Album Review — Last In Line

Last In Line — II

Last In Line was formed by the original members of Ronnie James Dio’s band. II is the follow up to their 2016 debut Heavy Crown. The band was originally put together to play the Dio stuff they recorded, but to me, they don’t sound like Dio much at all.

I do like the sound of the record. The band sounds very good and the songs are very guitar forward. All of the songs are pretty heavy which suits vocalist Andrew Freeman’s voice. For most of the record he’s in full throat which gets a little gritty but suits the songs well.

Vivian Campbell’s guitar work is strong and it’s good to hear him take center stage. It’s easy to forget how good of a guitar player he is with him taking the back seat to Phil Collen in Def Leppard.

The band has replaced the deceased Jimmy Bain with Phil Soussan who has played with Ozzy among many other bands.

I really want to like this record and there are aspects I do like, but I’m a little disappointed by the songs themselves. Campbell wrote one of my favorite Def Leppard songs, “Work It Out”, and I really like the Dio stuff that this band was on. But the songs just don’t do it for me. They aren’t bad songs, but there’s nothing that really stands out of me.

After a short instrumental opens the record, “Black Out The Sun” kicks things off. It’s an interesting song that doesn’t really have a chorus. There’s a cool bridge part that I really like. It’s pretty indicative of the entire record for me. Parts that I really like but as a whole it feels a little lacking.

“Landslide” is the first single and is probably my favorite track. It has the makings of a great song but again lacks in the chorus department. Again, I really like the bridge on the song and Campbell’s solo is excellent.

That’s basically how the rest of the record is for me. Parts of songs that I like, but as a whole they lack a little in melody and don’t stand out enough to be memorable.

Not every song needs to have a big hook but in the case of this record, it feels like there aren’t any memorable songs. Sometimes it takes a while for songs to take hold so maybe that’s the case here. There are certainly enough positives about this record to give it more listens.

It is surprising to me that the band lacks those big choruses given they are named after an album that features “Mystery” and “Last In Line” which are very melodic. I didn’t expect a bunch of Dio ripoffs but I thought they would have a similar sound. And unlike the Dio record, there are no keyboards at all.

Time will tell if the songs grow on me, but there’s plenty here to make it worth a few listens to decide for yourself.

85 out of 100

Track Listing

01. Intro
02. Black Out The Sun *
03 Landslide *
04. Gods And Tyrants
05. Year Of The Gun
06. Give Up The Ghost
07. The Unknown
08. Sword From The Stone
09. Electrified
10. Love And War *
11. False Flag
12. The Light *

*Best Songs