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Dio > Killing the Dragon > Reviews > Metalwontdie
Dio - Killing the Dragon

In no way shape or form a comeback - 67%

Metalwontdie, July 24th, 2009

Killing The Dragon while Dio’s original style is much more present than on previous releases the quality is a big step downwards. First off a great deal of Killing The Dragon is filled with pointless filler. The songs are much more repetitive especially on Rock & Roll easily Dio’s worst song to date. The songs on average are longer than Angry Machines and Magica and add even more to the very repetitive nature of many of Killing The Dragon’s songs.

Most of the songs take the more mid-tempo/doom metal approach that Dio has been using since Lock Up The Wolves. The exceptions to the rule are the title track, Along Comes A Spider, and Push easily the best songs on the album. The production is very good but no production can bring the majority of these songs to life. The guitar work is very restrained and limits each song to a few simple riffs. Solos are simple and only highlight on the first two songs and Push.

The band member’s performances are solid at best but certainly not top-notch. Dio’s voice is showing his years and he just doesn’t sing like he used to. Doug Aldrich is probably the biggest reason Killing The Dragon is so disappointing putting many uninspired leads and riffs in the album. The rest of the member’s performances are solid and don’t really contribute to the downfall of Killing The Dragon.

As said above Killing The Dragon is full of uninspired songs and weaknesses. The album length and song lengths are to long and could have been shortened to take away some of the repetitive nature of the songs. At the very least Killing The Dragon is made up of half filler and half solid songs, making it very uneven. Dio seems to be at a loss of direction and making things up as he goes along.

Killing The Dragon is overall probably Dio’s worst album to date and certainly not even close to a comeback album. Best songs are Killing The Dragon, Along Comes A Spider, and Push. I only recommend this release to diehard fans of Dio otherwise please stay away for your own good.

-10 points many uninspired performances
-10 points album length and song lengths are too long
-5 points a large portion of Killing The Dragon is full of filler
-5 points Dio’s vocal performance is far from his early material
-3 points loss of direction on Killing The Dragon