Handful of Rain

This one is interesting. For a number of reasons, actually. One being that it came directly after, and seemingly inspired by, the emotions from guitarist Criss Oliva’s death. Jon Oliva did all the instruments on this himself, and while it’s not totally removed from the previous luminary Edge of Thorns, it is notably less virtuosic and self-assured – instead it’s a dark beast, quite bluesy. It takes on some heavy kicks, but they have a somber air and the focus is almost glaringly on the fact that Criss’s insanely expressive, fluid leads aren’t around anymore. Like a funeral wake.

The second is that it’s just hard to really match something as perfect as the last album. Especially as that one was one of the very earliest records singer Zak Stevens sang on – I’m sure he doesn’t want to hear this, but I still find Edge of Thorns the best vocal performance I’ve heard from him. Handful of Rain isn’t quite as good. But it’s still quite good and has a strange and alluring mix of despairing emotiveness and also a hungry rage in a way. It’s a very interesting album in its mood and feel overall – there’s the aforementioned bluesiness, some theatrical stuff, all of it sort of under a gray pall like a rainy day.

The songs, like on Gutter Ballet, are inconsistent. The opener “Taunting Cobras” is a cool rocker with a massively heavy riff, though it lacks the first-rate chorus or hook of the best Savatage tracks. And the final three songs are just not up to scratch with the band’s best. I kinda hate saying that about the Criss tribute “Alone You Breathe,” but while it’s the best of those three tracks, I just don’t find the melodies as good as a lot of the band’s other songs.

But when the album is on, it’s really on. The title track is such an inimitable track and has such a Savatage-esque stamp on everything it does – the mellow sections, Zak’s cathartic vocal, the massive stomp of the rhythm. “Stare Into the Sun” is even moodier and has some really good hooks. “Chance” is a grandiose theatrical thing that sounds like it should be a part of some kind of Broadway musical if not for the trademarked heavy, gut-punch riff sections. When Zak sings the “See the devil on the streets at night” line – who could hate the album after some true metallic conviction like that? The A’cappella thing at the end is brilliant and surprising. “Castles Burning” is my favorite here – just this excellent dynamic rock tune with creepy slow sections and then huge, hooky riffs and vocal lines; a real gem. This is the kind of song that’ll make you really sit up and pay attention. Brilliant, emotional payoff.

Handful of Rain as I said was a unique moment in time because it really feels like a band grieving. Jon playing all the instruments lends an air of the personal and the wistful, a more intimate thing than a bunch of dudes playing disparately, however brilliant the full Savatage band always was before this. It’s not perfect, but if you love the band then you’ll find a lot to like here. It stands on its own like the band’s best stuff.

On October 17th, 1993, Savatage guitarist Criss Oliva and his wife Dawn were struck by a drunk driver; Dawn survived the collision but Criss was killed instantly. His death remains one of the most tragic losses in heavy metal as his Randy Rhoads-inspired blend of choppy gallops, fluid leads, and a signature tone made him one of the most distinctive shredders in the scene. The accident left Savatage in shambles just as they were gaining momentum with the release of the classic Edge of Thorns earlier that year, leaving his brother Jon to debate if it was even worth picking up the pieces.

Despite his attempts to move away from Savatage just a couple years before, Handful of Rain is basically a Jon Oliva solo album in all but name. Vocalist Zak Stevens thankfully stuck around, and Alex Skolnick was recruited for lead guitar duties fresh out of Testament, but longtime bassist Johnny Lee Middleton and drummer Steve Wacholz did not perform as credited. Jon played these parts on a ‘sessional’ basis while also sharing rhythm guitar, keyboards, and songwriting with producer Paul O’Neill.

As a result of these behind the scenes jumbles, the album’s musicianship isn’t quite at the intricate standards that one associates with classic Savatage. Jon is an incredibly competent player in his own right, but his rhythm parts tend to be rather basic at times. Skolnick’s tone is just as recognizable as his predecessor’s though his solos provide more support than outright flash. The riffs on songs like the Pantera-lite “Taunting Cobras” and “Nothing’s Going On” are blunter than Criss likely would’ve played them and “Castles Burning” is a backbone shy of the Dio Sabbath-esque splendor that it is attempting to invoke.

