Another new guitarist arrives in the shape of 'Tracy G' and with him comes a new style for 'Dio'. The sword and sorcery material was on it's way out with 'Lock up the Wolves' and here it's completely abolished, instead the lyrics are more inline with modern issues than the dragon slaying of old, the sound is also much thicker and a kind of industrial approach is establish. Is it any good? depends on what you expect from 'Dio', vocally he's still on tiptop form, just a little more aggressive, if you liked the 'Holy Diver' type material this might come as a bit of a shock though. Musically the lineup is very strong, the new guitarist while probably not the most suitable for 'Dio' is flashy and very technical, 'Jeff Pilson' is brought in to fill the bass position and 'Vinnie Appice' returns to the fold, so there's definitely no shortage of talent.

I've mixed feelings about the opener 'Jesus Mary & the Holy Ghost', while basically it's an effective hard hitting, doom laden track, it's completely spoilt by the terrible distortion applied to sections of 'Dio's' vocals as well as by the addition of shoddy sound effects. The live rendition featured on 'Dio's Inferno' is very different and blows this original version out of the water. Following is the lyrically poor 'Firehead' and as with a lot of songs present there's lots of nice touches, here the rhythm section puts on a fine performance and 'Tracy G' adds plenty of tasty licks, regrettably however this isn't enough to pull it out the mire. Better is the more traditional sounding title track 'Strange Highways' a solid plodder with some cracking 'Dio' lyrics, at times it sounds a little laboured but still is a very powerful number. Further improvements are made on the punishing 'Hollywood Black', a slightly brisker song full of fine heavy bass and weighty drumming that supports a cracking chorus which 'Dio' delivers with immense power. Next up is the 'Dehumanizer' sounding 'Evilution', but this isn't up to the majority of tracks found on that release, the first half is arduous and although the pace picks up, it's full of second-rate sound effects and disjointed instrumentation. 'Black Metal' is the inspiration for the gruelling, aggression fuelled plodder 'Pain' and although the vocals are admirable as you would expect, it's not the sort of material you would expect from these old school Metallers. A lighter approach is felt with the more melodic 'One Foot in the Grave' and while a little more appealing than some of the gloomy industrial numbers, still fails to impress. 'Give her the Gun' comes along with a more serious note as 'Ronnie' deals with the issues of child abuse, lyrically this is hard hitting and musically one of the better tracks, the highlight of which is 'Ronnie' belting out the lyrics with real belief. Less inspiring is the blatant and generic 'Blood from a Stones' and things don't really improves with 'Here's to You' a rowdy and sloppy effort that's only saving grace is the sweet fret work from 'Tracy G'. Thankfully 'Strange Highways' goes out on a high note with 'Bring Down the Rain' a more traditional sounding rocker that wouldn't sound out of place on 'Lock up the Wolves', the lyrics are strong and compliment the powerful chorus very well.

I think 'Dio' tried to appeal to a new generation of fans with 'Strange Highways' and although there's some nice moments it doesn't get a regular spin on my CD player, just too sluggish and grinding in places for my liking. Those who like the Industrial / Grungier genres will probably get more from this release than me.