Savatage: The Greatest Metal Band You Have Never Heard

“When the crowds are gone,

And I'm all alone,

Playing a final song…

Now that the lights are gone,

Turn them on again;

One more time for me my friend;

Turn them on again;

I never wanted to know,

Never wanted to see,

I wasted my time till time wasted me,

Never wanted to go,

Always wanted to stay;

Cause the person I am are the parts that I play.

So I play and I plan,

And hope and I scheme…

To the lure of a night…

Filled with unfinished dreams;

And I'm holding on tight,

To a world gone astray,
As they charge me for years…

I can no longer pay.

And the lights;

Turn them off my friend,

And the ghosts,

Well just let them in;

Cause in the dark,

It's easier to see.”

--Jon Oliva of Savatage from When The Crowds Are Gone from the album Gutter Ballet, 1989.

A band I have been recently playing and replaying on the IPod is Savatage. Whereas their earlier efforts may be more “Metal/Hard Rock”-esque; the middle to late period of concept albums are among my favorites. Savatage ripped out a series of great albums from Gutter Ballet to Edge of Thorns to Hall Of Mountain Kings to Streets toWake of Magellan to Dead Winter Dead.

Their music has a throaty sound and some of the flashiest Guitar work and pianos ever.

Started by the Oliva brothers Criss on guitars and Jon on keyboards and vocals, the band emerged and changed as the times did—staying with their craft and their band when fame and fortune would have certainly been more appealing with other groups doing other types of songs.

Savatage stayed with their vision. The vision nearly ended when Cris Oliva died in an auto accident as a drunk driver hit him and tragically ended his life; but brother Jon and the band continued on in memory of their fallen bandmate: and never did they change that wonderful sound and that fantastic vision.

Savatage have been recording since the early 1980s with their colossal debut Sirens.

And sadly, most who travel here have never heard their wonderful, mood altering and exciting music.

Well…kind of.

You may have heard of or seen the Trans Siberian Orchestra. That thundering sound found its roots in Savatage and can be mostly shown on Dead Winter Dead.

The formula found a more sophisticated audience with a more affluent sounding name of the band by possibly using the word orchestra in the title.

This is truly classic metal with a symphonic feel. The stories are told from the street about hard working people and their everyday lives. The band mixes classical elements and contours them with one of the most underrated guitar sounds in the history of rock and Jon Oliva’s fantastically strained vocal fervor.

If I could make music, it really would be this. I plan on doing some reviews of their albums as time goes on. This entry is an opening for the band--a primer or introduction, if you will.

I highly recommend Gutter Ballet, Hall of the Mountain King, and Wake of Magellan. The song “When the Crowds Are Gone” is sheer majesty and magic.