Thankfully Handful of Rain also introduces some newer elements that keep it from getting stagnant. “Chance” in particular proved to be a massive game-changer for Savatage, channeling “Bohemian Rhapsody” in its symphonic flourishes and what would be the first of the band’s many multi-layered vocal counterpoint climaxes. It is one of the greatest Savatage songs ever recorded, if not the absolute best, and there is no way in hell that Trans-Siberian Orchestra would’ve ever existed without it. Seeing how TSO has since added it to their repertoire of Savatage covers on recent tours, they are likely just as aware of this fact.

But at the end of the day, Handful of Rain is all about catharsis. The music is darker than anything Savatage had done before regardless of style and the lyrics have a distraught, introspective quality even when their focus is at its most external. The title track is a moody cruncher reflecting on alcoholic isolation while “Stare at the Sun” and “Watching You Fall” look at world events through an especially somber lens. “Alone You Breathe” proves to be the album’s biggest tearjerker; while the lyrics have nothing to do with Criss’s death, the sense of loss is thoroughly profound and the heartbreaking callback to “Believe” is enough to make one feel his presence. It hits me hard every time.

Handful of Rain isn’t on the same level as Savatage’s greatest outings, but it is easily their most emotional. It’s a miracle that it was completed at all when you consider the circumstances of its creation, yet these tragedies are what ultimately make the album so cohesive. The shifts between grounded and grandiose themes are united in their shared melancholy and the overwhelming emotions give weight to the rather scaled back musicianship. This album is often overshadowed by the eras that surround it but the role it played in the band’s subsequent development cannot be denied. I wouldn’t recommend Handful of Rain to a first time Savatage listener but anybody that wants to understand the full context of the band’s legacy can consider it mandatory listening.

Highlights:
“Taunting Cobras”
“Handful of Rain”
“Chance”
“Watching You Fall”
“Alone You Breathe”

R.I.P. Christopher Michael Oliva (April 3rd, 1963 – October 17th, 1993)

Originally published at http://indymetalvault.com

All the members of the US progressive metal cohort moved into the 90’s in full package although some lost the battle too early (Crimson Glory/”Strange & Beautiful”) falling prey to the modification trends, and consequently disappeared. The others survived, Queensryche with the more simplistic, poppy “Empire”, Dream Theater with the impressive statement of intent “Images & Words”, Fates Warning with the more accessible and rock-ish “Parallels”, and Savatage with the outstanding dark brooding “Edge of Thorns”.

Savatage introduced the new addition to the team, the complete unknown at the time Zak Stevens, who took over form Jon Oliva who concentrated on the instrumental side alongside his brother. The latter’s irrevocable loss the same year was a huge blow for the band, but kudos should be paid to the guys for not giving up, and for producing an immediate follow-up in the form of the album reviewed here. And not only but they managed to fill in their untimely departed comrade’s big shoes in an admirable way with none other than Alex Scholnick, the Testament axeman, one of the greatest guitar players the world has ever known.

And the Savatage ship was ready to sail once again although if the fanbase was expecting another masterpiece under the tragic circumstances, they were going to be disappointed, albeit not by such a long shot. The biggest surprise is thrown at the very beginning with “Taunting Cobras”, an intense urgent quasi-thrasher which sounds both retro and modern, boding some aggressive tunes not necessarily present in the band’s repertoire earlier, not recently anyway. Yes, the guys had all the right reasons to feel upset and angry at the world, but how far were they ready to reach down the aggro/thrashy road… comes the title-track, and the world becomes a ballad, a safe soothing ride with Stevens ably assisting with pacifying elegiac, melancholic croons.

