Lol if you like #speedmetal checkout mine lmao they called us heavy metal but it was a j9ke about our size, well everyones but me, they day were technical, progressive, djent, etc. rofl if they heard how some of the riffs started theyd call it speed metal too lol anyway sorry for the spam but that's what I do to take my mind off hell freezing over lmao 0 and this comment will self destruct in 666 minutes lmao
I took my girlfriend and her grandson to see TSO in Cleveland last Christmas (tickets were NOT cheap). On the drive in, I played Hall Of The Mountain King in the car. G/F hated it, but when I peeked into the back seat the kid was playing air drums and guitar. Nice memories.
Paul was responsible for most of the Savatage songs I don't like. His influence wasn't all bad but, he did push the broadway type filler songs to flesh out the concepts. I'd rather they trimmed some of the fat. Still one of my favorite bands to this day! Also one of the best live bands I ever saw. They blew Megadeth and Dio away on the Hall Of The Mountain King tour!
Thats why Steve Walochz left the band because always the band path was Paul path and not the band path..Steve stated all the savatage records was Paul thing not savatage thing.
Without Paul O'Neill Savatage would have been done before HOTMK ever got made. Jon was going to be the next singer for Black Sabbath until Paul entered the room.
Criss Oliva is one of my favorite metal guitar players ever. For me, he's up there with Randy Rhoads we talk about guys who had shortened careers but accomplished remarkable things.
I always say that Criss Oliva was the most evolved player of his contemporaries. He took influences from so many greats, transformed it into a style of his own, and rolled with the changes without ever losing his individuality. Forever my favorite guitarist!!
IMO, Criss Oliva had such a great sound--very distinctive and always awesome. It's a shame that he is often overlooked when talking about top metal guitarists, largely because Savatage never really broke through to the next level in terms of popularity. They might have been on their way in the late 80's as they had started putting it all together, but then grunge hit in the early 90's, and so a classic album such as Streets wound up being swept aside, along with most traditional metal in favor of the 234th playing of "Smells like Teen Spirit." It's a shame that he died so young. I was fortunate enough to see him on his final tour, as he was on fire, particularly with their live rendition of Ghost in the Ruins, one of my favorite Savatage songs of all time. It's also interesting to speculate what would have happened if Criss had lived. Would there still have been a Trans Siberian Orchestra? Would Criss have been part of that outfit? I'd like to think he would have been, thus achieving the mainstream success that he never did with Savatage.
@@Fixxer315 to be honest, I think the traditional metal was already on its way out before the grunge asteroid hit. Those bands were seriously in decline after other styles of hard rock took off. You could see it in the rising popularity of groups like The Red hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, Jane's Addiction, and Faith No More. There was a growing belief that heavy metal represented an obsolete framework for understanding the world, and that it was incapable of adapting and evolving into more complex narratives. I'd say this is wrong, but it was the prevailing view by 1989.
Hall of the mountain king - one of the finest heavy metal albums ever made and deserves to be up there with the likes of British steel and number of the beast
For me, Gutter Ballet is their peak. It’s easily in my Top 10 albums of all time. Criss Oliva’s riffs and solos are just phenomenal and Jon’s vocals are filled with emotion. I love it so much.
Criss Oliva was a mastermind. His playing was incredibly fluid and Savatage's songs with him were crammed with musical content but sounded very natural and you never feel like the listening experience is grinding...
@@nigelfarage4119 I've heard him talk a lot in interviews. His brother Jon talked a lot, that's a typical lead vocalist though. Criss seemed grounded, down to earth and just really into music and he let his guitar do most of his talking.. saying he was dumb is ignorant and insulting
I really hope this inspires people who've never listened to or heard of Savatage to check them out, very underrated band that I feel like any old school metal head would love. Great video Pete! Mountain King is definitely their best work, but the fact that you even praised your lowest ranked album, shows how good the band was and the quality of their music.
Best Savatage album for me - Streets: A Rock Opera. One of the greatest albums of all time. I used to sing some songs off that album in a band years ago (just some basic ones though, Jon's voice is too eclectically brilliant to cover in so many of his songs). They were massively underrated.
I saw Savatage on the Gutter Ballet tour, I own every album on cassette and CD. I agree most underrated band ever, Criss Oliva was one of my all time favorite guitar players, sadly missed.
The Dungeons Are Calling by a mile for me .... blew my car stereo speakers back in '85 crankin' Midas Knight at some earth shattering volume..... rock on man.
