REVIEW: Dio – Angry Machines (1996)

DIO – Angry Machines (1996 Spitfire)

I have never liked Angry Machines.  Right from the moment it came out, to today, I do not like Angry Machines.   It’s not because I don’t like this Dio lineup.  I’m quite fond of the Strange Highways record, which features the same band (Jeff Pillson – bass, Vinny Appice – drums, Tracy G – guitars).  Given my fondness for that previous record, and the awesome cover art emblazoned upon Angry Machines, I was looking forward to this album.  Now, all these years later, even cranked to max volume it has failed to grow on me and remains my least favourite Dio album by a fair margin.

When Dio gets his hands on a treacherously slow heavy metal song, he can sometimes wring great things from it.  Angry Machines, however, is bogged down with many agonizingly slow, soundalike trudgy songs.  The opener “Institutional Man” almost resembles Born Again-era Sabbath at times for sheer slow chug, but it lacks any sort of hooks.  Ronnie is bellowing as incredibly as he always has, but he’s grasping for a melody to hang his powerful voice on.  The saving grace is a razor sharp guitar solo by Tracy G.

Thankfully “Don’t Tell the Kids” is a speed metal rocker.  I didn’t expect Ronnie to take it to Motorhead tempo, and that’s cool.  Lack of hooks is the problem again, so you’re left with little but the smoking instruments to carry you through.  MVP: Vinny Appice who has never sounded so lively!

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The disc gets stuck in the mud after “Don’t Tell the Kids”.  The atonal “Black” doesn’t do anything for me, although I do admire the stripped-back production (by Ronnie and engineer Wyn Davis).  I dig Jeff Pilson’s bass hook on “Hunter of the Heart”, and the chorus is pretty good, but the song is mostly forgettable.  Then is the slow and boring “Stay Out of My Mind”, a real snooze.  A 7-minute snooze with an extended keyboard segue!  Continuing with the mind control theme, “Big Sister” isn’t much to write home about either, except in terms of Vinny’s relentless sticks.

“Double Monday” has cool acoustic segment, very unlike typical Dio.  Unfortunately this one section does not save the song which is otherwise dreary and grating.  Up next, I enjoy the vintage groove of “Golden Rules” but again there’s not much of a song here.  Same goes for the penultimate track “Dying in America”.

You may already be familiar with the best song on Angry Machines, a piano ballad called “This is Your Life”, that was re-released on the 2014 tribute album of the same title. When I reviewed that excellent CD, I had this to say of “This is Your Life”:

Fittingly, the album ends on a ballad: Dio’s own somber “This Is Your Life”, performed by the man himself in 1996. I did not like the Angry Machines album, but if there was one song I would have picked as a highlight it would be “This Is Your Life”. Performed only by Dio and Scott Warren on piano, it is unlike anything else in Dio’s canon. The lyrics speak of mortality:  “This is your life, This is your time, What if the flame won’t last forever? This is your here, This is your now, Let it be magical.”

The always lucky Japanese fans received a bonus track with the cool title of “God Hates Heavy Metal”.  Although I am intrigued I have not been motivated enough to search it out.

2/5 stars

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16 comments

  3. Maybe God Hates Heavy Metal is on YouTube? If anything good on you fellows (Mikey and HMO ) for sticking it out even through the lean Dio years….that’s being a true fan! Myself well I bolted the Dio ship after Lock Up The Wolves album the one that featured that young kid playing a pretty good guitar on it but he kinda lost me for good after that! Still though he put out a ton of stellar stuff before hand!

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    1. I know dude, it was a struggle after Wolves. But Dio regained my loyalty after Dehumanizer so I followed him on to Strange Highways. In many respects that album is an apt followup to Dehumanizer.

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  4. But… but… it’s DIO!!! How in hell could this possibly suck? Everything I ever heard by the guy, I really liked it! I mean, 2/5? Dude, it had to hurt to type that!

    I read the thing, I understand your reasonings, but somehow this still doesn’t compute in my brain.

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  5. I have to agree here, “Angry Machines” isn’t Dio at their best. The only song that lets me take any notice of it is “Golden Rules,” the others don’t do it for me. Still, I would have given it a 2.5 as it’s not terrible.

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  7. This is a horrible record. And that guitar player, Tracy G, is CC DeVille bad. Why on earth Dio hired that guy is beyond me. I thought Strange Highways was pretty bad as well.
    I rate my albums 1 – 10 and I’d give this album 2/10.

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  8. Often revisit Mike’s reviews and readers comments and don’t think I’ve read this one before, and I gotta say while Angry Machines may arguably be DIO’s low point, even his low points reaps rewards and this is at least 5 parts fantastic!

    Don’t Tell The Kids, Hunter Of The Heart, Dying In America, the twisting turning Golden Rules and as Mike quite rightly put, the very fitting (and splendid) This Is Your Life, are all essential DIO in my books. Sure, not classic, but later-day DIO, but essential all the same. And I hate robot coverart but good music is good music :)

    It was far from instant love and probably fuelled by being starved for anything new from the man, but Angry Machines gets a thumbs up and a strong 3/5 from me \m/

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    1. 3/5 ain’t bad! I’ll give it a listen again and see if my viewpoint has changed. Perhaps I’ll have to compare to some of the later records with Doug.

      I do love robots!

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