by Ed Rivadavia

After the warm reception accorded their debut, Dio decided to play it safe with their 1984 sophomore effort, The Last in Line -- with mixed results. The in-your-face energy of the band's debut is dulled by a sleeker production job, with generous keyboards from new member Claude Schnell. And Ronnie James Dio's once-amusing Dungeons and Dragons lyrics begin sounding disturbingly repetitive, with the words "rainbow," "fire," and "stone" seemingly present in every song. Cuts like "We Rock," "Breathless," and "I Speed at Night" go from good to grating surprisingly fast, and the seven-minute epic "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" inexplicably loses it's awesome main riff halfway through. The band score some points with the driving "Evil Eyes," the theatrical "One Night in the City," and the solid title track, but the intended hit single "Mystery" is simply horrible. Still, despite the obvious signs of decline, anyone who enjoyed Dio's debut will certainly find much to like here.