I'm with you.That's actually probably my favorite, even though I ranked it 3rd only because it's an EP. Midas Knight,Dungeons and City Beneath the Surface are some of their heaviest and best stuff.
@@Yiannis2112 I bought Sirens when it was a new release. Later in 1990 we toured with Savatage on their Gutter Ballet tour.Love the original Savatage with Jon and Criss.
@@brucefranklin6295 Thank you so much for the reply, Bruce! My journey with them starts with the release of Gutter Ballet. Looking forward to a new album from you, as I consider Trouble in the holy trinity of doom, together with Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus. Cheers!
Bravo Pete. Finally a review of the best heavy metal band ever. I saw a lot of live acts, but no one was better than Savatage. Great guys, very friendly! Fight for the rock was better than any glam metal band, by far! Sirens and Power of the night had a huge impact on me. Played em to death. Edge and Handful are very strong albums, if you would take the best 12 songs of those 2 albums, it would probably combine their finest work ever (just listen to their Japan Live album, absolute killer). I agree with your number 1, Hall is majestic. This album stands side by side with Stained Class by Priest. The sad 😢 passing of Chris devastated me back in the day. Still miss him today. Never knew how Jon was able to overcome the death of his kid brother. I thought of Jon the day Vinnie Paul lost Dimebag. Two of the most tragic moments in the history of metal.
INCREDIBLE band! Streets imo was AS strong as Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime, but nobody talks about it, or has even heard about it. Also, for those who love Savatage, check out their early demos under the name of Avatar, as well all of Jon Oliva's solo albums under the name of Jon Oliva's Pain. All killer albums. They are very Savatage sounding.
I agree about Streets. Though I think OM is a tad better overall but Streets was always in my top 3 concept albums along with OM and The Crimson Idol by Wasp.
I agree and Queensryche another band underrated. Saw them live in KC for Operation Mindcrime in 90's never a better show. I sat in my seat mesmerized and even cried it was so good.
Here are my top five: 1. Gutter Ballet (one of my top five metal albums of all time) 2. Hall of the Mountain King 3. Handful of Rain (this album had every reason to not succeed, but man, I played the hell out of this upon release, and still do) 4. Sirens/Dungeons are Calling (I usually rank these together) 5. Streets I would agree that ranking most of their stuff is hard, but Fight for the Rock is by far my least favourite. Title track notwithstanding, I just never enjoyed it. Also, first time poster on your videos, Pete, but I've been catching up on your ranking clips--well done sir!
Pete you are definitely right when you said Savatage was a under rated group. I've always felt that way to. They should have been alot bigger then they was. I've always loved Savatage since the great Dungeons are Calling was released. But I believe Power of the Night was their Greatest. And also The Hall of The Mountain King. Those three was my personal favorite albums. But they truly never released a bad album. And Criss was an awesome! guitarist. Verygood Video Pete. 🙂\m/
My fave is Power of the Night! I saw them at The Marquee Club in London 84/85.... That opening riff to the title track just blew my mind!!....got their autographs too. Didn't care so much for the proggy/epic 10 minute stuff.... But, I have treasured memories of this band.
just saw your video and loved every minute of it. I'm 76 but have been a long time fan of Savatage since the early 90's and saw them live 3 times, last one in Chicago at the Metro I think in 1998 and got some awesome photos with Jon and Johnny. They are definitely one of the most underrated bands ever and such a shame.
Ive been lurking in the background for z few months now.My name is Steve.I absolutely love classic rock and grew up a metalhead since 1983. Savarage RIP Criss was such a great band and amazingly talented to expand to the worldwide phenomenon they became.I can close my eyes and listen to Hall in my head. This channel Pete is a fanboys dream and im another of your hidden fans consuming all the videos and not just this channel geezer. Lol.The music you ate teaching us.Especially tge headbangers ball metalheads who wouldnt allow Maiden pride to appreciate ballads much less THe greatest prog music of the 70s and 80s that we missed out on.Its hard to find true impartial rock journalists out there Pete.
Glad to see Savatage getting some love... 12. Fight for the Rock 11. Power of the Night 10. Sirens 09. The Dungeons Are Calling 08. Poets and Madmen 07. Handful of Rain 06. The Wake of Magellan 05. Gutter Ballet 04. Streets: A Rock Opera 03. Edge of Thorns 02. Hall of the Mountain King 01. Dead Winter Dead DWD was my introduction to Savatage, though I didn't listen to it much initially. HOTMK was the first one that really caught on with me and then I started listening more to DWD, which became my favorite.
