~KILLING THE DRAGON~Discussion

[Holymagica]

Released May 21, 2002
Cd Track Listing
Killing The Dragon
Along Came A Spider
Scream
Better In The Dark
Rock And Roll
Push
Guilty
Throwaway Children
Before The Fall
Cold Feet
The "Limited Tour Edition" came in a slipcase with poster and added two bonus tracks :
"Fever Dreams (Live)"
"Rainbow in the Dark (Live)"
The bonus tracks are Ronnie James Dio performing live with Deep Purple and first appeared on Deep Purple's 2001 album Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy.

Band
Ronnie James Dio – vocals
Doug Aldrich – guitar
Jimmy Bain – bass, keyboards
Simon Wright – drums
Scott Warren – keyboards

[Angelic Storm]

I thought this album was a real return to form. I found "Angry Machines" and "Magica" to be very patchy albums. "Killing The Dragon" was Dio going back to doing what he does best, and just rocking out with some blazing classic rock/metal songs. "Better
In The Dark" and "Before The Fall" are great shots of bone crushing rock n' roll. The title track and "Push" are total classics, and "Guilty" is another fave of mine from this album. It's a very 80's sounding album, and it contains many great tunes. 2 or 3 songs arent as great as the rest, but for the most part, this is a really awesome slab of classic metal, and is one of my fave Dio albums. I absolutely love it! \m/

[olivious the drummer]

I love this album!

I felt this album was a 'relaunch' for Dio the band, a more straight forward rock n roll album. It hooked my wife and my children who up to that point were not particularily big Dio fans so I would say it was a more accessible album for many (although I know many felt it a bit 'light' for Dio.

Killing the Dragon and Along came a spider are my fav tracks of this album.
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[Holymagica]

olivious the drummer
Having a wee dig at me...with the ''light''comment,thats cool, I have loads of respect for Doug Aldrich for loads of different reasons.First I must say, this cd is good but as a personal preference its not a cd , I listen to alot,nothing wrong with songs or the way Doug Aldrich plays becoz I have seen him give amazing performance for Whitesnake and Dio.
Its just the tone and sound...I just don't dig it.
Its like having a good malt and either adding maybe water or soda, its what you like for your own personal taste.
My favourite guitarists are Schenker, Blackmore, Goldy, Marsden and Sykes all becoz of their sound and tone more than anything, I also add to this list Youngblood from Kamelot and Ericson from Draconian.I have listened to Craig Goldy for so long that I know what he would delivered on KTD if he had recorded it
And thats really hard for me to accept.
Some folks like the sound of a Ferrari, others like the sound of a Lamborghini.

[olivious the drummer]

LOL! No dig intended my friend..........I have had many people who have said that about this album. But to be honest I think thats probably why I really like it - its a simple album.

I happen to really like the tone that Doug has.......really quite a classic strat or les paul sound.
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[metalgod77]

I've been digging into the back catalog a bit and really like Doug's guitar tone on this CD.
I've been playing for about 25 years now and have really come to have a "more is less" attitude toward guitar tone and really love his "natural" guitar tone on KTD.
Just a Les Paul through a hi-gain tube amp, cranked up loud as hell!!!
I can't help think about what holymagica said though, Craig would've torn this CD a new one if he played on it.
He's my favorite Dio guitar player because of Dream Evil alone.

[Angelic Storm]

Hmm...I really love Doug Aldrich's playing on this one. For sure, if Craig had played on it, the solos would have had more warmth, and elegance about them. But Doug's electrifying soloing on this album is a decent substitute. Also, it gives the album more of that unique quality, something that many of DIO's other albums had. Craig would have made the songs have a much more familiar feel, so in terms of giving the album a uniqueness, Im glad that Doug played on it. Although it'd have been awesome to hear Craig soloing on a lot of these songs!

[fiddlequeen07]

I was thoroughly impressed by Doug Aldrich both on this album and on the only live DIO concert I have seen, which is the DVD of Holy Diver LIVE. He is a superb guitarist, and I really do love his style of playing...very crunchy, heavy rock.

That said, Killing The Dragon is one of my least favorite of the DIO albums. I really like the sound, and I really like all the songs, but to me it just lacks the "magic" of the other DIO stuff. I think for me it is just a little too "real" and not quite as much fantasy as some of the other albums.

Still, I was totally excited to see the music video for Push and to get my KTD screen saver from the disc. And it's hard to beat those live bonus tracks. I really like this album, and I think it is of the same high quality and expert musicianship of the other albums; it's just not among my favorites.

My favorite tracks are Killing the Dragon, Guilty, Before the Fall, and Cold Feet. I really love the bass in Better in the Dark.
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"You'll never make me be like you. I'm Master of the Moon!"

[richierich]

I really like this one - Doug had been kind of a cult figure in the 90s in a lot of the melodic rock magazines / websites, and the general feelnig was that he was a great guitarist who never got the breaks (in bands like Lion and Burning Rain), so when he got the Dio gig, it was great to see him doing well. Although at the same time, I was disappointed that Craig had to leave, as I've always loved his playing. In fact, I saw the band supporting Alice Cooper at Wembley Arena in 2001, and they were on fire! (line up was RJD, CG, Jimmy Bain, Simon Wright and Scott Warren).

Punchy songs which are thoughtfully arranged, excellent playing, singing and lyrics .

Does anyone else remember the excitement on sites like Blabbermouth when the album cracked the Billboard top 200? After the wilderness years of grunge and nu metal, one of OUR bands had come back and made an impact, lol!
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[adiszul]

old style album, songs like Scream, Guilty or Push are brillant, good continuation of magica...I LOVE DOUG'S STYLE OF PLAYING
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[Iommi]

KTD is a really good album. But IMO both Magica and Master of the moon is more consistent overall.

[Lady of Armageddon]

Excellent album.

What I like about it is despite having been released in - 2002, was it? - it really had that 80's feel to it. And, IMO, that's a good thing.

On that note, "Throw Away Children" is the true stand out on that album. It just has this really dark, haunting feel to it.

"Killing the Dragon" itself is also an amazing song. Really energetic. Between those two songs, we really get a taste of what Dio can do.
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[PowerKnight]

Not a bad album but to my mind a little average at times, brilliant title track, again I would have prefered if Craig had appeared on this album. Doug was excellent but I don`t think he really hit it off that well on the songwriting capabilities. A nice groove and sound and style on this one. PowerKnight
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Escaped From The Castle
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The PowerKnight Legacy
A Dio Disciple And A Blackmore Knight

[PinkLedRushDio]

Quickly becoming one of my favorite albums, if not my favorite. Every track is very strong, my favorite being Rock & Roll, I have that one stuck in my head all the time. And everytime I listen to Push I can't help think of the video with Tenacious D. " This is for you... if you play some Tenacious D!"
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Voodoo!