'Tage Mahal

After a short string of changing band members and conflicts concerning the project's name, the debut of Jon Oliva's Pain came out in the fall of 2004 and gave hope to the listeners that longed for another Savatage effort following the release of "Poets and Madmen." While this album isn't quite the same, it does exert all of that band's legendary characteristics and songwriting aesthetics. It may also be the closest thing to a solo album that Oliva has ever released and has him perform a vast majority of the songwriting.

As previously mentioned, the album's music has many similarities to the classic Savatage sound and seems to cover all the eras associated with the band. Oliva himself is clearly the star of the show with many of the songs being directed by the catchy vocal hooks as well as the sweeping piano melodies throughout. The guitar riffs and solos probably aren't as aggressive as they could be but they put on a solid performance and add on the songs' many textures. The backing vocals that appear on this album as well as some future efforts also add on the album's feel and provide some unique backing on several songs' hooks.

While almost every album involving Oliva's songwriting features songs that are all distinct and unique, the songwriting on this particular effort may be some of his most versatile to date. Many different styles are present with there being several epic numbers ("The Dark," "Guardian of Forever," "The Nonsensible Ramblings of the Lunatic Mind"), catchy rockers ("People Say-Gimme Some Hell," "No Escape," "All The Time," "Nowhere To Run"), the usual balladry ("Walk Alone," "Fly Away"), more aggressive tracks ("Pain," "Outside the Door"), and a few miscellaneous numbers ("Slipping Away," "Father, Son, Holy Ghost"). Most of the catchier tracks are my personal favorites, but I also enjoy "The Dark" and "Walk Alone" in particular for their particularly sweeping contrasts.

As evidenced by the unusually plain song titles on here, this album's biggest flaw is the rather generic feel that frequently pops up throughout the work. The songs themselves are nicely structured and the execution helps keep them strong, but there is an overwhelming "by-the-numbers" mentality on here that keeps several tracks from becoming true classics. This is probably due to it being less of a band effort than future efforts.

There also seems to be a rather derivative feel to the music that slightly brings down the overall quality. While "Nowhere To Run" seems to have started the tradition of reviving unreleased Savatage songs in the modern age, there are several songs on here that seem to be repeats of older works. "Slipping Away" often feels like a rewrite of "You're Alive" and "All The Time" features a riff that is oddly similar to one from "Turns To Me." Hell, they even had the balls to sample about twenty Savatage songs during the outro of "People Say-Gimme Some Hell!"

All in all, this is a pretty decent album that is worth checking out for fans of Savatage and all things Oliva. I have a feeling that not too many others will get much out of this but the band has shown a good deal of improvement on future efforts such as 2006's "Maniacal Renderings."

My Current Favorites:
"The Dark," "People Say-Gimme Some Hell," "Walk Alone," "All the Time," and "Nowhere to Run"

Okay, it's not exactly like Savatage. This isn't quite as epic and there's no amazing track like "Morphine Child" to make you want to listen to over and over again... But this is an album of beaty and darkness combined. Jon's voice isn't as clear as it usually is (like on Savatage's Hall of the Mountain King and even as late as Poets and Madmen) though, and that's where he lost some points. But this is like that new Savatage album I've always wanted (and actually, for that matter... I still want a new Savatage album)! And what's great, is that there are ALOT of tracks on this album (13 in all).

The first song is just called The Dark, and it lives up to its name. It's dark and rock operatic. His voice is a bit scratchy on this track, as if he either had a cold or was smoking before recording it. Regardless, the guitar and piano (which I assume he plays) are very top notch. I like how all the guys in his band are taken from Circle II Circle though. Plenty of chorus vocals with multiple layers too.

The second song is great People Say - Gimme Some Hell... It's another great Savatage-esque track with a twist. It uses in the 30 seconds of the song, a whole spattering of lyric lines that Jon has sung over the years are sampled. Such things as "Power of the Night", "In The Hall of the Mountain King", "Beyond the Doors of the Dark", "Strange Wings", and so on with just the bass pattering in the background and a guitar doing a trill until it fades out. Really awesome, definitely the highlight of this album.

Next is Guardian of Forever. Yet again, same old Savatage. But I accept that kind of genericness here, because he pioneered this style of song and I've yearned for it for years. The guitar solo here is of note, for it is very slow and melodic. The guitarists did a very good job of imitating Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli.