So far, so contrasting, and “Chance” doesn’t exactly change the setting being an epic semi-balladic doomster, giving a chance to Oliva to insert a few delectable keyboard tunes. “Stare into the Sun” slows down the proceedings once again with more balladic motifs, but this should be an introspective, less vociferus recording, again under the circumstances, so serenities of the kind should come as no surprise. “Castle Burning” follows a similar pattern, but is more vivid and pathos-like not without the help of Stevens who nicely hits the higher registers to a dramatic effect, and the slightly more dynamic finale. When “Watching You Fall” starts identically with more minimalistic tranquillity, the listener may start wondering if he/she would hear anything more dynamic by the end of this epic, balladic opera although Scholnick’s stylish fills initially would make one sit down and listen; those can be heard later in team with some piano tunes, but impressive musicianship aside the fact remains that this is another ballad making this opus the most ballad-prone one in the annals of US metal. “Nothing’s Going on” brings back the more intense riffage from the beginning, something’s going on after all, and the leaps and bounces on it should satisfy the audience with another fair showing from Scholnick. “Symmetry” doesn’t provide the needed symmetry being a creepy proto-doomster the balladic etudes firmly forming the base for it, and “Alone You Breathe” “breathes” more life into the balladic layout, another cool, albeit lengthy and too poignant for the metal fan’s taste addition to the prevalent peaceful tone of this effort.

In the long run one can’t blame the band for feeling down, not willing to bash out the hell out of their instruments although keeping the album immersed in the balladic idea for 70% of the running time was simply too much. On the other hand, “Edge of Thorns” was by no means the headbangers’ paradise, and it was also “graced” by downbeat, solemn moments. Under the circumstances time and again, the guys didn’t really need Scholnick’s services as the man has not much to do with the overall anticlimactic arrangement, his parsimonious, meticulously calculated contribution worth mentioning, but only as a footnote. There’s some tangible, pessimistic undercurrent running underneath this melancholic saga, keeping it glued together, and in terms of consistency and homogeneity this album has no audible flaws.

One thing remains to be explained, though: why a consecutive, logical act like Savatage had decided to deceive everyone with this serpentine opener? Aggro, thrash, groove, post-thrash… the possibilities are literally infinite after it. Anything but the rain… sorry, ballad could have been expected. Can this element of surprise be viewed a pro, or a con? I would personally settle for the former option since if nothing else it ensures a fairly active beginning, one that doesn’t exactly have a match later, but holds the fan ensnared in anticipation of the next in line, hopefully positive, 90’s metamorphosis…

Not here, not in this camp that continued its stride without altering the scenario too much, and without offering another elegiac ode to the centuries-old ballad. The grief was gone, the mourning ended; the path seems to be clear with no more “insidious” snake traps set on the road…

In all honesty, Handful of Rain would have had to commit identity theft on me, clean out my bank account, post compromising pictures of me all over the internet, run my pets over with a car, punch my mother, and steal my girlfriend for me to have liked it any less than Edge of Thorns. And yet, somehow, miraculously, it manages to commit all these acts of hatred upon me and then some. Depending on which way the wind was blowing on any given day, I'd have a difficult time deciding for myself whether this or Edge of Thorns, was the worst of Savatage's studio outings, but I think for now I'll accept that this was their career nadir; here is nearly no saving grace whatsoever for its miserable hide.

I won't even launch into the 'too soon, bro' argument, because even though Handful of Rain was released less than a year after Criss' car accident, I have the feeling he'd have wanted the band to forge ahead and make what they could out of themselves. Needless to say, one only has to suffer through the 49 minutes of this album to see just how undeveloped and uninspired the music is. Savatage brought over Alek Skolnick, who had recently departed from Testament, which was sort of a strange, unexpected move. Granted, there was the Atlantic Records connection, and if you're going to replace one guitar god, why not use another, but even Alex himself has admitted he always felt a disconnect with the Floridians. Ironically, his spurious leads, written very much in the vein of his alma mater, provide a few of the only interesting moments throughout, because he doesn't seek to emulate his predecessor so much as give of himself. Unfortunately, the rhythm guitar patterns, and the songwriting itself, is so exhaustingly dull that there's no real impetus to pursue them.

