Produced by Ronnie James Dio
Released: 2005
Ronnie James Dio is an undisputed master of heavy metal music and such an important figure in its development and sound that it's difficult to imagine what metal would be like without him. Nonetheless, much of his work from the last decade and a half has been less than stellar and I often find myself wondering if he hasn't stuck around just a bit too long (that said, his performance on the Heaven and Hell album from last year is incredible). No better example of this exists than this album, a CD version of a DVD release from two years before.
Evil or Divine: Live in New York would have to be one of the most uninspired “live” albums I’ve ever had the displeasure of hearing. Dio sounds every bit like a man in his 60s and the rest of the band offers a phoned-in performance that does little to generate much enthusiasm for what is essentially a classic batch of songs that deserve much better. I will admit that it starts off ok but about a third of the way through it just loses direction. The riff from “Man on the Silver Mountain” sounds a million years old now and then Doug Aldrich takes a ridiculously painful nine-minute guitar solo that almost made my brain explode. After that, anything would be better but most of Dio’s songs have sounded dated since 1992 and this is nothing but proof of that. Neither evil nor divine, this is merely boring and awful, and at 79 minutes, seemingly endless.
Dio should have stopped making heavy metal records after Angry Machines and gone into a quiet semi-retirement like his old friend Ritchie Blackmore. It’s not as if he wouldn’t be able to afford it.
- Killing the Dragon
- Egypt/Children of the Sea
- Push
- Stand Up and Shout
- Rock and Roll
- Don't Talk to Strangers
- Man on the Silver Mountain
- Guitar solo
- Long Live Rock and Roll
- Fever Dreams
- Holy Diver
- Heaven and Hell
- The Last in Line
- Rainbow in the Dark
- We Rock
Rating: 15%
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