Dio's first concept album. Being that this was released in 1999 that fact in itself is surprising enough since Dio has always been fascinated with epic tales of "good vs evil" and medieval, mythical times. Even though they may seem like it Dio's first three albums ("Holy Diver", "The Last In Line", "Sacred Heart") were not truly concept albums. They seem as such because of the similar "dragons, witches, sages, demons, ancient times" themes but, upon closer inspection they are really motivational and cautionary songs delivered with imaginary settings. Also, each of those albums had it's share of straight forward songs that didn't use ambiguous lyrics or cryptic messages.