Savatage, an opinion

[BREVARD Adrian R.]

From:    "Alex S. Garcia" <asg at IMAGINET.FR>
Subject: OFF: Savatage

>I first heard "Edge of thorns" and I thought hey, that's a pretty cool band.
I didn't like all the songs, but I love the title track and - most of
all -
"Follow me" is awesome. Progressive rock at its best, even though the
rest
of the album doesn't sound much progressive. All the more reason for me
to
be impressed.

This was Cris Oliva's (guitarist and brother of Jon who provides musical
direction, keys and additional guitar) last album.  Title song is great
and its a good mixture of progressive and plain rock and roll.
Conversation Piece is a heavy, heavy number.

>Then I heard "Handful of rain" and that was it. I'm hooked. Didn't happen
right away. The first song, I still don't like much (way too heavy for
me, I
guess) and most of the other tracks took a few listens for me to get
into.
Others, like "Chance", "Castles burning" or "Symmetry", I instantly
loved.
What surprised me the most here, is that this album is completely
progressive (except for 2 or 3 tracks). And the lyrics... the lyrics are
really fabulous.

The first post-Cris album (dedication inside the sleeve).  Skolnick
played on this one and his work is very good.  Title track is an awesome
song that would have been big in any of the last three decades.  Songs
like Chance are real indicative of Jon Oliva's style.  This one is
superb and ranks as my favorite.  Stare into the Sun has some nice
flavor for me.

>"Chance" is without doubt my favorite Savatage song. And is quickly becoming
one of my all-time favorites, period (though it'll take a few months,
maybe years, to check if it really is). A perfect example of what prog
is all
about - at least, to me.  I highly recommend this album to any prog rock
fan. Every song on it works for me (except for the first one, and
"Nothing's going on", which is also a bit too heavy for my taste). It's
an amazing album.

Taunting Cobras?  Man that sucker rocks!  The heavy numbers carry lead
and the ochestratal numbers are uh, well orchestrated.

>For some reason, I keep thinking of Queensryche and Metallica when I listen
to Savatage. Maybe because of the singer's voice, I dunno. Reminds me
also a little of an obscure French hard rock band (Sortilege) from the
early 80's which only released two (fabulous) albums.

Perhaps very early Queensryche (Warning, Rage, Mindcrime), can't really
speak for Metallica though.  Have you checked out Q'ryche's Hear in the
Now Frontier?  I'm thinking King's X.

>BTW, just for the heck of it, I tried www.savatage.com and it actually
worked ! Turned out to be the band's official website. Check it out if
you
want to know more. It kicks ass. The band's material too, for that
matter ;-)
Hey, if there's any Savatage fan reading this, what other album would
you
recommend ? "Hall of the Mountain King" and "Gutter Ball" both sound
very
interesting...

Well I'm certainly a fan of this band and offer the following.  Someone
already said that Streets, A Rock Opera and Gutter Ballet are pretty
good.  I have heard pieces of Streets and its in a similar vien to Edge
and Rain.  If you like the progressive stuff then you should look for
Dead Winter Dead, Al Pitrelli on guitar).  Another pet peeve of this
band, besides a new guitarist every cd, is concept albums, (Streets,
Winter).  Winter is about the war in Bosnia and I think you would like
that one a lot.  There was a Christmas project put together by Oliva
called the Trans Siberian Orchestra, featured Zak, Jon and another band
member or two and I think guys from bands like Shadow Gallery and Dream
Theater.  I have yet to find this one but have heard good things about
it.  I will warn you about early Savatage though, specifically things
like Power of Night, Sirens, and Fight For the Rock.  They sound nothing
like the recent work.  Power is very one dimensional and tries to come
off sounding sinister like Sabbath or something.  Jon Oliva is great on
keys and plays a pretty good guitar but he's no lead singer.  Power is
laughable compared to Rain or Edge.  On its own its probably a fair to
middling rock and roll cd.

One other thing to be on the lookout for, A live CD from a tour of
Japan.  I have a many generations reemoved video featuring Dream
Theater, Queensryche (Promise Land tour) and Savatage in Japan.  Songs
like Taunting Cobra's,  Conversation Piece, Skraggy's Tomb come off real
well live.  You might be dissapointed with Chance as they do not play
the orchestratal change up like the studio version.  Still this concert
rocks.  Its mostly comprised of songs from Rain and Edge but includes a
couple from Gutter Ballet and Streets.  Highly recommended.

Well thats my take, go for Dead Winter Dead, Streets and perhaps Gutter
Ballet and avoid the early stuff with perhaps the exception of Mountain
King.  Don't know about the songs on that one but its a tres kewl cover.


L8er

lil' ab

"It smells like danger, or heavily fried foods."  - The Tick

OB CD - Threshold, Wounded Land <-------This is a great Prog Rock choice
for you Alex.