Customer Reviews

Angry Machines

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ahh, Angry Machines (1996), the album that is widely regarded to be at the bottom of the Dio barrel. This was the last studio album I needed to finish my Dio collection a little over two years ago; I had held off buying it for as long as possible as a result of the reviews, however it is just not possible to say no to Dio, so I plunked down the $15 to order up a brand new copy.

Imagine my surprise on my first listen when I found myself enjoying the album. I had prepared myself to be bummed out by the album, but what I found is that it is actually worth listening to (which at times is more then I can say about 90% of Lock up the Wolves.) I find Strange Highways to be one of Dio's stronger works, and while this is not necessarily the best way to follow it up, it certainly isn't the worst.

In fact, just looking at the lyrics, it's easy to see Dio has actually progressed, embraced the 90's, and tried something new. Granted, the lyrics are still laced with Dioisms ("another burning by the devil") they still are a cut above, I would say, most of the Dio solo lyrics, and frankly, just about all the lyrics that followed this album (Magica - terrible, Killing the Dragon - embarassing, Master of the Moon - we're getting better, sorta). Of course, lyrics are not really a Dio srongsuit - his strength lies in songwriting.

Unfortunately for Angry Machines, its major weakness is it's songwriting. To be sure, there are some good songs here, but most are average, or worse. They suffer from odd arrangements, poor mixes, and a general sense of "What the hell is going on here?"

The album kicks off with "Institutional Man", which is actually a damn good song. It starts with a thudding Tracy G riff (with some eerie clean work in the background.) Dio sounds as creepy as ever here. In fact, this song really evokes some darkness from Dio - and he sometimes actually sounds like he is insane. I like Tracy G's work here a lot. Pounding riffs, thudding riffs, and frantic solos lay the foundation for a track that sounds incredibly out of place with 95% of Dio's catalog.

"Don't Tell The Kids" starts of great. Vinnie actually realizes he has feet, and G kicks in with a rockin' riff. This song is fast and furious. I don't really care for the voice (I hate to say it, but Dio is the weakest linke here...) - that said, it's still not bad. The rest of the song never matches up to the intro. Unfortunately this song is forgettable. We started off great, but we're losing steam already... does "Black" pick things back up? Sorta. I like the riffing here, but I don't like the Dio... he's just not cut out for screaming. That said, this song isn't all bad... but still, it's not moving the album forward enough.

Fortunately "Hunter of the Heart", with a slick little bass intro, kicks the proceedings back up a notch. I love the main riff in this song. This is a good song, but suffers from the production. Listen to the live version of this song on Last in Live - much better. That's due to the mix. It just lacks teeth here.

"Stay Out Of My Mind" is the longest song here, clocking in at 7:11 (no, really). I like this song too. Good intro, good chorus (Dio's doin' nice here). It is a bit too long though. "Big Sister" is weird. The last song evoked some 1984's sentiments, and this sorta does in its title. I like the keyboards on this song. They add a nice touch, without going overboard. I don't like the chorus on this track though.

"Double Monday" is a short, fast-paced tune. I can't say I really like it, but it's pretty good (I think the title is pretty stupid though...)

The last three songs represent the highlight of the album for me. We start off with "Golden Rules". I love this song. It's a mid-tempo rocker. Dio sounds good here, so does G. Then we have "Dying In America" - another good one. Maybe even the best song of the album. Starts of slow and quiet and builds from there. I think this song captures the overall style Dio was shooting for with this album. It really works here. Dio modernizes his sound and maintains the songwriting.

"This Is Your Life" sounds nothing like the rest of the album. It's extremely out of place. On this song we find Dio backed by piano. It's overly dramatic, features some damn good vocals from Dio, and, well hell, is damn good. The lyrics drip with Dioisms, but who cares, the words just SOUND good coming from Dio. There's also some synths that add another layer of acessibility to the song. Props to Dio on this song

Overall, I find Angry Machines to be a misguided effort. Dio's worst? No. Best? No. A little help in the production and songwriting departments would've gone a long way to making this album better. I think if Dio would've worked at it, and taken the best elements of Dehumanizer, Strange Highways, and Angry Machines he could've had an awesome album on his hands. Unfortunately after Angry Machines, he regressed back into slow, overly keyboardic, fantasy, diatribe.

