The years may roll by, but one things for sure 'Dio' is still going strong and continues to defy current trends with another platter of creditable Traditional Metal. As with 'Killing the Dragon' the line-up continues to change, the biggest shock is the departure of long standing bassist 'Jimmy Bain', I personally liked his presence in the band as there was always that 'Rainbow' connection, however I was always disappointed with his static live performances. This has thankfully brought back the talented 'Jeff Pilson' albeit only for this album as 'Rudy Sarzo' (Quiet Riot / Whitesnake) later officially joined. The impressive 'Doug Aldrich' also jumped ship as the offer of joining 'Whitesnake' was too irresistible, this left the door open for 'Craig Goldy's' third stint with 'Dio'. 'Killing the Dragon' was definitely a step in the right direction, but 'Master of the Moon' doesn't really follow-up as well as I might of expected. As with 'Magica' there's too many mid tempo plodders and to my ear there's a recycled feel on a couple of tracks which hark back to 'Lock up the Wolves' and to a lesser extent the slower material from 'Killing the Dragon. 'Craig Goldy' turns in his usual solid performance but like a lot of fans, I enjoyed the more flashy guitar work 'Doug Aldrich' exhibited on the previous release.

'Master of the Moon' opens very strongly with the lively pulsating 'One More for the Road' a new 'Dio' classic fuelled by strong riffs, enjoyable sing-a-long lyrics and further bolstered by some cracking guitar work, 'Ronnie' quickly proves his vocals have lost nothing as he sounds powerful yet stunningly melodic- Great stuff. Less impressive is the title track, a pretty laboured effort that is reminiscent of work from 'Magica', despite some decent lyrics and an outstanding vocal performance from 'Ronnie', comes across sluggish and in all honesty is a little disappointing. Improvements are quickly made with the mid tempo rocker 'The End of the World', the riff is pretty much lifted from 'AC/DC's' 'Back in Black' but this is a strong effort laced with some nice 'Craig Goldy' soloing and some slightly more aggressive vocals. The pace is lifted further for the pulsating 'Shivers', the rhythm section is strong throughout especially 'Jeff Pilson's' heavy basslines, 'Scott Warren's' keyboard work is also put to excellent use and is all rounded off with another respectable guitar solo. Next up is the politically penned 'The Man who would be King' a track which starts off very melodic but develops into a listless plodder, while the lyrics are quite poignant, musically it's pretty boring despite some more well placed keyboards. 'The Eyes' ensues and on one hand promises plenty with decent lyrics and crisp vocals but on the other is spoilt by some needless sound effects and static mid tempo pace. Back on track is the brisk rocker 'Living the Lie', an enjoyable pulsating number, driven by hearty rhythm work and further braced by some of 'Goldy's' best fret work, especially on the instrumental break and superb fade out. Less impressive is the repetitive 'I Am', which to me sounds recycled from 'Dehumanizer's' 'I', the lyrics are trite and the chorus is pretty shocking- 'Dio' should know better. Improvements are quickly made with the 'Rainbowesque' 'Death by Love', a relatively lightweight rocker (by 'Dio' standards) but upheld by some solid Jeff Pilson' and 'Simon Wright' rhythm work, while 'Goldy' turns in an entertaining performance on this respectable effort. The tempo drops for the weighty plodder 'In Dreams', a cut with shades of 'Strange Highways' and although it's nicely penned this is regrettably one sluggish track too many for me.

I've got a lot of respect for 'Ronnie James Dio' and once again he's come up with some very entertaining material. Regrettably though he seems to have slipped back into the realms of 'Magica' and resurrected some of the sluggish material from that release, there is however still some interesting old school cuts to please fans like me.