Last in Line began with a past they could hardly escape. Vivian Campbell, Vinny Appice and Jimmy Bain had helped create the first Dio albums, records whose combination of Campbell's riffs, Appice's enormous drums, Bain's bass and Ronnie James Dio's voice established one of the defining sounds of early-eighties heavy metal. Reuniting without Dio inevitably raised the question of whether the project could become anything more than a very accomplished tribute to its own history.
By II, that question has largely disappeared. Last in Line still draws from the musical vocabulary its members helped create, but this is a functioning contemporary band rather than a historical reconstruction. The connection to Dio remains in the muscular riffs, dramatic melodies and Appice's unmistakable rhythmic weight; what matters is what the musicians do with those elements now.
The album also arrives after a significant loss. Jimmy Bain died in 2016, shortly before the release of the band's debut Heavy Crown. Phil Soussan subsequently took over on bass, joining Campbell, Appice and singer Andrew Freeman. The change could easily have destabilized a project whose identity was already tied so closely to a particular group of musicians. Instead, Soussan helps give II a character distinct from the reunion that originally produced Last in Line.
Freeman is equally important. Comparing any singer standing beside Campbell and Appice to Ronnie James Dio is both inevitable and fundamentally unhelpful. Freeman works because he does not attempt an impersonation. His voice is rougher and more contemporary, and on II he sounds increasingly comfortable shaping the melodies around his own strengths rather than filling somebody else's role.
That allows the instrumental chemistry to operate without turning every song into an exercise in nostalgia. Campbell's playing is particularly satisfying. His Def Leppard work rarely gives him much opportunity to occupy this kind of space, but here the heavy riffs, aggressive rhythm playing and extended lead work place him back in territory where his style was formed. Appice remains the ideal partner: economical, massive and capable of making a mid-tempo groove feel physically imposing.
"Electrified" represents the band's more aggressive side, while "False Flag" slows the pulse into something darker and heavier. "Gods and Tyrants" broadens the palette with a hint of Zeppelin in its scale, and "The Light" brings gospel-inflected voices into a dense metal arrangement. The songs share a common foundation without simply repeating one another.
Jeff Pilson's production is a significant part of that balance. The record has the weight expected of traditional heavy metal, but it doesn't sound trapped in the production conventions of 1983. The drums are huge, the guitars are thick and clear, and the low end gives the music a modern physicality without burying the band's older instincts beneath excessive processing.
The lyrics also help separate Last in Line from the material that established Campbell and Appice. There is little interest in revisiting the sword-and-sorcery imagery associated with classic Dio. These songs belong to adult musicians writing decades later, and the shift makes the continuity in the music feel natural rather than theatrical.
That is ultimately what makes II work. Last in Line do not need to deny where they came from; the riffs, grooves and dramatic sense of melody make that history audible immediately. But history is serving the present instead of dictating it. Freeman has become the band's singer rather than Ronnie's replacement, Soussan has entered the chemistry without disrupting it, and Campbell and Appice still sound completely at home pushing heavy riffs against enormous grooves.
The name Last in Line began as an explicit reference to a classic Dio album. On II, it increasingly feels like the name of a band with its own catalogue.
GENRE: Hard Rock
RELEASE DATE: February 22, 2019
PRODUCED BY: Jeff Pilson & Last in Line
LABEL: Frontiers Music Srl
RATING: 7/10