Angry Machines is not a hit with Dio fans, you'll be reading quite a bit of that here. I'm not about to tell you to go out and buy it coz you just might not care for it yourself. Majority rules, right? I'm just telling my Angry Machines tale. I like it, yessiree Bob, I do! Most are pointing out that this album moves very slow. That is true, but doesn't Killing The Dragon? Magica? Dio has had some up tempo songs throughout his career, but usually his songs are a bit on the mid-paced/slower side. Angry Machines is no exception to that rule though the guitars are a little more on the heavier side, making this sound a little like a cd full of Dehumanizer tunes minus the faster ones. Ironically enough this cd has probably one of the fastest(if not the fastest) Dio songs I've ever heard(Don't Tell The Kids). I figure most folks don't like this coz of the heavier sound and slower pacing. I can't say I agree with people saying that Dio was going for a more modern sound with this one. Like Dio's suddenly gonna win over all the Linkin Park fans out there. Heavier for sure, but I don't think Dio was going for a chart topping album here. Besides, this is Dio. He's the oldest and most respected metal singer in history, he's paid his dues time and again. I'd think the guy's earned the right to put out just about anything he damn well pleases. Not that he would, but I wouldn't give the guy grief if he put out a rap album(that would be weird!). I was like most people when I first heard this-I thought it was boring. In fact I thought it was boring the next two times I listened to it. Persistence paid off however and I realized that I really liked this. Took quite a few listens, but I can now identify one song from another and I like it quite a bit. Appice's drumming is very good here(not that anyone cares coz we don't listen to Dio for the drumming) and Dio's singing is.....Dio's singing. So in closing, I'm not saying to run out and buy Angry Machines, but at least give it the time of day. Dio deserves it, doesn't he?

Whan you're a Dio fan you have to expect a number of things. Lyrics of medieval fantasy and mystic variety, repatition of curtain phrases from past albums such as Rainbow's, eyes and my all time favourite line Digital Dreams. But the main point to this, is that as Dio fans, you come to expect constantly altinating line-up's and album styles. It is this reason that I consider Angry Machines to be nothing more than a triumph.
If you have a day with nothing to do and you own all or nearly all of Dio's albums I recomend that you listen to them all back to back in order and you will hear how his sound has changed and progressed since Holy Diver.
The album itself is yet more proof that Ronnie refuses to be tied down to one style of music. I am fed up of hearing people say "I'm Dio's biggest fan but every album after Last in Line is crap." If they were truely Dio fans then they would recognise the greatness of albums such as Dream Evil, Strange Highways and my personal favourite Lock up the Wolves.
Angry Machines is a heavier album even than Strange Highways and it does not exactly have what people would consider 'structured' songs. The songs convay the exact feeling of the album, its angry, careless attitude is brought out perfectly in songs like Stay Out of My Mind. The album thunders along becoming steadily angrier until it seems that Dio has exausted all his rage and ends the album with the beautiful track This is Your Life. This consists only of a piano and Ronnie singing some of the most powerful lyrics I have ever heard. this is the best song of the album along with Hunter of the Heart.
If you're one of those 'so-called' Dio fans who hate everything that doesn't start with 'Holy' and end with 'Diver' then it's pointless you even buying it. but for you real fans of the greatest band and the greatest singer of all time, then if you buy this album you will be treated to a album of character and power.

Dio Rocks. It's a fact.

When I heard this album for the first time, I didn't thought so bad about it. I see all these bad reviews here saying this is even worser then Strange highways, but I didn't thought so then. But when I listened to it more, the album started to annoy me. Some songs are really annoying. These songs are Golden Rules, Dying In America and Big Sister. These songs got into my head, and it took a long time getting them out. The first 4 songs are pretty good. After those 4 good song you get Stay out of My Mind. I don't like the song because of the irritating long keyboard play. Other good songs are Double Monday and This is Your Life. The rest is very bad. And very irritating and annoying too! I hope Dio will never make an album like this again. This is Dio's weakest album, even weaker then Strange highways. I only recommend this to you if you are a diehard Dio fan. If you're new with Dio, you should begin with Holy Diver! I hope this review was helpful to you...

I love this album, as of all of Dio's, sure its heavier, but is great, has great riffs, keys, bass, and of course drums, i didnt think institutional man should have been the opened song for the band though eithr, though i like the song, but u need something speedy for a dio opening, dont tell the kids, love how it opens with the drums, and all othr tracs rock, great lyrics as usual, and at the end song this is your life, wow what a great song, so powerful and poignant, but if u love dio u need to get this album its really good, it might sound alittle diffrnt maybe even heavier, but it is fine dio, just take time and get the feel of it

Angry Machines is Dio's 2nd attempt to break his trusted dragons n such routine. It's different than any other Dio album to date. There are few if any references to dragons or Hell on this album. The lyrics include references to real world things like divorce, greed, government and AIDS. That's a strange thing for Dio since he's relied heavily on the usual medieval metaphors. Dio's voice is exceptionally strong and his phrasing is more imaginative than usual. Along with different lyrics, this may all be due to one thing: Tracy Grijalva.

