Dio Evil

Ronnie James Dio assembled a new version of Dio for Lock Up the Wolves, to no apparent change in the band's sound. Nevertheless, the group's status in the metal community was beginning to slip, and the album was the lowest-charting Dio record apart from the live Intermission.

Break out the ouija board and extra-hold hair spray – because Stand Up and Shout puts you front row center to Ronnie James Dio's illustrious career. A mighty two-and-a-half-hour surge of molten metal, Stand Up and Shout begins with the classic rock/Stones-y blues-rock of Elf and makes a headlong voyage into his now infamous stints as lead vocalist of Black Sabbath and Rainbow before making a right-hand turn into one of metal's most successful solo careers…

There's something about a post-millennium album cover that features a giant blue-horned minion of Satan in pre-pounce with an illuminated crystal ball in its leathery hand that simply warms the soul, and the fact that it adorns a record called Master of the Moon can mean only one thing: Dio. Unlike many in the aging metal community, Ronnie James Dio still possesses the same powerful voice that fueled the genre through its late-'70s and '80s heydays, and the reigning dark prince of Elfdom and two-time Black Sabbath frontman is still capable of writing a killer song or two. MOTM resembles earlier works like Last in Line and Sacred Heart in its ability to buffer those one or two great tracks with seven or eight forgettable ones…