Reviews list for Dio - Dream Evil (1987)

As a long-term metalhead with a life-long relationship with the genre, it’s almost a rite of passage that you become heavily involved with the various works of the great Ronnie James Dio. RJD is rightfully known as one of the greatest metal front men of all time & I don’t think too many people would dispute that. Whether through his fantasy-fueled work with Rainbow, the doom-laden classics he created with Black Sabbath & Heaven & Hell or the legacy he built with his anthemic solo work, Ronnie proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that he possessed the talent & drive to be deserving of his position at the very top of the metal pile. As a result, I’m well versed in most of his back catalogue, at least the releases that are considered to be essential listening for anyone claiming themselves to be a metal historian or aficionado. But for me there’s always been one glaring omission… I’d never heard Dio’s classic 1987 fourth album “Dream Evil” until a few days ago, a record that’s widely regarded as Ronnie’s last essential studio album. I had heard a few songs from the album on the excellent “Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987” double live release & enjoyed them all thoroughly but, despite placing “Dream Evil” on my must-hear list shortly after that experience, I’d never gotten around to ticking this one final box until the last week. Let’s see how it fared?

“Dream Evil” represented Ronnie’s first solo work without highly underrated guitar shredder Vivian Campbell who had experienced a major falling out with the Dios since 1985’s “Sacred Heart” album. Ronnie would replace him with the relatively unknown Craig Goldy of Los Angeles-based hard rockers Rough Cutt & heavy metallers M.A.R.S. & I had reasonable hopes for Craig after hearing his performance on the live release. Returning once again would be former Rainbow bassist Jimmy Bain, former Black Sabbath & future Kill Devil Hill, Last in Line & Heaven & Hell drummer Vinny Appice & Goldy’s former Rough Cutt bandmate in keyboardist Claude Schnell, all of which had been involved with Dio’s previous albums. I’d imagine that this would have put a bit of pressure on Goldy given the big shoes he had to fill, particularly given how highly I rate Campbell as an artist of the highest quality. To his credit, Goldy does a pretty reasonable job & proves himself to possess some impressive chops too but I can’t say that he stands out quite as much as Campbell did as he was one of the very rare musicians to not have been forced into a purely supporting role when paired with Dio.

It becomes apparent very quickly after pressing the play button on “Dream Evil” that you shouldn’t expect anything drastically different to Dio’s previous works as everything sounds so familiar. In fact, I’d go so far as to use the word formulaic as the style & song structures are so cookie-cutter in their approach. The educated ear will likely pick up some moments of self-plagiarism too which isn’t something new to Dio with the last couple of albums also being guilty of this crime at times. The verse riff in the title track is a classic example of it as it sounds oh so similar to Rainbow’s classic “Man On A Silver Mountain”. There are also references to the work of other artists here too though. Check out the chorus of “Sunset Superman” & then compare it with Accept’s “London Leatherboys” or consider whether “Overlove” might be an attempt to emulate Van Halen’s hard rock stomp. That’s not to say that these tracks are poor examples of their type however as the tracklisting begins pretty well with the A side being very consistent. The B side is a little more hit & miss with the clear album highlight in hard rocker “Naked In The Rain” making for a fantastic mid-album peak even if I don’t think it reaches the same dizzying heights as the 1987 Donington live version which is nothing short of life-changing. Radio-friendly AOR single “I Could Have Been A Dreamer”, on the other hand, jumps well & truly over the cheese line while the cheap synth accompaniments in disappointing hard rock closer “When A Woman Cries” sound horribly dated. Now, you’ve probably noticed me using the word “rock” quite a bit here so I should probably clarify that. Despite what most people seem to think, Dio’s early solo albums generally contain a combination of hard rock & heavy metal songs & “Dream Evil” is no different in that regard, so much so that the album should receive a dual tagging in my opinion. The metal tunes tend to sit at a fairly consistent quality while the rockier numbers are a little more up & down.

So, how does “Dream Evil” compare with Dio’s other solo material? Well, I haven’t heard anything later than this album so I can only compare it to Dio’s first three records & I’d have to say that it’s another reasonably entertaining (if inessential) effort that sees Ronnie & the band making very little effort to expand their repertoire. I mean, there’s not much that I haven’t heard before included here. I’d also suggest that, while Dio clearly peaked very earlier with his best album “Holy Diver”, each successive record saw the quality dropping just a touch from the previous album. He hadn’t come close to releasing anything that might be considered to be a failure as yet but it would seem quite likely that he might have achieved that in subsequent releases if he continued with the downward curve. 1985’s “Sacred Heart” is generally considered to be a weaker record than “Dream Evil” but, despite the fact that “Sacred Heart” reached some lower points at times, I think it offered more genuine highlights too so I slightly prefer it. Regardless, if you’re a diehard fan of classic heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath & Iron Maiden or the gritty hard rock of Rainbow then you’ve likely already spent a fair bit of time with “Dream Evil”. If not then it’s definitely worth a few listens, just don’t expect it to compete with Dio’s best work.

Dio until lately have been a one album band as far as I was concerned.  Beyond Holy Diver I was aware that there were other entries in the Dio back catalogue but for the life of me I could not get around to listening to anything other than what remains the bands finest moment.  Coming a whole four years after their debut, Dream Evil offers pretty much the same content as the masterclass in heavy metal they dropped in 1983, although it doesn't necessarily hit the same heights of quality.

The anthems are still here (at least in principle) but they aren't quite as infectious and as a result aren't that memorable.  Even the stupendously titled Sunset Superman with its chant like chorus suffers from a lack of traction.  The title track, Naked in the Rain and I Could Have Been A Dreamer all hit that sweet spot that you'd expect from a writer like Ronnie with the help of Appice, Bain, Schnell and Goldy who all contributed to the album also.  Unfortunately, there's a lot of filler on here also.  Overlove, Faces in the Window, All the Fools Sailed Away and When A Woman Cries are all sub par have no impact on the record overall other than to drag it down in the ratings.

Whilst this doesn't make Dream Evil a bad record it doesn't shine in anyway; it is lacking in bite overall even though it bares it's teeth on more than a few occasions over the course of the nine tracks.  I find myself kind of waiting for it to get going for a lot of the record and just as it does it seems to falter, often in the same breath.  Bain's bass sounds like a more lazy plod and pluck fest this time out and Schnell gets far too much air time on the keyboards to the point of taking the harder edges off most of the riffs.  Goldy is still allowed to shine though, his urgent and pressing lead work weaving stories all of their own when they kick in to life and Appice is solid and consistent just like you would expect.

Ronnie's vocal delivery is flawless though, he just knew how to control his voice so well throughout his career and again here the vocals maintain this pattern and even on the weaker tracks they are the star of the show.  I am unable to leave my experience of Dream Evil with the same levels of enthusiasm I have seen on other reviews for it and although it does make me want to delve into what came before it in the grey area between the debut and it I can't say I will be visiting the album much moving forwards.