Part 10 – Where this all has led...
Released October 24, 1995
Genre Progressive metal, Symphonic metal, Power metal
Length 52:06
Label Atlantic/Wea
Producer Paul O'Neill/Jon Oliva
Tracklist:
All songs written and composed by Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill, except where noted.
1. "Overture" 1:50
2. "Sarajevo" 2:31
3. "This is the Time (1990)" 5:40
4. "I Am" 4:32
5. "Starlight" 5:38
6. "Doesn't Matter Anyway" 3:47
7. "This Isn't What We Meant" 4:12
8. "Mozart and Madness" 5:01
9. "Memory" 1:19
10. "Dead Winter Dead" 4:18
11. "One Child" 5:14
12. "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" (Robert Kinkel, Jon Oliva, Paul O'Neill) 3:24
13. "Not What You See" 5:02
Band Lineup:
Zachary Stevens - lead vocals
Jon Oliva – keyboards, lead vocals (featured on "I Am" and "Doesn't Matter Anyway"), backing vocals (on "Starlight")
Chris Caffery – guitars, backing vocals
Al Pitrelli - guitars, backing vocals
Johnny Lee Middleton – bass guitar, backing vocals
Jeff Plate – drums
When looking back at the history of Savatage, it has become fashionable to question why the band would even bother to continue on after
Handful of Rain. Many, including Jon Oliva himself, would later state that the band had effectively died with Criss, and that what Savatage became after 1994 was, for all intents and purposes, a prototype of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Indeed, the musical style of the later Savatage albums would be, in many ways, almost identical to that of TSO. All these albums would be heavily orchestrated rock operas with lyrics written entirely by Paul O'Neill, and the first two would feature a significant number of instrumental tracks. Add to this the fact that the lineup that was established in 1995 would later become the nucleus of TSO, and the differences between later day Savatage and it's offshoot side-project seem insignificant. Furthermore, given the vast amount of commercial success TSO would later achieve in America, hindsight would seem to suggest that Savatage should have been laid to rest after
Handful of Rain, and the band members would then later move on to more profitable endeavors.
What many fail to realize is that back in 1995, Savatage still appeared to remain the best option available to Jon Oliva and company. Trans-Siberian Orchestra was still a non-entity.
Romanov had long since been caught up in development hell as debates over how exactly that project should be presented (as a rock opera album, as a Broadway production, or via other options) took place. Jon and Paul had actually sold the rights to that project to a production company that then proceeded to further quibble over what form exactly
Romanov should take. As for Doctor Butcher, Jon's new band with Chris Caffery, that band had proven incapable of securing a record deal outside of Europe. While the debut of Doctor Butcher would go on to become a highly sought after piece of Savatage history, as well as remaining very dear to the hearts of those fans who wished to see Savatage return to a more metal style, in the mid 90's Doctor Butcher had failed to make a significant impact.
Compared to TSO or Doctor Butcher, a new Savatage album looked to have a higher probability of success. While
Handful of Rain had not managed to reach the heights of popularity enjoyed by
Edge of Thorns, the album had still performed respectably in the States, and had sold rather well overseas, particularly in Europe. Savatage also had a further three albums remaining on their contract with Atlantic, which was better then the prospects either TSO or Doctor Butcher faced at the time. But perhaps above all else, Jon and Paul were not quite ready to give up on Savatage just yet. Keeping Savatage alive would serve to keep the memory and legacy of Criss Oliva alive as well. Despite the dire straights the band face in 1995, Jon and Paul still felt that there was more they could do as Savatage. The best way to honour Criss might be to give Savatage another shot.
As it happened, current events would prove fertile ground for Paul's lyricism. Following the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe between 1989 and 1991, the multi-ethnic state of Yugoslavia imploded into a seething mass of warring nationalities. On television sets across the globe, the entire world watched in horror as war engulfed the heart of Europe for the first time since 1945. The significance of the tragedy was not lost on Paul, an avid history buff and follower of world news. Duly inspired, he wrote a rock opera with a Romeo and Juliet-esque romance between a Serbian boy and a Muslim girl set against the backdrop of the Yugoslav Wars. The work would touch on a number of large themes such as the futility of war and the crossing of social barriers. Paul had gradually been taking the lead in crafting Savatage's lyrics over the years as Jon concentrated more on composing music. Lyrically spent after
Handful of Rain and the Doctor Butcher album, Jon would focus entirely on writing music for the remainder of Savatage's career, effectively handing over the lyrical reigns to Paul. It would be a full decade before Jon Oliva would begin writing lyrics again for his next band, Jon Oliva's Pain. The album that became
Dead Winter Dead thus represents a significant point in the development of Jon and Paul's creative relationship, with the pair firmly established in their separate roles as composer and lyricist.