1. Gutter Ballet: Title Track is a Top 10 Metal song for me 2. Dead Winter Dead: Carried me over a tough year after an ugly break-up 3. Hall of the Mountain King: 1st album, fondest memories
Good to see some appreciation for the mighty Savatage. Personally, I’d rank Edge of Thorns as my favorite simply because Criss Oliva was on fucking fire all the way through it - he played almost as if he knew his time was coming to an end. But I would say there isn’t a single dud in their entire discography. I’m partial to the Criss era simply because he was so awesome, but I enjoy them all. They’re all monuments of metal to me.
Pete, I wanna thank you revealing Hall od the Mounting King for me back on the Top 20 albums of all time... Since that video of yours if become my favorite song of all time... I love you man!! Thank you so very much... And this video is also Fantastic... Great song comments. Love it!
Ha! Was recommended yer channel. Loving it so far. A 60 year old rocker, Still in a garage band with dudes twenty years younger. Love the Fates Warning vid also. Looking forward to viewing the rest of your work. Stay Metal my Friend ✌
For me Streets is number one. Two is Sirens. I'm so glad you did this. Everyone needs to here this band. All of their albums are great for me. Streets is in my top Ten albums of all bands
As I understand it, Fight for the Rock was a result of the fact that Jon Oliva was employed by Atlantic as an in-house songwriter. He wrote a bunch of songs for other Atlantic artists and the label turned around and told him that Savatage would have have to record them.
Awesome episode Pete. Man, since you like Jon's voice this much, I would LOVE to see an album ranking episode of Morgana Lefay/Lefay. I'm sure you're familiar with them, and Charles' voice is as reminiscent of that of Jon's as you could get. Would be very interesting to see your favorite album out of their amazing and wide discography.
Thank you, Pete! I always enjoy your rankings. I’ve been a moderate fan of Savatage. The albums that I know and love are ranked lower on your list. So, I’m looking forward to listening to your higher ranked ones.
Haven’t played savatage in a long time but use to play power of the night sirens and dungeons a lot and fight for the rock also halls of the mountain king the others I had no idea they existed.so I guess I’ll finally use my Apple Music account a lot more this weekend
Thank you for this! My band FireWolfe is hugely influenced by Savatage and Criss was one of my biggest guitar inspirations. I would rank the albums very similarly with Hall of the Mountain King #1 and Fight For The Rock last. But I still listen to all of the albums from time to time and get inspired anew every time. Sava Legion unite!
Ranking 12 of the Most Underrated Metal Albums in History. 12 - Fight for the Rock 11 - Handful of Rain 10 - Sirens 9 - Poets and Madmen 8 - Dead Winter Dead 7 - Power of the Night 6 - The Wake of Magellan 5 - Gutter Ballet 4 - The Dungeons are Calling 3 - Streets: A Rock Opera 2 - Edge of Thorns 1 - Hall of the Mountain King Yeah I'm with You Pete, Hall of the Mountain King is just Phenomenal.
Yeah, Savatage! My older brother was into Ozzy, Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Dio, and the like, which I like also, but I remember some of the first bands I discovered myself were Testament and Savatage. I bought HOTMK on cassette when I was 16-17, and I must have listened to it hundreds of times. I was also devastated when I head that Criss died in a car crash. I saw TSO for the first time a couple months ago, and it was great. Al Pitrelli and Johnny Lee Middleton, but I would obviously love to see the 'Tage again. My second concert ever was Dio, Megadeth, and Savatage, and maybe that is why I bought HOTMK, or maybe I already had it. Hard to say 30 years later. But I also love most of the Savatage albums. I met the guys after a show on either HOTMK or GB tour, and they signed my Power of the Night cassette, which I have somewhere, but I should have it under glass or something. I also took pictures of a show around then with my Kodak Disc camera which are also lost Somewhere in Time. One of my favorite all time bands, and I am as equally proud of the success of TSO as I am saddened by the loss of Criss.
