Totally agree that Holy Diver is the best. Production is fuller, and there's not a single filler song. Seems like Last in Line has a couple songs that are a bit poppy sounding to me
Before I even watch this I just want to say that to me Dio has no bad albums. I can listen to every album and not be disappointed, thats also including his Rainbow albums, Black Sabbath albums, and ELF. That's why he remains my number 1 metal singer and band of all time.
Strange Highways, I love how heavy it is. I think Tracy G guitar tone (on this album) kick ass, the robot kind effects are crazy. Also Vinny presence it's another thing that make this album my favorite. "Evilution" and "Pain" are great songs.
"Last in line" is the very best album of Dio, no doubt. Let me tell you "We rock" is very hard to sing the way Dio does. This song also contains one of the most iconic chorus melody lines in metal/Heavy rock ever released.
Angry machines and Strange Highways were way ahead of their time. 10 years later they would have been killers! Love the records with Appice, the drumming is so good! All Dio albums are so good!
10. Angry Machines 9. Master of the Moon 8. Magica 7. Killing the Dragon 6. Strange Highways 5. Sacred Heart 4. Lock Up the Wolves 3. Dream Evil 2. The Last in Line 1. Holy Diver
I was fortunate enough to work a show for him on the Magica tour. Ronnie was a total class act, really cool guy. My Dio crew shirt is something I treasure.
Strange Highways!!! Awesome album, the sound, the riffs, everything. And most of all: Dio´s performance. He was on fire!!!! in my opinion Strange Highways should be, at least, in the Top 3. Ruthless Metal: great job man, excellent video!
Great list, you've done it again! It's nice seeing Dream Evil toward the top. I never got to see Dio's solo band play live, but I did get to see him twice with Vinny, Tony and Geezer. The world is a better place because of Dio.
Saw DIO on the Angry Machines tour and it was a pretty sparse crowd, and alot of the crowd left after Motorhead, but Dio sang and performed like he was in front of 80,000 people. It was really awesome! I will treasure those memories forever.
@@RuthlessMetalYT There's something about the guitar tone that melts my face everytime I listen to that album and I think Dio sounds amazing on it. It's a spiritual successor to Dehumanizer which is one of my favorite Sabbath albums.
But that works great! For instance, I fell in love with "Forbidden Evil" after the video, and I had not paid attention to it before. Just keep up the awesome work, man!
Great ranking list man! And my list would probably be pretty close to yours. Only difference is that Last In Line and Holy Diver would both be in my #1 spot for Dio's albums. They are both phenomenal masterpieces and deserve to be my favorites from him. And believe it or not. It is rare that I would put 2 albums in the same spot. But there is no taking them apart for me. I got to see Dio once in 2003 with Motorhead and Iron Maiden and again with Heaven & Hell, Machine Head and Megadeth in 2007. Both shows were awesome and as well as the other bands at those shows!
1) Holy Diver 2) Last in Line 3) Dream Evil 4) Sacred Heart 5) Strange Highways 6) Killing the Dragon 7) Master of the Moon 8) Lock Up the Wolves 9) Magica 10) Angry Machines
Not a huge Dio Solo or Dio Sabbath fan. I honestly thought his best work was in Rainbow. However, my fav Dio solo album is Lock up the Wolves from 1990
Nice!! Because of this video I just spent the last three hours revisiting every Dio album. Not by song either. All albums in their entirety. Many hours left and I'm looking forward to all of em. Great video man.
The most talented singer to set foot in this earth! Nice to see some love to Dream Evil. Though your top 2 are untoutchable, I allways thought Dream Evil was really close eheh Great video, cheers!
Last In Line is the first metal album I ever bought, and one of my favorite metal albums. I don't remember any filler. One of the bigger shocks of my teenage years was hearing "Hungry For Heaven" coming out of my aunt's headphones. She was listening to whatever movie's soundtrack that was part of.
Angry Machines actually has a couple of good songs on it. Listen to the song "Dy ing in America" it has a very catchy heavy main riff. Also the song "Don't tell the kids" has some thrash metal elements. The rest of the album was forgettable.
I think many complain that Dio always uses Fantasy lyrics and theres plenty of truth in that, but when he goes for something different these people also complain. 😁
You’re right in that even his weaker albums have some great stuff. The Angry Machines songs on Inferno: Last in Live are better than the studio versions. Strange Highways took awhile to grow on me but I love it now.
I agree. The first 3 albums with the original line-up. Other great singers I have to mention are Mike Kiske from Helloween and Joakim Cans from Hammerfall
I ever so slightly prefer Ozzy era Black Sabbath over Dio era. But when comparing their solo careers, Dio has the more solid and consistent high quality. Dio is also the better technical singer, which even Ozzy admits.
