Dio
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
For their sophomore effort, 1984s The Last in Line, the band expanded its lineup to include keyboardist Claude Schnell, as the album would become the biggest hit of Dios career (on the strength of another MTV-approved video, for the albums anthemic title track) and the group became an arena-headliner. Although Dios next release, 1985s Sacred Heart, was commercially successful, Campbell had become disillusioned by the groups direction and split from the group a year later. Just prior to Campbells exit, the entire Dio band helped organize Hear N Aid, an all-star assembly of heavy metal artists that recorded a track called Stars, which helped fight world hunger (a subsequent album was issued as well, collecting previously unreleased live tracks from a few of the days top hard rock acts). Former Giuffria guitarist Craig Goldy took Campbells place, resulting in such releases as 1986s live EP Intermission and 1987s Dream Evil, which retained the groups headbanging audience, but failed to expand upon it as its previous releases had.
By 1990s Lock up the Wolves, Ronnie James Dio was the only original member of Dio left in attendance as the bands lineup continued to fluctuate throughout the 90s on such releases as 1994s Strange Highways, 1996s Angry Machines, and 1998s Inferno: Last in Live (Ronnie James took a brief break from Dio in 1992 to rejoin Black Sabbath for a lone release, Dehumanizer). In 2000, a pair of Dio releases emerged; first was Dios first new studio album in four years, the concept album Magica (which saw past members Bain and Goldy return to the group), as well as a 16-track compilation titled The Very Beast of Dio. His medieval-themed metal returned two years later, when the Killing the Dragon album arrived in the spring of 2002. The album was a serious endevor, but Dio also learned to make fun of his image after years of defending it, inviting comedy duo Tenacious D to star in the video for Push and even including the clip on the fall re-release of Killing the Dragon.
