Savatage - S/D

this band is ridic and occasionally awes. S: Hall of the Mountain King, Gutter Ballet, Streets. i think it's cool their manager writes their lyrics and that they are the trans-siberian orchestra

Hahah really. I had missed that tidbit but it makes perfect sense.

the stiff little fingers of power metal??

I honestly love most of Savatage's output. My favorites are Gutter Ballet, Hall of the Mountain King, Dead Winter Dead, and probably Dungeons are Calling. I'm not as fond of the Zak Stevens era as I used to be but really I loved all of the albums he appeared on. Poets and Madmen was mostly boring as hell. Never heard Fight for the Rock...Power of the Night and Sirens are great though.

Good revive etc but damn Gutter Ballet and Streets are sounding good recently.

need to pull all my 'Tage out for a relisten. I like all eras of Savatage, even though they ended on a sour note.

1) I lost them after Streets & 2) I don't think I knew they were a Florida band. Did you ever see them live?
3) What was the sour note stuff?

Poets and Madmen. you can tell there was a personnel change during the writing process, as a lot of the material was intended for Zak Stevens, who abruptly left, which left only Jon to sing the material, which wasn't always suited to him. it was also retrofitted to be a concept album by Paul O'Neill so the concept was clumsier than usual.

I did see them once! Weirdly, it was in 2001 - when they had hired a new vocalist to fill the Zak Stevens role, Damond Jiniya. very capable vocalist but...his stint ended quickly as the band went on a fairly permanent hiatus, before reunited in recent years to do live shows only.

their setlist was perfect, it covered all eras, so I got to hear stuff like "Sirens", "Gutter Ballet", "Hall of the Mountain King", and later era stuff like "All that I Bleed" and "Chance".

I also got to interview Jon Oliva once but this was pre-affordable tape recorders an I'm no journalist and the recording didn't work so it never got printed as I didn't take detailed enough notes (though I did take them).

i also met Zak Stevens on the metal boat cruise last year, he was with his new band. he sang some Tage songs, like "Power of the Night", an stuff from his era too

no lie, they were at one point like my favorite band, lol.

Great posts man - properly jealous of you seeing them live and your interview with Jon.

I've got no religion whatsoever but as shriek into the dark Believe is as good as I've got.

Believe rules. perfect way to end Streets

alright I'm making a complete S/D list. my opinions haven't changed much since high school. and I'm not the usual Tage purist, so....here is my list with a description of each album.

HAVEN'T HEARD

Fight for the Rock (and from what I hear, no big loss. I don't wanna hear Savatage cover Badfinger ffs)

DESTROY

Poets and Madmen (it's not terrible, but you can tell they started writing the album for Zak Stevens and not Jon Oliva...and frankly, outside of "Der Komissar", his voice doesn't work with a lot of this material. The concept sucked too.)

PRETTY GOOD

Power of the Night (pretty balls to the wall heavy metal, esp songs like "Necrophilia" and the title track. not a lot of variety, and doesn't have the peaks of, say, Hall)

Wake of Magellan (really bloated concept album with a lot of great moments and just too long, and the concept was about a guy who was friends with and speaks to the sea...not the most engaging. But I like a lot of it! it's not so much prog as art rock, sounds like a theatrical rock opera)

Streets (again, a lot of filler drags this down. but "Tonight He Grins Again" is a great epic power ballad, "Jesus Saves" is a killer rock anthem, "Believe", "Sammy and Tex" is a balls out rocker...but maaaan, way too many ballads. just being a concept album doesn't mean every other song has to be one. some of them are great ("St Patrick's", "If I Go Away"), but some are just...there ("A Little Too Far"). Concept is a winner, if not heavy handed. "New York City Don't Mean Nothing" is a good Dylan-esque song. one of the better of the concept albums.

VERY GOOD

Dead Winter Dead (unfortunately, the birth of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. but as far as concept albums go, this is a darker one, and leaner, and overwhelmingly works. 30% of the album is damn ballads again, but unlike before, they're all winners, particularly "This Isn't What We Meant". "I Am" and "Doesn't Matter Anyway" really the only 'rockers' here - this very much feels like a stage musical. and it works!

AWESOME

Sirens (debut, and it's classic heavy metal with hooks a plenty and screechy vocals. title track is a fist pumping classic)

Dungeons are Calling (only an EP, but see the same comments above for Sirens)

Hall of the Mountain King (a bit 'heavier' than Sirens, has the amazing title track, "Beyond the Doors of the Dark", and "24 Hours Ago". Jon's voice is piercing and that may be a good or bad thing for you. for me it's good)

Gutter Ballet (good hybrid of their old material and what they would eventually morph into. title track is a classic power ballad, "She's in Love" is a great melodic 80s metal track, "Of Rage and War" has one of Jon's most savage vocals. the songs are a bit catchier than previous albums, and keyboard factors in much more than it ever has before, though this is still a guitar driven album.)

Handful of Rain (Zak Stevens era. Not a concept album - good mix of rocking and more art-rocky type songs. "Chance" is probably their "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Taunting Cobras" is a good balls-out song. lots of keyboards on this, ballads a plenty, but a favorite from my youth)

Edge of Thorns (Zak era. not a concept, like Handful. first album of theirs I heard. this isn't 'metal' ,but the songwriting is great, Zak's voice is the most elastic it ever was, and it was Criss Oliva's last album, and the guitar work would never be as good again for the Tage. "He Carves His Stone" has a snaking Oliva riff and an ice cream headache shriek rideout from Stevens. "Damien" feels like Foreigner if they didn't suck. "Miles Away" is good poppy hard rock with a great chorus.)

Great write up. I need to investigate some of these at some point. I agree with pretty much everything you say, but I love Streets so much, in all its ridiculous baggy glory.

So, I like Gutter Ballet and Streets. Where should I go next?

if you wanna go to heavier rock that is still melodic, Hall of the Mountain King.

if you wanna go for the more theatrical that they do (like stuff with keyboards, ballads), you can inch into the Zak era, like Edge of Thorns or Handful of Rain. the guitar work gets progressively shittier after Oliva dies (Edge of Thorns, which is before HoR). you might also like Dead Winter Dead.

I'd say pick one from column A, one from b. Hall is a short listen - the others are a bit longer.

Ok, nice. I'll get on it. I think my' heart music' Savatage track is When The Crowds Are Gone (with Believe as a coda).

When the Crowds are Gone is one of my favorites.

I did a fringe production a few years back that was just a beautiful experience with my friends, and it ended and i was bawling and I threw that song on and posted it as my FB status.

great ballad.

SIRENS!!!!!!
SIRENS!
HUNGRY FOR MAN TONIGHT

One of the weirdest - and most assured - metal debuts of the early-'80s. The production is so peculiar that it feels otherworldly. That title track is incredible.