DIO — Strange Highways (review)

DIO — Strange Highways album cover Album · 1993 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
1/5 ·
SouthSideoftheSky
Great cover art, not so great music!

After the disaster that was Lock Up The Wolves, Ronnie James Dio reunited with Black Sabbath to make the disappointing Dehumanizer album. Dehumanizer did not sound like any previous Black Sabbath album, but instead had a much more contemporary and 'thrashy' sound in a misguided attempt to achieve greater commercial success again. While Dio is usually a fantastic singer, I don’t much like his vocals on Dehumanizer. He is trying to sing in a more aggressive style compared to how he sounded on previous Black Sabbath albums, Rainbow's early albums and the 80’s Dio albums. Sadly, Strange Highways, the first Dio album after the Black Sabbath reunion, is Dio trying to make Dehumanizer part II. This is not really my cup of tea.

Vinny Appice is once again aboard, but the rest of the band is new again with Tracy G on guitars and Jeff Pilson on keyboards. Though, like on Lock Up The Wolves, there is not much keyboards on this album. The song writing is only slightly improved compared to the lacklustre Lock Up The Wolves which means that behind the thrashy sounds you find some rather mundane and middle-of-the-road songs. Overall, it becomes a rather tedious listen. After listening to the whole album, I don’t really remember anything special about it which is evidence of its non-existent staying power.

The 90’s were Dio’s weakest period, avoid unless you want a complete Dio collection
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Infinite Mortality Technical Death Metal
REPLICANT
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Soma Collective Metalcore
GRAYWEATHER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Labyrinth Metalcore
SILVER FANG
Buy this album from MMA partners
Reimmerse Metalcore
UNTIL THE UNKNOWN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Maelstrom Metalcore
URAGH
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Silver Fang - Labyrinth (Official Music Video)
SILVER FANG
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Silver Fang - Labyrinth (Lyric Video)
SILVER FANG
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Silver Fang - Labyrinth (Visualiser)
SILVER FANG
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Silver Fang - Wish I Never (Lyric Video)
SILVER FANG
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Silver Fang - Wish I Never (Visualiser)
SILVER FANG
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed