Heavy Crown

There are many words that could have described one of heavy metal's most beloved and now fallen forefathers Ronnie James Dio, but the only word that will truly ring true from now until the gates of Armageddon is irreplaceable. Other bands will come and go, some of them succeeding in holding a massive torch to the memory of the man in question, but no one could match the level of passion, poise, and brilliance that was on display every time he took the stage. As such, it is foolhardy to approach anything associated with either him or the many musicians that collaborated with him over the years with an eye to such a majestic result being duplicated, even if everyone involved in the creation of one of his seminal albums form ranks around a new singer, which is what Last In Line's debut album Heavy Crown is, a congregation of every other member that brought Holy Diver to the world except the one that made it a legendary affair.

When taken on its own merits, this album is decent and even mildly enticing. The presentation is simple, largely drawing from an early 80s rocking flavor that is conducive to Dio's 1983 sound, though with an extremely dry sounding modern production that robs it of the necessary atmosphere to put it in similar sonic territory. Even when compared to the most modern sounding of Dio's work in the early 2000s, this is closer in production practices to the latest Halestorm album. Nevertheless, the musical contents are largely on point and definitely point to an honest attempt at an old school approach, as Vivian Campbell has finally decided to play his guitar like he means it after about two decades of playing second string to Phil Collin in Def Leppard, and surprisingly enough, vocalist and newcomer Andrew Freeman brings a highly competent vocal display to the mix that is fairly reminiscent of Doogie White (ex-Malmsteen) and maybe a lighter version of Jorn Lande's Coverdale-inspired swagger.

Putting aside the extremely dry production quality, individually the songs on here are fairly impressive, though the album as a whole struggles in terms of flow due to stilted pacing. On the slower end of things are a collection of songs that generally mirror that doom-like trudge of "Shame On The Night", with the standouts being "Devil In Me", "Starmaker", and "Blame It On Me", the last of those three sounding like it was written while the closing song off Holy Diver was playing on repeat. In contrast, there is a sizable collection of faster songs after the mold of "Stand Up And Shout" and "Neon Knights" that just sort of pop in and out the sea of slow to slower-mid tempo numbers at random, though "Martyr" and "I Am Revolution" are rock solid cruisers and "Already Dead" isn't too far behind. The only time where they break away from this formula is the title song, which sounds the most like a nod to "Invisible" with a slow and subdued intro that ends up launching into an upper-mid tempo groove with some nice punchy grooves.

One thing that can be clearly said for Vivian and company here, they have put out something far better than what a lot of other aging rock/metal icons have been doing of late, notably his other band Def Leppard and also Jeff Pilson's (who makes a guest appearance on here) associated Dokken spin-off T&N. It's necessary to put aside one's nostalgic devotion to Ronnie James Dio in order to fully enjoy this album, but on its own merits, it is a fun album and now a final testament to long-time Dio bassist and associate Jimmy Bain. There is definitely room for growth in this project, and hopefully on future albums this band will move away from exclusive Holy Diver worship and tap into the brilliance that most parties in congress partook of on the album that bears their name and the one that followed it. With the right production and a more ambitious mindset to songwriting, this has the potential to trade blows with a lot of European bands like Astral Doors and Jorn that have been loosely paying tribute to Dio in their own way. The king may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, so let us remember him with all the metal in our hearts!

Before listening to this album, you really have to blot from your mind that these are the three guys from Dio, men behind such classics as Holy Diver and The Last in Line, and tell yourself that this really are just some random hard rock/melodic metal band. And of course there's the massive elephant in the room with the Andrew Freeman taking the role of the inimitable RJD on vocals, replacing the irreplaceable in a way. Interestingly, since the development of this album began the band has been in turmoil, with the firing of keyboardist Claude Schnell in late 2015 and the tragic death of legendary bassist Jimmy Bain in January of this year. If you can forget that this is Dio band members, (and many rightly say that Ronnie WAS Dio) you will enjoy this album. But if, like me, you cannot get over the pedigree of the members, this is an almost painful experience.

Right off the bat let me say: THIS IS NOT A BAD ALBUM. Musically and vocally very solid, although solid doesn't translate to "classic" or "memorable", and the songwriting is excellent. Given the quality of Vivian Campbell's more recent projects, this album is a small miracle, and contains two epic anthems, lead track "The Devil in Me" and "Starmaker". In addition, the genius of the appointment of Andrew Freeman is not his ability to sound like Dio, but how he doesn't sound like the iconic frontman. Bain's performance is also outstanding, and a worthy sign-off to his storied career. The album also has enough good tracks that 12 seems unnecessary, and most of those 12 also contain some nice riffing courtesy of Campbell.

The production, however, isn't something I'm a fan of, and Appice's drums sound awfully dry, which on first listen makes the album quite listless, an issue exacerbated by its length, of around 55 minutes, and during this the only song which really grabs you by the throat is the brilliant "Starmaker", and time is wasted on tracks like the strange, ballady, "Curse the Day" and a few odd, filler-y tracks which mean the album could do with an edit. Enough good stuff here for me to be interested in a follow-up, especially with the acquisition of ex-Ozzy bassist Phil Soussan in Bain's place, sure to make for an interesting change.

In conclusion, this record is oddly iconoclastic in itself, possibly due to seemingly purposefully avoiding being too good or too bad, but scarred and distorted by the gargantuan reputation of the members. It's a record which'll never force itself onto your playlist with its brilliance, yet one which is fun to return to now and again. It does require multiple listens, as it only grew on me after two in-depth listens, and needs to be stewed on for its great moments to come out of the woodwork. But come they will, eventually, but hopefully not to late for this standing-in-the-shadow-of-Dio band, which needs some time to come into its own, I feel.