Then you get Slipping Away, Walk Alone, and finally Nonsenible Ravings of the Lunatic Mind which reminds me of a Trans-Siberan Orchestra song. Don't get me wrong, this is an original track, but it's just in that style (which I have no problems with). After that is No Escape which is really heavy. Heavier than the usual Savatage, which is a nice change. In fact it reminds me of Black Sabbath until the guitar solo comes in and the lead guitarist just goes nuts for about two minutes.

After that is Father, Son, Holy Ghost... This song only uses the guitar for chords and melodic soloing. No insanely heavy riffs or complex stuff, just mostly background power chords with singing over them. Harken back to the Dead Winter Dead Savatage album. Then a good keyboard and guitar back and forth part at the end. Then comes All The Time, which is another generic Savatage style track.

Then comes a song with a highly memorable main riff, called Nowhere To Run. An evolution of the Savatage sound, kind of a shift towards thrash or speed metal for a bit here. It's a nice touch and adds some much needed flavor to this album. "How do you feel about life. Do you feel like trying?" and it goes on to talk about gods and peace. It's a really good track for the lyrics and the music.

Next is Pain which is awesome for one simple fact. It contains one of those great Hall of the Mountain King style screams that only Jon Oliva can do. I got a chill down my spine when I heard him rip that one off. Good guitar solo here and also on the next song too, called Outside The Door. "As I walked through shadows of darkness without a place to hide" and continues with talking about constantly watching over his shoulder waiting for a knife to arrive and how he's paranoid. Really dark and good lyrics about being on borrowed time that fits the music really well.

The album ends with Fly Away which starts differently from all the other songs. No piano intro or heavy riff, but an accoustic arpeggio. Highly unexpected and very pleasant to listen to. Jon has his voice back for this track, and the guitars are great throughout. Nice rhythm keeping drums that lets you rock your head slowly to this track. Halfway through it gets heavy and operatic, and it's very nice. Extremely long fade out at the end, too. You normally don't get that on the last track on an album; it's normally an abrupt ending to a song or an outro solo. Cool change-up, I thought.

So basically this is a good album and if you have been wanting some more Savatage then at the moment this is the best that you can do. And until they make a new album, which they hopefully do someday, this will have to suffice... Or rather, this will suffice, because it's really well done. All I have to say in closing, is R.I.P. Criss Oliva, and godspeed to Jon for keeping going with the great music.

While the geniuses that are in charge of Savatage let their momentum wear off from the underrated "Poets & Madmen," one of those geniuses, a giant obese lump named Jon Oliva, decided that he could make a better album by himself without the heavy hitting riffs of Chris Caffery, the brilliant and inspired soloing of Al Pitrelli (and Caffery's solos are pretty damn good too), the underrated drumming of Jeff Plate, and the open-shirtedness of Johnny Lee Middleton.

For one song he is right. "The Dark" is much darker (big surprise there) than Savatage, with a good guitar soloing, and of course the classical piano playing of Oliva. Oh, and did I mention Oliva's singing? He does more of a throaty growl than his singing of the 80's, but he hasn't sounded this powerful in 15 years! The song end with a melodic but powerful outro.

As for the rest of the songs, as Oliva would say, "fuhgitabouddit, eh eh." There are no memorable riffs to speak of, the soloing has the power of a freshly neutered dog, and I distictly remember "rainbows" being mentioned at some point. Goes to show how much of an influence Paul O'Neill has when the lyrics are this bad. And back to the soloing, this Matt Laporte guy can play fairly fast, but there's no crescendo or anything in his soloing style, just a bunch of notes played. None of the soloing (not even the one in "The Dark"), or riffs for that matter, stuck with me after the album ended. I should note, though, that one song, "The Non-Sensible Ravings of a Lunatic Mind" I believe, is an outtake from the "Poets and Madmen" sessions, and is one of the more bearable songs on here.

Despite the two songs that I mentioned, this album is a dud, download those two songs from somewhere if you can, but doesn't make up for the cost of the whole album. On the Pain website, Oliva says that the new album coming out is totally different and better, but I'll believe it when I hear it. There's not likely to be another Savatage album for at least two years, but in the meantime, Savatage guitarist Chris Caffery has released two good albums, and a third, heavier one is one the way. Pick up his "Faces" album if you can find it, but don't waste your time with this shit.