Dead Winter Dead would also mark the first time the music for an entire Savatage album was composed around pre-written lyrics. While Paul had written lyrics before the music for individual songs in the past (particularly “Believe”),
Dead Winter Dead would see the establishment of a new song writing formula where Paul would write out a complete story with lyrics first before composing the music with Jon. Furthermore, Jon and Paul would write the music for
Dead Winter Dead primarily on piano, rather then guitar. This new method of songwriting would be repeated on not only the following Savatage record,
The Wake of Magellan, but also on most of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums as well. With the musical emphasis moved more towards the the lyrics and keys, and away from the guitar, bass and drums, Savatage would become far less metal then they had ever been before, but they would also bring to completion an experiment into mixing classical, Broadway and metal that had begun as far back as “Gutter Ballet”.
For the band that would perform on the new record, Jon was able to maintain most of the linup from the
Handful of Rain tour. Stevens, Middleton and Plate would all return to the fold,
Dead Winter Dead being Plate's first album as a full member of Savatage, as well as Jon's first album as an official member of the band, and performing, on a couple of tracks, as a lead vocalist for the first time since Streets. Alex Skolnick, who had become the
erstaz lead guitarist of Savatage in the aftermath of Criss Oliva's death, would ultimately decline to continue on as a member of the band. Chris Caffery, who Jon Oliva had asked to take Criss' place back in 1994, finally made his grand return to Savatage, this time as a lead guitarist in his own right. However, Atlantic felt that, after the death of Criss Oliva and the sudden departure of a well respected guitarist such as Skolnick, Savatage needed to bring in another, more widely known musician to help fill the void. Al Pitrelli, formerly of Alice Cooper, Asia, Dee Snider's Widowmaker, and a number of other bands, would also join Savatage in 1995, making the band, for the first time, a six-piece act, as well as adding a twin lead guitar approach between Caffery and Pitrelli to compliment the twin lead vocal style that would be adopted by Oliva and Stevens. The new lineup would also prove to be remarkably durable. For a solid half decade, Savatage would experience the longest period of their careers without a single member change, a welcome reprieve from the chaos the band had endured throughout the
Edge of Thorns/Handful of Rain period.
Musically, the new album would represent the totality of everything the band had done up to that point in time, and would mark the apex of a grand arc of stylistic development that had been set in motion ever since the Oliva brothers had first collaborated with Paul O'Neill on
Hall of the Mountain King almost a decade prior. For
Dead Winter Dead, Jon and Paul would combine all the musical elements with which they had experimented in over the years into one singular, cohesive work of art. The neo-classical instrumentals of
Hall of the Mountain King; the Broadway-esque ballads of
Gutter Ballet; the rock opera concept of
Streets; the slick radio friendly sound of
Edge of Thorns, the counterpoint vocals of
Handful of Rain; and featuring both lead singers side by side, the entirety of a musical arsenal that Savatage had built up over the course of eight years would be brought to bear, ensuring that
Dead Winter Dead would be by far the most ambitious Savatage album to date. The seeds that had been planted so modestly in the “Prelude to Madness” from
Hall of the Mountain King almost a decade earlier had finally grown enough to bear fruit.
The most epic of Savatage albums kicks off with a degree of symphonic bombast never before heard in “Overture”. Orchestra and band work as one here to deliver some very weighty, heavy chords. From the very beginning, it is made apparent that this Savatage is a whole new beast, more elegant and refined to the older creature we have come to know by now, yet still possessing a respectable amount of bite. The opening instrumental builds up to a massive cannon blast that fades into a delicate, haunting piano-driven track entitled “Sarajevo” that serves as a sort of narrative introduction to the story and setting. Paul's lyrics weave a war-torn scene of Bosnia's decimated capitol sung ever so gently by Zak Stevens. Exploring the great passage of history from the perspective of a stone gargoyle, the track leads back to more symphonic metal territory before a weeping, highly emotional guitar solo takes us into the first proper song, “This is the Time (1990)”. Zak delivers an impassioned overview of the plight of the Bosnian people as they experience freedom for the first time in centuries in a very TSO-sounding ballad, replete with soaring solos and thick orchestration. Some of the words in this song are particularly heartbreaking, not only because of their intended meaning concerning the Bosnians, but also because perhaps, on some subconscious level, Paul's lyrics reflect the story of Savatage itself:
“We placed our years in the hourglass, they were never unearned.
And we seemed destined to watch them pass - it was never our turn.” Knowing all the pain and tragedy that Savatage had endured up to 1995, and the lack of recognition and success they had received for their troubles, it is difficult to hear such poetry and not wonder if Paul was thinking about battles fought and loses suffered that were far closer to home then a war in Eastern Europe.
