At first, I had high hopes for this album, as would anyone who loves Heavy Metal. The original lineup to Dio (minus the awesome vocalist/guy the band was named after, of course) writing and recording a new album together after 30 years or so. It should've been fantastic, as Holy Diver and The Last In Line (the album this band have named themselves after) are great and I don't believe that it was Ronnie James Dio alone who made those albums what they are...at least, I didn't until I listened to Heavy Crown.
Kicking off this damp record is "Devil In Me", a limp opener that starts off with promise but rapidly becomes a flop as soon as the drums come in. The way I see it, there are two ways you can make a slow Metal song. You can either make it epic by adding powerful drums, thunderous guitar riffs and maybe some accompanying strings OR you can make it flat and hope the riffs or lyrics are catchy enough to be enjoyable. This song does neither, making it a mediocre track but an appropriate album opener as the rest of the album follows the same patterns.
Most of the songs sound like they could've been salvaged if there was someone in the band with a suitable creative vision but I'm guessing that person was supposed to be Vivian Campbell, the guitarist who joined Dio after most of the best songs on Holy Diver had been written. I'm not saying he's a bad songwriter and I would never call him a bad guitarist but he's definitely no Ronnie James Dio when it comes to making iconic Metal. It's pretty clear after listening to this album and reading through his discography that he's aged into more of a Hard Rock guitarist, especially with songs like "Burn This House Down" that contain a minimal amount of guitar throughout the verses or "In Flames", a bonus track placed halfway through the album for some fucking reason.
There are some good points though. At least Campbell's guitarwork is still tight, albeit uninspired and unlikely to win any new fans of the genre. Also, new vocalist Andrew Freeman has the right kind of rough pipes for a Metal album and recently deceased bassist Jimmy Bain did the job of Hard Rock/Metal bass player well, although he was no Steve Harris or Geddy Lee. I'm aware this isn't really something that should influence the album's quality in a review but it should be said that this band haven't released a stupid amount of special editions of this record either, so this isn't just a cynical cash grab. They actually wanted to release a collection of their music for people to enjoy but were sadly held back by themselves.
The tragedy in this is that literally getting the band back together, especially one as notable in the world of Metal as Dio's old band, can only set expectations high. I don't believe that they wanted to exploit this reunion to get better sales, as I've barely heard this album being publicised in comparison to other comeback albums such as Def Leppard's Def Leppard, but it doesn't do them any favours. As I said before, there are tracks that are almost great like "Orange Glow" and "I Am Revolution" but just lack that spark that sets them apart from superior modern Heavy Metal revival bands like Jake E. Lee's Red Dragon Cartel. If I had to blame one singular factor for this, I'd point the finger at Vinny Appice.
His drumming sounds soulless and restrained, even during faster tracks such as "Martyr" and "Already Dead", resulting in an album that lacks any of the power that proper Metal deserves. However, I could also blame the album's average sound on the overall depreciation in Campbell's creative and technical talent but I feel like he's done quite well considering he beat cancer not that long ago. Maybe this is an album that grows on you over time but judging by the straight forward nature of each track and complete absence of any Prog Metal elements, I reckon it's a safer bet to assume this is just a dud record and not a future classic in 20 years.
Just to reiterate, Heavy Crown is a solid effort. The band have tried and I guess that's more admirable than if they'd accidentally created a better album by phoning it in. Sadly, I don't believe in a world where trying and failing deserves better praise than not trying and succeeding so I have to give this a rating of 3/10. I wouldn't even recommend this to Hard Rock fans who want to get into Metal as the songs are so bland that it's probably more likely to turn them off the genre.
Ironically, Last In Line's debut is probably their last in line as they're wondering whether they should continue without the bassist. Personally, I have no problem with that as I can't say I'm looking forward to any future release they may or may not produce unless they recruit a visionary bass playing frontman sent by God as reparation for taking Lemmy from us.
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