Killing the Dragon is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Dio. It was released May 21, 2002 through Spitfire Records and was produced by frontman Ronnie James Dio. The album was reissued in 2007 in a two-CD package with Magica. It was remastered in 2019 and reissued in 2020 with updated album art and a bonus disc containing six tracks recorded live on the Killing the Dragon tour.[6]
Symbolism
In an interview on the TV show Uranium, Dio stated that the "dragon" of the album title refers to technology. He expressed concern with it threatening society in the future. Dio elaborated that the title track refers to "those who perpetrate injustices and what the world is doing to stop them. In fantasy tales, dragons were notorious for stealing children and feeding them to their babies. During the first part of the song, I sing 'Someone has taken a child.' The second part is about a cruel feudal lord. The third part is about 'electronic serfdom.'" He also expressed belief that the computer has become a god in modern society. "It is a small god with an electrical heart (...) It is time to rebel against it."[7]
Members
Killing the Dragon introduces guitarist Doug Aldrich to the band. He had previously performed with Burning Rain and subsequently went on to join the band Whitesnake. Previous guitarist, Craig Goldy, co-wrote some of the songs before leaving the band. He returned for 2004's Master of the Moon. It is their final album with bassist Jimmy Bain.
Music video
The song "Push" was a hit and had a music video that featured Tenacious D performing a humorous cover of Ronnie James Dio's biggest song from his time with Black Sabbath, "Heaven and Hell". Dio approaches them to tell them that he will pay them to play Tenacious D music. Apparently, according to an interview with Dio in 2005, during filming of this music video, Ronnie James Dio became friends with Tenacious D frontman Jack Black, who told Dio about his plans to make a Tenacious D film and asked him to perform in the film if anything became of it. In 2005, Dio received a letter from Black informing him that production of the film was starting and requested that he play himself. The video was directed by Bill Schacht (who has directed other videos for Alice Cooper, Amon Amarth, Sister Sin, Yngwie Malmsteen, Saxon, etc.) for Aestheticom. The video was listed as No. 54 most metal moment of all time on a VH1 100 Most Metal Moments show, hosted by Eddie Trunk.
Aborted Hear 'n Aid sequel project
The song "Throw Away Children", from this album, was slated to appear in a sequel project to Hear 'n Aid but was aborted due to various reasons.
Track listing
All lyrics by Ronnie James Dio, music as stated. The "Limited Tour Edition" came in a slipcase with poster and added two bonus tracks. These bonus tracks are Ronnie James Dio performing live with Deep Purple and first appeared on Deep Purple's 2001 album Live at the Rotterdam Ahoy. The "Limited Tour Edition" bonus tracks were not included on the 2020 reissue.
The 2020 reissue has a printing error on the vinyl and CD variants; the song "Guilty" is printed as "Guitly".