Once “This is the Time (1990) has faded, an evil, plodding riff takes over as Jon Oliva makes his grand return to lead vocals on the next track “I Am”. Representing those among the Yugoslavians who sought to make war against their neighbors and former country men, Jon's wicked, scratchy delivery of the lyrics here, somewhat different then his more high pitched, screaming approach of earlier years, is highly reminiscent of Alice Cooper, and aptly foreshadows the style he would later pursue with Jon Oliva's Pain. Again, we have band and orchestra working in tandem to lay a bed of symphonic metal madness to support the lyricism. The following song, “Starlight”, starts off gently enough, but the unsettling sound of the acoustic melody and Zak's menacing whisper make it clear that the album is still very much in dark territory. The guitars return as the the song picks up, taking a more metal direction. While Zak is singing the leads here, Jon sings backup in the chorus, giving us our first true taste of both singers performing in tandem on the same track. The song leads into a particularly excellent ride out out section, with Caffery and Pitrelli running riot over a heavily orchestrated but still rather crunchy riff.
The ride-out of “Starlight”serves as a perfect lead in to probably the most metal track on the album, “Doesn't Matter Anyway.” Jon Oliva is back on lead vocals, this time portraying an arms dealer taking advantage of the mounting violence in the divided country. His delivery of the rapid-fire, almost rapping, lyrics is superb, while Middleton and Plate give the song a solid groove. Again, this is one of the more guitar driven tracks, the tag team of Caffery and Pitrelli not holding anything back as they take the listener on a wild metal ride. By contrast, “This Isn't What We Meant” is another impassioned TSO-esque ballad. Portraying the regret that the Yugoslavians must have felt as their new-found liberty was subverted by violent nationalistic fervour, Zak demonstrates that he also has a wide degree of versatility as a vocalist, his soft and gentle delivery of the lighter sections matched by the spit and grit he brings to the fore on the heavier verses. The highlight of the song is doubtlessly the bombastic interplay between metal band and orchestra in the middle section. Proving their skill at mixing classical and metal, Savatage sets the stage for the epic instrumental track that is to follow.
The next track, “Mozart and Madness”, is by far one of Savatage's more memorable instrumentals, one that most likely would have made Criss Oliva proud. A neo-classical metal reworking of Mozart's 25th symphony (perhaps best remembered from the opening of the movie
Amadeus), this track seamlessly blends the excellence of heavy metal and classical music that would later become a hallmark of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Indeed, a revised and expanded version of this track would later appear under the title “Mozart and Memories” on TSO's
Night Castle album in 2009. Jon Oliva's piano work is especially noteworthy on this track, deftly precise, and interwoven equally well with both the band and the orchestra. As the orchestra works it's magic, the guitars cry and the drums and bass boom, and by the time the song is over, the listener is left in awe of how far Savatage's symphonic metal approach has come since “Prelude to Madness”.
A much shorter instrumental, “Memory (Dead Winter Dead into)” sees the band tackling another well-known piece of classical music, this time the fourth movement from Beethoven's famous 9th symphony (aka, the “Ode to Joy”). Starting off acoustic, the song then switches over to an electric guitar rendition of Beethoven's work that builds up into the next song, the album's title track. A mean, crunchy riff brings Savatage back into more metal territory. Zak has the opportunity to take a bit more of an aggressive approach on this track, demonstrating the more metal side of his voice as he sings Paul's lyrics about the Yugoslavians reflecting upon how quickly things spiraled out of control after the initial high of freedom. Again, the real stars here prove to be our twin guitar virtuosos, Caffery and Pitrelli, as the listener is treated to another exceptional ride-out, with solos running wild all over the track.
While the next song, “One Child”, starts out sounding suspiciously like Journey's “Who's Crying Now?”, it ultimately proves to have far more in common with Queen. During the chorus Savatage and orchestra deliver some decidedly heavy chords as the electric guitars compliment the more traditional strings. But it is the song's middle section that proves the centrepiece, for it is here that we find the return of the counterpoint vocals from the last album. Further explored and refined, Savatage continues to develop the complexity of their vocal cannons, again enveloping the listener in a wall of vocals much like “Chance”. The whole section builds up to a dramatic climax before those awesomely fat symphonic chords make their return. Zak takes the song to it's conclusion, his blues Southern drawl reverting to a whisper as the track ends on a tender piano note. “One Child” was selected as the lead single from the album, and it would prove to be Savatage's final music video. Focusing on the orphans created by wars, “One Child” would indeed be one of the band's more striking videos. With the benefit of hindsight, however, there was a song with far greater potential as a lead single waiting on the next track...
Topic: The Savatage Discography - Result and cause... (Read 37332 times)
