SouthSideoftheSky “Have I fallen too far to rise, been burning too long in the fire?”

Magica was the first ever explicitly conceptual album by Dio and easily the best Dio album for more than ten years. After three disappointing albums in a row throughout the 90’s and a one-off reunion of the Mob Rules-line up of Black Sabbath that resulted in the weak Dehumanizer album, Dio finally returned to form with Magica which, in my opinion, is one of their best ever albums. The sound of Magica was in many ways a return to the more classic Dio sound of the 80’s. The misguided attempts to sound contemporary are left behind here in favour of some of those ingredients that made albums like Holy Diver and Dream Evil so good. Indeed, veteran bassist Jimmy Bain, who played with Ronnie already in Rainbow in the 70’s, as well as guitarist Craig Goldy returns to Dio here for the first time since Dream Evil in 1987. Not surprisingly perhaps, Magica is more similar in sound to that album than to any of the 90’s albums. Keyboardist Scott Warren is allowed much more space in the sound here and the songs are more melodic. Also Ronnie himself returns to a less aggressive and more harmonious vocal style that made him famous in the first place.

However, Magica is not only about a return to something old, but an introduction of something new. This is certainly Dio’s most progressive album and not only in virtue of being a concept album. The story itself is rather silly though and brings the album down slightly in my eyes, but the music is great with Lord Of The Last Day, Fever Dreams and Eriel all beings excellent songs and the rest is mostly very good too.

Another thing that makes Magica stand out for me is its diversity; it is one of the most varied albums in Ronnie James Dio’s career alternating between traditional Heavy Metal, Prog elements and ballads. As Long As It Is Not About Love is the closest to a genuine ballad as Dio ever came reminding a bit of the classic Catch The Rainbow from Rainbow’s debut from 1975. Eriel is a strong symphonic number with a Heaven And Hell-like bass line. Losing My Insanity is great with its folky/medieval melody and acoustic intro and outro. Sadly there are also short spoken word-passages that I tend to dislike, but they don’t distract too much from the music. The last track on the album is Ronnie himself reading the story of Magica which is a traditional story of good and evil set in some fantasy universe. Not too interesting I must say, but a surprising thing for Dio to do.

According to some sources, Dio had announced that he intended to write Magica parts II and III, but sadly he passed away on the 16th of May 2010 so we will have to make do with this original Magica which is not bad at all. May he rest in piece!

This is one of Dio's best ever albums and their most adventurous. Highly recommended!