Master of the Moon

Master of the Moon, released in Europe by SPV's Steamhammer label on 30 August 2004, was Dio's tenth and last studio album. Sanctuary Records released it in the United States on 7 September. After Doug Aldrich left in 2003 to tour with Whitesnake, Craig Goldy returned on guitar, and Ronnie James Dio wrote nearly all the songs with him. Jimmy Bain left the band in March 2004, so Jeff Pilson played bass on the record, and Rudy Sarzo joined for the tours that followed. Simon Wright played drums and Scott Warren keyboards, and the singer produced the album at Total Access again, with Wyn Davis as engineer. Ronnie James Dio said he had meant to make the second and third parts of Magica but, short of time, made a self-contained album instead. He described some lyrics as cynical and political, influenced by terrorism, the people of Africa and paranoia. "One More for the Road" is about innocents executed as witches, the title song about a teenager who will not be told what to do, and "The Eyes" about a man who feels watched everywhere. "The Man Who Would Be King" began as a song about Richard the Lionheart and the Crusades and grew into a parallel with the war of its own day. The singer counted "The Eyes" among his favourite recordings with the band. Marc Sasso painted the cover, becoming the first artist to paint two of the band's covers. The album reached number 13 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and number 62 in Germany, but sold 3,349 copies in its first week in the United States and missed the Billboard 200. Victor released it in Japan on 26 January 2005 with the extra track "The Prisoner of Paradise", and it reached number 259 on the Oricon albums chart. Ronnie James Dio kept talking of continuing the Magica story, but the band released no further studio album. From 2006 he worked with his former Black Sabbath bandmates as Heaven & Hell, and he died of stomach cancer on 16 May 2010. Niji Entertainment Group issued a US picture disc in 2012, and BMG a reissue with four live tracks and "Prisoner of Paradise" in 2020.