Check out 'The Rageaholic' Razorfist's channel. He did an ACCEPT video. He does a lot of stuff on music, gaming, movies and his political rants are freaking fantastic.
I also prefer Last in Line over Holy Diver, maybe cos Holy Diver gets so much love while L.I.L. often gets overshadowed by H.D. But I'd bump Killing the Dragon & Master of the Moon into my top 5. They also happen to have the best album covers in my opinion, I mean just look at them, they are so metal that Manowar should blush ;) ...Speaking of which, you should absolutely do a Manowar list soon \m/
Good list! Can't argue with the rankings although there will be many who will rank Holy Diver over Last In Line. I agree Dream Evil was criminally overlooked at the time but by 1987 Dio was sadly seen as too 'old school' and the kids wanted new fresher, faster and heavier stuff to namecheck to their mates.
Greatest metal singer of all time! Also one of the greatest bands ever. Rainbow is fantastic too. These are some great ranking lists. Just out of curiosity, would ever do a ranking of the Blue Öyster Cult albums?
Is always difficult to talk about Dio. For me, along with rob halford, he is the god of singing in metal. And i don’t put it to the past because he still is, even after years of his death. I cannot say that i disagree with the list, but probably my favorite album is dream evil. As you say, it has some dark heavy metal songs like “night people”, but also incredible heavy ballads like “all the fools sail away”, “naked in the rain”, etc. Dio sings with energy and passion like i never see before, give me chills every time i heard the songs. It’s one of the albuns of my life.
Best singer of alltime period. Damn this is a Hard list to make 1 Holy Diver 2 Last In Line 3 Dream Evil 4 Sacred Heart 5 Strange Highways 6 Magica 7 Killing The Dragon 8 Angry Machines 9 Lock Up The Wolves 10 Master Of The Moon
Totally agree with this ranking, tho my favourite between Holy Diver and Last In Line changes every week lol.. The best Rock /Metal ever, still sorely missed today! 💔🤘
Okay, you definitely surprised me with your list. Of course, most of us would put "Holy Diver" as number 1 (I do) but we all have our own tastes and it shows how diverse metal fans are. Great list!
I noticed you reply to every comment even the recent ones, so before the actual comment, just wanted to say that's really cool of you. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I got into metal somewhat recently and your Rank 'Em All series has been helping me discover bands and their albuns. I can sort of tell which albuns I will enjoy based on your short but eficient descriptions, so this series sort of makes my metal experience much better. I will definitely be checking out some Dio albuns now. Thanks for making Rank 'Em All and keep up the good work! \m/
Thank you for your dedicated work, sire. I know I am late to the party, but I´d like to throw my two cents in. First, there is no such thing as a bad Dio album - I prefer the terminus "slightly not as marvelous" for some of them. Second, Dream Evil does rarely get the love it deserves, so I am glad that it emerges on #3. I saw Dio first time on the ill-fated European leg of the DE tour, and this turned me to a 100% fan. Third, your ranking is pretty solid, I´d only put Strange Highways some steps up, Magica and Killing the Dragon down. And I am sorry for Angry Machines... so it´s not the worst album by RJD, he just recorded nine better ones. Cheers, and Up the Horns.
@@RuthlessMetalYT Counting the bands you ranked, the only other I listened to was Metallica, I prefer progressive Metal with bands such as Opeth, Katatonia, early Anathema and Dream Theater
it's been almost 11 years since Ronnie passed away. never forgotten. for me I'll start with the worst Magica I never liked the concept angry machines I agree it wasn't that great either master of the moon it was heavy but the songs weren't interesting for me strange highways with Jeff pilson kinda disappointed lock up the wolves it was heavy with yhe new guitarist he got Dream evil is awesome sacred heart Vivian Campbell's last album with dio Last in line rivals Holy Diver in my opinion but I feel it came out too soon after Holy diver 1 Holy diver will always be his masterpiece. I didn't mention killing the dragon because I haven't listened to it. yet
Great list Ruthless! Nearly the same as I had in my mind. 1. Holy Diver (though Last in Line is about equal) 2. Last in Line 3. Dream Evil 4. Sacred Heart 5. Magica 6. Lock up the Wolves 7. Killing the Dragon 8. Master of the Moon 9. Strange Highways 10. Angry Machines Btw give us a Manowar list!
Usually when someone mentions a metal band's keyboardist, that alone is a bad sign. But not with Ronnie James Dio! He could have a xylophone player in his band and still rock hard!
