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The Organization > Savor the Flavor > Reviews
The Organization - Savor the Flavor

The most experimental moment of Andy and Rob - 88%

Agonymph, August 29th, 2004

If you're reading this, you're probably familiar with the Death Angel story and you know that The Organization is what became of the remaining Death Angel members after Mark Osegueda moved to New York. The musical similarities between Death Angel and The Organization are very small, so actually it's not fair to compare both bands, just because four band members are the same, but something like that is just unavoidable.

So there is the second album of The Organization and it's called 'Savor The Flavor'. It was released in 1995 and there are some songs on the album that could have been big hits with the right promotion, I guess. Just listen to tracks like 'Begin A Life' or 'The Chase', when it comes to melodies and catchy choruses, those songs fit in the alternative Rock scene of that time perfectly. Even though the Organization has a more original and experimental approach. But there's more than just that...

The album starts out with the title track, which is a two and a half minute melodic rock song with a slightly punky approach, beautiful lyrics and ditto vocal work. This makes the track one of the best songs on the album. Probably closest to Heavy Metal is the following 'So Full Of Lies', with its pushing rhythms and typical use of chords. Nonetheless, the verses are very funky and that's of course Dennis Pepa's fault. A strong song, but even stronger is the next track; 'Doomsday Eve'. This Andy Galeon-penned track has a very strong structure and the intro riff is just one of those enchanting riffs that only Andy Galeon and Rob Cavestany can write. The clean part in the middle comes as a surprise and the chorus is beautiful too. Somehow this song reminds me of 'Policy', one of the two best tracks on the self-titled debut by the band.

Next up is 'A Way Today' and that is where the album starts to take a more experimental hook. There's a wonderful catchy chorus in here and a very strange structure as it starts out with a kind of a funky intro and then goes right into some experimental part. I think this song shows that the band is influenced by Steely Dan quite obviously. Another experimental one is the following 'Had A Long Today', which is one of my favorite tracks of the album. It starts out with just acoustic guitars and Rob Cavestany's vocals and after the first chorus turns out to be a strange tracks with unusual bass parts and swinging rhythms. The atmosphere of this song is also just perfect.

With 'The Chase', a more accessible part of the album starts. 'The Chase' is a beautiful rocksong with a ditto catchy chorus and nice vocal interaction. 'War 25' starts as a very minimalistic song with just one-chord-riffs on an electric guitar and Rob Cavestany's vocals and just when you think the song has finished, there's another part beginning with some melodies that keep ringing in your head all day long. What follows is the beautiful acoustic intro to 'Begin A Life', which somehow reminds me of bands like Deep Blue Something and those other temporary heroes of the time. 'Begin A Life' is a song in that vein too, but actually a lot stronger.

Another experimental part starts. 'The Drought' is a neo-Punk like track, starting out with distorted vocals. I never see distorted vocals as a good idea, but the rest of the track is good though. 'Insomnia' and 'Stupid Mood' are both experimental Rock songs with a funky hook, the latter one most likely having that because Dennis Pepa co-wrote it and his bass lines form a pretty important part of the song.

Save the best for last...that is exactly a comment which fits in this album. The last track begins and 'By The Time' is truly the most beautiful moment on the CD. A beautiful clean guitar riff (for the Dutch readers among you, the riff sounds a little close to Bløf's sound, pretty cool) and beautiful emotional vocals by Rob Cavestany. A true tearjerker. When after the louder part of the song there is a wonderful bass solo in the intro, my heart is really taken. This is THE song of the album. And just when you think the album is over because the last song is fading out, a drum intro leads us into a hidden bonus track, which is a wondeful and blissful cover of 'Do It Again' by Steely Dan. The fact that the song fits in perfectly with the rest of the album says enough about the influence that Steely Dan has had on The Organization.

Concluding, I can say that 'Savor The Flavor' is the most experimental effort that any of the band members (and especially Andy and Rob) ever were a part of. 'Savor The Flavor' is a little less consistent than the debut album but not by any means a worse album. If you're not afraid of experiments, I think that checking this album out will be a great choice.