Once AGAIN, the overabundance of crappy AOR/prog-rock ballads dilutes the potential of a Savatage record. "Handful of Rain"? "Stare Into the Sun?" "Alone You Breathe"? Parts of three other songs? All shit, with no catchy choruses, just acoustic guitars morphing into bland chord progressions, pianos for dramatic effect, and lots of Zak Stevens attempting to add a fraction more bite to his timbre. Even where the album gets 'heavy', like the boring, hammering sleeze/groove-thrash of "Taunting Cobras", the guy sounds like he's attempting to ape hard rock singers like Sebastian Bach. I will say that Stevens gets a little more comfortable in his role, and I found him less grating overall than on Edge of Thorns, but apart from a few ambitions like his multi-tracked Freddy Mercury countervocal sequences in "Chance", he's just not the singer I want to hear in this band. Then again, I doubt Jon's presence would have made much of a difference over crappy Ozzy meets Black Label Society grooves like "Nothings Going On" or "Taunting Cobras" (which is a waste of a decent song title, if you ask me).

Production here is admittedly a little less sterile and billowy than the previous album, forcing the guitars to come across with more savagery, and I think a better mix of the vocals with the music. I no longer feel like I'm sitting in the studio booth next to some nervous guy trying out for a Broadway rock opera. The skins get hit pretty hard, and I've got no real problem with the rhythm guitar tone or the bass.Skolnick's flighty leads on tunes like "Taunting Cobras" are pretty slick, but without a proper vessel to steer them they just seem like mercenary excess, a hired gun wanting to prove himself after leaving the group which made him a name in the first place. I've read that Jon Oliva actually recorded most of this record himself, which might explain why it feels so piecemeal compared to past works. Ultimately, Handful of Rain suffers from its ill-advised, lamentable compositions more than any other facet, to the point where it's not merely a forgettable Savatage album, but downright bad. They should have let this alone to begin with, or if they were insistent, attempted something more unique to pass the time (a full album of material like "Chance" would have at least been different). But no. The album just sucks. I appreciate the persistence, and really anything in tribute to a great, fallen musician, but this is one cluttered breach of confidence.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Despite the tragic loss of their guitarist and founding member, Criss Oliva, Savatage picked up the pieces and decided to continue with the band. In this effort they recruited Alex Skolnick, ex-Testament. This was the first surprise. The other surprise was when I read, here in the Encyclopedia, that Jon Oliva played all the instruments except from the solos. I really didn’t know that! They had a difficult work ahead since their previous album Edge of Thorns, was truly a masterpiece. They have done quite well I should say.

Generally, the band’s sound is similar to that in Edge of Thorns. The production is very good and pushes the album forward. Skolnick has done a great job on the guitar solos and Oliva’s absence is obvious in only a few parts. There are many dynamic guitar breaks, beautiful melodies and orchestral compositions. The experiment of Stevens on the vocals had been very successful and once again he performs excellently. There is unfortunately one problem.

The songs cover a wide range, from pompy and epic to melancholic and peaceful. Unluckily not all of them are equally inspired. In Handful of Rain one can find exquisite tracks like Castles Burning with the beautiful changes and the impressive vocals. The self-titled is also a magnificent song, in the spirit of Savatage. Powerful singing and playing, it surely is the finest of the album.

Next to them stands proud the majestic, epic song called Chance. It will amaze and leave you speechless through all the way with its guitar themes and especially the part where the different choruses sound so operatic all together. It is very interesting how they managed to make some classical themes sound so heavy. They tried it before. I’m referring to Streets, but I don’t think they made it then. There is also the song dedicated to Criss Oliva, Alone You Breath. The most sentimental and emotional ballad they ever composed that sends shivers down your spine. Only Savatage could write such a wonderful ballad. I guess they have their way.

Still, for all the big effort they made, other songs are below average. The opener, Taunting Cobras and Nothing Going On, to me they sound completely out of place. Though they are heavy and fast, they don’t have much to contribute. Instead, they confused me on what exactly were the band’s mood and intentions. You might find it difficult too.

Handful Of Rain is far better than Streets. It may not be equal to the power metal diamonds they have gives us in the past but it is worthy of their name and history.

