It's hard to believe it's been over two and a half years since one of the most iconic names in the hard rock/ heavy metal industry was taken from us... Ronnie James Dio. It still almost feels like I lost a friend even after all this time as I spent many MANY nights of my life listening to his music, attending his concerts and even speaking with him personally for interviews from time to time.. But thankfully his legend will live on for generations and generations to come through his music and it's compilations like the newly released "The Very Beast of DIO (Vol. 2)" which will help him do just that and keep him where he belongs... in the spotlight as a golden legend forever.
"The Very Beast of DIO (Vol. 2)" picks up right where 2000's "Volume 1" left off encompassing works between the years 1996 up until his death in 2010. While you won't hear timeless DIO classics like "Holy Diver," "The Last In Line" or "Rainbow In The Dark" on this one, I really feel they went out of their way to include "most" of his best songs from this time period clearly representing the very best of what those releases had to offer.
As most DIO fans will agree, the last three DIO releases were all quality recordings... "Magica" and "Killing The Dragon" especially. Both of which are prominently represented by four tacks from each: "Better In The Dark," the eerie "Along Comes A Spider," the killer title track and one of my favorite DIO tracks from that era "Push" all from "Killing The Dragon" and "Feed My Head," "The Lord of The Last Day," "Fever Dreams," and "As Long As It's Not About Love" all from "Magica." I think my biggest peeve with the inclusion of the "Magica" tracks is that "Magica," as well as being a "concept album," is one of those rare releases... not unlike PINK FLOYD's "The Wall" or QUEENSRYCHE's "Operation:Mindcrime"... where I find it tough to just listen to scattered tracks... I WANT TO HEAR THE WHOLE THING! But as I said, they definitely did a good job in picking out the songs which best represented the release... although I must admit I DID have to pop in my full version of "Magica" shortly after just to relive the entire experience again.
In addition, "The Very Beast of DIO (Vol. 2)" also includes three tracks from the band's last studio release "Master of the Moon:" "One More For The Road," "Shivers" and "The Eyes" in addition to "The Prisoner of Paradise" which was only available as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the release. And finally, from the moderately received 1996 release "Angry Machines" the CD includes "This is Your Life" and "Black" as well as a "live" version of "Hunter of The Heart" taken from 1998's "Inferno- The Last In Live."
What's REALLY gonna sell this release to all you DIO die-hards out there is the inclusion of the song "Electra" which was only previously available on the limited to 1500 DIO box set "Tournado." This epic track was meant to be included on "Magica II" and part of Ronnie's vision of a three-part "Magica" trilogy which will sadly now never come to life. And lastly, there is the inclusion of "Metal Will Never Die," Ronnie's last studio recording prior to his death released on his cousin David Rock Feinstein's "Bitten By The Beast."
As a whole, DIO's latest compilation "The Very Beast of DIO (Vol. 2)" delivers and succeeds in representing some of the best material from the latter stages of Ronnie James Dio's immortal career. And while (and as with most compilations) we could sit here for HOURS arguing back and forth about what should have been included and what shouldn't have, when it comes to DIO it's much easier to just sit back, enjoy, remember and appreciate his divine gift he shared with all of us. "Lots of Magic... ROCK 'N ROLL!" | 
