Neon Knights - RPG Metal Music

     When Dio wrote this song for Black Sabbath he did it to pay homage to the rise of fantasy role-playing that was now common in the late 70's/early 80's (before the Fundamentalist backlash). Tolkien's books had found a resurgence of popularity again with the slightly terrible and grating animated movies of the Hobbit & Lord of the Rings, art and obviously the games themselves. 
      He realized then that gaming was a safe retreat from the dangers of the street with drugs, gangs, etc and it was a healthy hobby. Ideally, it was something that would inspire its participants to seek a more heroic lifestyle and achieve better in life. Gaming brought back the old notions of quests, adventure, monsters, and more and presented people with those lost heroic ideas again.
      From his time in Rainbow, his music was going towards this end with medieval-fantasy themes and imaginative concepts that only a few others groups of the time shared in (Rush, Uriah Heep, etc). This song I can bet was something he was working on while in Rainbow before his abrupt departure in 1979. When I think of the glory days of gaming and when this hobby was rising, I think of this song. It symbolizes the fusion of gaming, art and music in one. Those days are returning I believe, a little at a time. Maybe it just from my perspective being inside of it now and seeing the reaction of gamers to my ideas and how it is changing the flow to a new direction, but in any case it is a grand thing to see occur.

Oh no, here it comes again
Can't remember when we came so close to love before
Hold on, good things never last
Nothing's in the past, it always seems to come again
Again and again and again ooh again oh

Cry out to legions of the brave
Time again to save us from the jackals of the street
Ride out, protectors of the realm
Captains at the helm, sail across the sea of lights

Circles and rings, dragons and kings
Weaving a charm and a spell
Blessed by the night, holy and bright
Called by the toll of the bell

Bloodied angels fast descending
Moving on a never-bending light
Phantom figures free forever
Out of shadows, shining ever-bright

Neon Knights!
Neon Knights! all right!

Cry out to legions of the brave
Time again to save us from the jackals of the street
Ride out, protectors of the realm
Captains at the helm, sail across the sea of lights
Again and again, again and again and again

Neon Knights!
Neon Knights!
Neon knights!
All rise