Oddly enough, if it weren't for the ballads on this album, Handful of Rain would suck. This was made after Criss Oliva died from an accident with a drunk driver, and Jon Oliva had just gotten clean after a long downhill spiral in the 80's, so there's definitely a curmudgeonly sober atmosphere to this. Real experiences make for powerful songs, and you will find some of Savatage's most poignant songs here, like Castles Burning and Chance, alongside gray, bluesy, and dusty laid back numbers like Stare Into The Sun or the title track. There is a definitely more spiritual angle to the music this time around, as well as a mournful pace to it. It's obvious from listening to Handful of Rain that the Oliva has had some sort of spiritual awakening, and it is that power of the spirit that buoys this beyond Savatage's previous efforts at being more melodic; there is an all-too-harsh realness to the most of the songs, whereas on Hall of the Mountain King Savatage was a troll crushing everything in its path, on Handful of Rain Savatage is a man rising from the ashes of his demise.

Not everything is good, as would be expected. The creative force behind Savatage had died, and it shows. The "fast" songs are, to put it bluntly, boring. This is symbolic, as the vitality of Savatage had just died. The strength of Handful of Rain lies in the slower numbers, so why they decided to open the album with Taunting Cobras, which is arguably the weakest song, is beyond me. At this stage, I'm not listening to Savatage for the pugilistic force, I'm listening to them for their sublime melody, and the faster songs (Taunting Cobras and Nothing's Going On) sound restrained and half-cocked. This reflects the "sobering up" of Savatage, where their strong point moves away from the blind aggression and towards focused understanding and wisdom.

All in all, Handful of Rain is a creative export that surpassed all expectations by a longshot. Sure, it has its weaknesses, in that the sobered up band can't quite do the fast tempo rockers like they used to, but the power and emotion behind these songs make up for it. The title says it all -- this is best listened to on a gray, rainy day when you are down in the dumps. However, don't expect to bang your head, because Savatage's days of partying are long gone.

This was my first Sava album, purchased mainly because I was a Testament fan. It introduced me to this killer band, and I have sentimental attachments to some of the songs on here, but as a Savatage album, it's not one of their greatest. As a tribute to fallen guitarist Criss Oliva, however, it is a wonderful tribute.

I guess Jon plays everything on here except for the leads and the vocals, but he pulls everything off rather well. I was especially stunned by his competent drum performance. Zak is great on vocals, and I've got to admit, I almost like him better than Jon on the later Sava albums. Jon can't really pull off the clean stuff, but Zak is awesome.

Skolnick is, well, Skolnick. If you know his work with Testament, he actually really shines here with the slower tempos and more colourful textures. He throws in little fills here and there which give the album a rather live feel. The only real gripe I can point out is that he is no replacement for Criss, whose solos felt somewhat dangerous and reckless, where as Skolnick is more calculated and precise.

"Taunting Cobras" starts things off heavier than anything they've done since Hall of the Mountain King, and maybe heavier than that yet. Shit, this is heavy as all hell! No slouching here! "Chance" starts off light, then gets heavy, before it ventures into opera territory, which I really don't dig. Actually, I think it sucks...there are parts that build up like some of the interludes of Gutter Ballet, but then you get those goofy vocal melodies at the end. They don't add anything to the song, and just sound bizarre.

The mood is really somber throughout the album. Despite "Taunting Cobras" being a really in your face assault, and "Nothing's Going On" hammering away, the songs all feel slower and rather bluesy. This is especially evident on "Stare Into the Sun," "Castles Burning," and the title track. Speaking of, I hear bits of Alice In Chains in the title track, and that's actually really not bad!

I've made it pretty clear that I don't care much for Savatage's ventures into pompous opera-like tracks, but the ending of "Alone You Breathe" is actually really powerful, even with the round singing. A lot of the ballad material on here, like "Watching You Fall" and the searing "Symmetry" comes across just as powerful as anything they did on Edge of Thorns or Gutter Ballet, sometimes even better.

Had Savatage ended on this note, it would have made an excellent end to the band, but they went on to make more albums, none of which really brought back the glory of their early material. This is a nearly vanquished army riding victoriously after suffering staggering losses. Sure, it's a good album, but without any satisfying feel to it, just mourning.