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