Review Summary: Killing the Dragon is a great metal album full of fantastic guitar, soaring vocals, and great lyrics. It also has some kickass cover art.
You can't be a metal fan and not know who Ronnie James Dio is. Formerly of Rainbow and Black Sabbath, Ronnie James Dio is metal. After leaving Black Sabbath due to conflict within the band, Dio formed the band
Dio. Ronnie James Dio stated that he never intended to have a solo career, just form a new band with former Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice. Dio's debut album,
Holy Diver was a huge success, and is, to this day, Dio's most famous album. Eight albums and nineteen years later, Dio released their ninth studio album,
Killing the Dragon.
Killing the Dragon is everything a good metal album should be. It's full of excellent guitar work, has lyrics about evil and monsters, and great screaming vocals. The album also has a couple things a good metal album shouldn't be though. All of these wrong things don't deal the album a huge blow, however. The album's first song is
Killing the Dragon, a good opener full of great guitar. Ronnie James Dio does a great job on the vocals and the lyrics are interesting. This song also has a fantastic solo. Then comes the shortest song on the album
Along Came a Spider. It's a step down from the previous song, but not a giant step down. The chorus could be a tiny bit more interesting but it's still a killer song.
After
Along Came A Spider comes my personal favorite on the album.
Scream. The chorus to this song is especially catchy and once again, the guitar work is mind blowing. Here's a sample of the lyrics from this song:
Scream! at the crazy ones
Scream! cause they all have sons
Scream! as they point the gun at you
Scream! at the bleeding heart
Scream! cause the end won't start
Scream! as you come apart again
That may seem like a little too many 'Screams' there, but it works in the song, I swear. Now that no one's screaming anymore, we move along to
Better in the Dark. Said song is also a very good song. It showcases the bass very well and the guitar is also awesome on this track. The lyrics talk about how someone shot out the sun because monsters always know, it's better in the dark. When this song ends, the album takes a drop in quality for a little bit.
The next two songs
Rock and Roll and
Push aren't very good.
Rock and Roll's lyrics are stupid, singing about a bunch of soldiers in a war and then switching to the topic about how they have rock and roll in the chorus. The music, however, is pretty good.
Push is a very dull song. There's really nothing else to be said about it. The next song
Guilty, though not as bad as
Push repeats the the word 'Guilty' a little too much. It doesn't work in this situation, though, like it did in
Scream.
The drop in quality finally stops for two songs.
Throw Away Children and
Before the Fall. Both are exceptional songs and a children's choir even makes an appearance in
Throw Away Children. How Ironic. The final song on the album,
Cold Feet is not that well done and is a bad way to end a good album. It does have a good solo though.
Overall,
Killing the Dragon is a great metal album. It's got fantastic guitar work and great soaring vocals. Most of the songs are great, but there are some bad ones. At least the bad ones are in one section though, so you don't have to keep hitting the skip button the whole time.
Recommended Songs
Killing The Dragon
Along Came A Spider
Scream
Before the Fall
Better In The Dark
Throw Away Children
3.5/5