I might be in the minority, but I always loved Magica more than most Dio albums. I would put it in my top 3 behind The Last In Line and Holy Diver. I probably listen to the song Turn To Stone more than any other Dio track.
A very hard ranking. Great job doing that, I can't imagine the difficulty. I completely agree with the top 5. Those are solid albums. The rest is hard to rank. If I could lump them all in #6 position then that's where they would stay. Keep doing the great work.
Ruthless Metal Ranking Machine!! You're on fire!!! 3 in a row ?! You rule!! I just love to dig in the discographies of bands I only knew from their 2-3 first albums... Nuclear assault, Exciter... I simply played your suggestions from each album and discovered great, and not so great moments from each bands you ranked; some albums I had neglected over the years and some I simply forgot... Now, I'm hoping you consider the german band "Rage" classic enough to rank them... and what about W.A.S.P? To me they're more "metal" than "hard rock"; whadaya think?
@@RuthlessMetalYT Then you've got something very interresting to discover; You might want to try the albums "Trapped", "The Missing Link", Black in Mind", "end of all days" "13" and "Unity". If you don't like those, that means it ain't for you since these albums are in my opinion the very best ones. Their 2nd and 3rd ones are the "classics" but I think you probably know those (Execution/Perfect Man). Rock on, Ranking Machine! ;-)
Here's my list, more or less, as most titles might shift a bit depending on the day for me. 01 Holy Diver 02 The Last In Line 03 Magica 04 Dream Evil 05 Sacred Heart 06 Lock Up The Wolves 07 Master Of The Moon 08 Strange Highways 09 Killing The Dragon 10 Angry Machines
Great video! DIO is my all time favourite singer. My ranking is: Holy Diver The Last in Line Dream Evil Lock Up The Wolves Magica Sacred Heart Master of the Moon Killing The Dragon Angry Machines Strange Highways
I totally agree with your review of Dio albums, yes some of the lyrics were a bit suspect but what a voice. I met him in Maida Vale In London back in 1998 and he was a total gentleman. RIP Ronnie James Dio.
Killing the dragon was my first Dio solo album after getting Black Sabbath Heaven and hell. I still love it and the evil or divine dvd that came out in that time. Very upbeat and good songs. Glad to see it and lock up the wolves get some love here. I would actually move strange highways up the list and sacred heart down the list otherwise.
Now that I've seen you're list, good choices can't do no wrong with Dios discography. My rankings 1. Master of the Moon 2. Holy Diver 3. Last in Line 4. Strange Highways 5. Dream Evil 6. Killing the Dragon 7. Sacred Heart 8. Angry Machines 9. Lock up the Wolves 10. Magica
What a fantastic discography, I personally don't think there are any bad Dio albums. Here's my personal ranking: 1. Dream Evil 2. The Last in Line 3. Holy Diver 4. Strange Highways 5. Sacred Heart 6. Magica 7. Lock Up the Wolves 8. Killing the Dragon 9. Master of the Moon 10. Angry Machines
This was cool. Thanks. Only saw Dio once; New Year's Eve in December of 1985. TKO, and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force were the opening acts. Felt sorry for the keyboardist. We were to the left of the stage; great seats, but we were also able to see behind the curtain. The keygoardist, Claude Schnell (?), performed his heart out, but almost no one saw him. I'd seen Deep Purple earlier that year, and it was so different to see how revered Jon Lord was, while Schnell was almost a liability.
I still love all these albums, but gun to my head ranking: 1. Master of the Moon 2. Holy Diver 3. Sacred Heart 4. Strange Highways 5. Last in Line 6. Killing the Dragon 7. Dream Evil 8. Lock up the Wolves 9. Angry Machines 10. Magica
Lock up the wolves Is my favorite Dio album . I think it's his most bluesy album and it was cool seeing a young Rowan Robertson up there just a couple years older then me tearing it up .
Great ! From awhile ago but nice to see. I bought Holy Diver new and loved it but didn't get into anything else for years. 10 or 15 years ago i see Last In Line on used vinyl for like $3.00 and figured I could learn the title track after just going from memory. Did that to a degree. Can't recall much else. I need to fix that.
Me personally, I would've bumped up Killing the Dragon and Magica up to 3 and 4 and dropped Dream Evil to 5th. Also I have to disagree with the statement about Dio being at their low point during Killing the Dragon. Although Dio never regained it's popularity from the early 80's, they were in the middle of a resurgence that was started with the previous album Magica. They were playing larger venues at this time and were frequent guest performers on Maiden tours.