This album features Tracy Grijalva on guitar. Tracy G. seems to opt for a more distorted and un-melodic sound. Whereas Craig Goldy seems to prefer a more traditional Sabbath like guitar sound, Tracy's playing seems deliberately un-catchy at points. Many of his riffs seem inverted or played backwards. He's making a very obvious effort to avoid 80's metal riffs and it just works here. The band seems harder, tighter and more active having to keep up with Tracy and Jeff Pilson (Dokken) on bass. This is an Angry album. The pace is much faster than usual and there's even a couple of "singles" here. I must admit that the album took a little getting used to, but now it's one of my favorite Dio albums. Dio's next cd, Inferno: Last In Live also features Tracy G. and since he's long gone from the band, I'm happy I own it. That's another story though...

I'll agree with other reviewers, this album is indeed one of Dio's heaviest. But that doesn't save it, nor excuse it, from not having one interesting or inspired song. Maybe I need to give it a few more listens for it to grow on me, but at the first few listens, I've found that most of the songs are obnoxious, to say the least, slow-paced and just go nowhere exciting (think Sabbath-meets-some-bad-self-indulgent-progressive-metal-band).

I blame not Dio, but the attitudes of many newer artists in the 90's, making older musicians feel like the way they'd been doing things for the longest time was suddenly tragically "uncool", "outdated", "tired", and the dagger-through-the-heart of all write-offs --- "80's". Alot of bands were at their worst in this period not because of those reasons, but because they believed it and felt they had to experiment and find a new way to rock amidst changing times (Metallica, anyone?). So we're left with albums like Angry Machines, and we find Dio a little out of place in a different sound that doesn't suit him one bit. I, as I'm sure many other fans appreciate changes in the weather, but as long as they're agreeable with the artist. Dio has always had his own sound, and this was a little TOO different. No wonder he took a 4-year pause before returning to classic form with Magica. Truly hardcore Dio fans will no doubt find something other than heavy sound and decent guitar work salvageable in this experimental mess, maybe even a reason to give it 5 stars and call it a masterpiece. For everyone else, skip this and get Magica or Killing the Dragon.

On "Angry machine", Dio is mainly going for the heavy (and slow), sometimes rather similar to the style on "Strange highway". Of course, Ronnie James Dio is a great singer and that is what saves many of the songs on this uneven effort. Everything isn't slow and heavy - there's a couple of speedy songs included and they are absolutely the better ones. This album doesn't have any song with so called hit potential, like "Rainbow in the dark", but it contains a more or less traditional ballad, "This is your life" (something Dio hasn't done since the Rainbow days) on which Dio is singing beautifully. Dedicated Dio fans will certainly find pleasure in this album, but the casual listener should get "Holy diver", "The last in line" or "Killing the dragon" instead.

this album is not as bad as people say. it may not sound like the dio that we are used to, but that does not make it a bad album. although there are many obscure and often confusing time signature changes, this does not prevent angry machines from being a good dio album. i own all of dio's solo albums, and there is no such thing as a bad dio cd.

Thank god this cd was re-issued. I am a long time Dio fan, however, I just never got around to picking it up when it was originally released. When I did go hunting for it, I discovered it had been deleted, I was bummed, it was the only Dio album I needed to complete my Dio collection...Now, a year later, his new label Spitfire has re-issued it. This cd was a LONG breath of fresh air to me. I even like it better than his latest achievement "Magica!" I've heard horror stories about the songs "Institutional Man" and "Stay Out Of My Mind" being downers on the album...In my opinion, those are two of my favorites. Dio obviously changed his musical direction somewhat to explore new metal ground with this album but it is in no way shape or form industrial, I think people get on that kick from the title of the album alone. Tracy G is an absolute sensation on guitars, check out the crunch of "Black" and "Dying In America"! Hear how Jeff Pilson miracously ties his bassline in with Tracy on the album's peak "Hunter Of The Heart." The lyrics also deserve high praise on this album, "Don't Tell The Kids" and "Big Sister" are real lyrical treats here. Don't listen to the narrow-minded fans of 'Holy Diver' and 'Last In Line' alone, those are great albums and will stand the test of time, but I think that of all Dio's works...His experimentation and change in musical direction has given birth to superb album after album, with "Dream Evil" and "Lock Up The Wolves" being my favorites, which are nothing like his early albums. To sum it up "Angry Machines" is in no way a bad investment, it may very well be the absolute best Dio album to date! It is sheer rock and roll from beginning to end, including the beautiful ballad that closes the album, "This Is Your Life." Go ahead, take my advice, Dio has never sounded better lyrically or musically. Buy this album! It is a heavy metal gem!