Album Review: Dream Child - Until Death Do We Meet Again

Ronnie James Dio's death left a gaping hole in the metal world. We might not have realized it at the time, but there was no lder statesman who could fit into his role as the powerful overlord of our music. But rather than let things evolve as they saw fit, we have been saddled with a development that is quite sad. A hologram of Dio is out 'performing', sullying his legacy, while the various members of his band have decided to try to recreate the glory of the past. I could be cynical and say it's because they know they have no careers of their own at this point, and still need Dio's name to garner any attention. Ok, I am cynical, and that's exactly what has happened. Vivian Campbell gathered up half of them for his 'real' version of Dio (minus the man himself), while this band features Craig Goldy and company doing their damnedest to clone the original.

What makes this group stand out is Diego Valdez, who takes up the mantle by being about as good a clone of Dio as I've ever heard. If the recording wasn't so much cleaner than what was done at the time, you could easily mistake him and this record for the follow-up to "Dream Evil".

While a lot of people will hear that and scream in delight, I am not one of them. Regardless of the quality of the music, I find it troubling to hear these veterans spend so much of their energy making a record that doesn't have a single drop of originality to it. This record is a copy, perhaps a loving one, but a copy nonetheless. Opening "Under The Wire" even has the right pacing and vocal line to sound exactly like a cut from "Master Of The Moon". Now, I like that album a lot more than most Dio fans do, but I don't need or want to hear it again.

But what of the music? That's where we can take a more positive tact. I have made no secrets of the fact that both Viv and Goldy have done absolutely nothing without Dio that I have ever liked. I didn't like Viv's Dio tribute, or his blues band, and Goldy's last effort was flat and lifeless. So put in that context, Dream Child is the best album either of them has made on their own, perhaps ever.

Yes, it sounds just like Dio, and borrows quite a bit from his bag of songwriting tricks, but that's also what makes it work. There's a level of familiarity to these songs already that makes it hard to hate them, no matter what you feel about the project on a philosophical level. But be warned; this is Dio in the "Master Of The Moon" mold, not the early days. It's stomping and restrained, not speedy. That approach fit where Dio was in his later years, and it sounds much fresher here than a recreation of "Holy Diver" would. That sound was purely of the 80s, whereas this record is a nostalgia trip that doesn't sound as dated.

While there is a lot to enjoy here, there are two big drawbacks. One is the length, as these dozen songs regularly top five minutes, meaning you've got more than an hour of music here. The other is the inevitable comparison to the Dio band, because the tribute is so glaring and obvious. By doing everything they can to remind you they were part of Dio's band, all they have really done is remind us of the records they made with the man, which let's be honest, are all better than this one.

There have been a lot of tributes to Dio since his passing, and I have no hesitation in saying Dream Child might be the best of them all. For Dio-style heavy metal, it's done exceptionally well. These guys learned from the master himself how to write this kind of music, and that shows. If the vocals were his, this would be a perfectly solid late-era Dio album. So in that respect, Dream Child is a success. This isn't a case of ripping people off to watch a cartoon, or a band as a tribute from someone who hated Dio's guts. This is an act of love, and it's hard to judge something like that. Maybe we should just take it for what it is.