track, but you can kind of see why it didn't make the cut the first time round.
Another thing usually found in compilations is an abundance of live tracks, which many may have felt was going to be the case here. Going through the track-listing first time round it is probably expected that you would see a live version of Holy Diver and Rainbow in the Dark attached on to the end as a sales booster, but it's nice that they did just stuck to the era at hand. The only live track featured on Vol. 2 comes from 1996's Angry Machines album. This live rendition of Hunters Of The Heart is unbelievably heavy and the final minute just explodes into an all out chaotic thrash metal styled finale.
The other bonus track of the three featured is the previously unreleased Metal Will Never Die, which is so fitting in relation to how the legend of Ronnie James Dio continues to be remembered. His contribution to metal is so monumental, it makes the purchase of the combination of both volumes of The Very Beast Of Dio an absolute must for fans across the whole genre.