One of my fave bands of all time. My ranking: 1- Edge of Thorns 2- Handful of Rain 3- Gutter Ballet 4- Hall of The Mountain King 5- Streets: A Rock Opera 6- Dead Winter Dead 7- Power Of The Night 8- Wake of Magellan 9- Sirens 10-Fight For The Rock 11- Poets and Madmen
I saw Savatage open for Megadeth on the Hall of the Mountain King tour back in 1987 at a bingo hall in Bethlehem PA. I also had a hard time getting past Jon Oliva not singing and it took me awhile to accept Zak as the singer. By the way they were superb in concert. 1. Hall of the Mountain King 2. Sirens 3. The dungeons are calling 4. Gutter Ballet 5. Streets 6. Power of the night 7. Edge of Thorns 8. Dead Winter Dead 9. Handful of Rain 10. Poets and Madmen
New to the channel and Savatage. I grew up in the 80's and don't know how I missed these guys. Starting with Hall of the Mountain King. Great stuff thanks!
Love it, greatest metal band ever, my order: 1. Hall Of The Mountain King 2. Edge Of Thorns 3. Gutter Ballet 4. Wake Of Magellan 5. Power Of The Night 6. Streets 7. Dead Winter Dead 8. Handful Of Rain 9. Sirens 10. Poets And Madmen 11. Dungeons Are Caling 12. Fight For The Rock And it is criminal that the Doctor Butched album is almost unknown.
I've been on a huge Savatage kick lately, which is probably how this wound up in my suggested videos...what timing! Hi, Pete - Mike Fleck here. Savatage is one of those bands that I don't think I could ever rank appropriately, since you essentially have different bands over the years. The heavy earlier stuff, the rock opera late '80s and early '90s, Zak Stevens and the band going in even another different direction...tough to pick a true favorite. If I was forced to pick, I'd rank Hall of the Mountain King, Gutter Ballet, and Streets as their best. It's a great trilogy of albums that showcases, in my opinion, the most noticeable evolution of the band over time. Each of them stands on its own merits as VERY strong albums, which only adds to the overall value for me. Incidentally, I recently came across a lot of acoustic demos featuring Jon singing a lot of material from Edge of Thorns, Handful of Rain, Dead Winter Dead, and Wake of Magellan. Very interesting listens, to say the least. Anyway, great video here. Lots of excellent talking points. And if Doctor Butcher Part 2 ever DOES happen, I'm 100% on board haha.
Thank you for making this video, ive learned a lot. I'm a little embarrassed to say I have only recently got into Savatage, even though I'm 43 and a big metal and rock fan. I had heard of them and knew a couple of songs, most notably power of the night and hall of the mountain king, but over the last few months, I've been listening to them non stop. HOTMK in particular is incredible, one of my favourite albums of all time already. I'm going to work my way through the rest of your list now.
My favourite band of all time! This was also the video through which I discovered Sea Of Tranquility, so I thought I‘d come back and put my own Savatage ranking in the comments. I love almost all of these albums equally, so this ranking is always pretty hard for me to do. My last place is definitely my last place, my Top 3 are definitely my Top 3, but the rest in between might change from time to time! 1. Gutter Ballet (1989) 2. Streets (1991) 3. Hall Of The Mountain King (1987) 4. Dead Winter Dead (1995) 5. The Wake Of Magellan (1997) 6. Poets And Madmen (2001) 7. Edge Of Thorns (1993) 8. Handful Of Rain (1994) 9. Power Of The Night (1985) 10. The Dungeons Are Calling (1984) 11. Sirens (1983) 12. Fight For The Rock (1986)
I only started listening to these guys since I started watching your channel, only listened to Hall and Gutter Ballet and love them, don’t know how I missed out on these guys in the 80s!!
My top 5 are: 1) Streets. 2) Gutter ballet. 3) Hall of the mountain king. 4) Power of the night. 5) Sirens. Savatage rules. The Most underrated metal band of all time. Love them.
I discovered Savatage when “Hall Of The Mountain King” was released. My best friend, during our lunch hour at work, grabbed me and he plugged in their cassette in the stereo of his truck while we sat and listened. I’ll never forget hearing those incredible riffs at the intro-WHOA!!🎸🔥However, although “Handful Of Rain”.had great songs, Zachary Stevens killed it for me. Could not get into his vocals at the time and still can’t to this day.-Chris🎧 #justsayin
Some of his vocals seem forced. He didn't emote as well as Jon. I have actually found that I enjoy some of Zack's stuff now but, I couldn't stomach him when he joined. That's more of a reflection of how much I loved Jon Oliva's voice and his all-in approach to his parts! I listened to Edge of Thorns recently and really enjoyed most of it. I was surprised by how good it was considering how little credit I gave it back when it came out.
Zak is s cool guy, but he’s a very one-dimensional singer, especially compared to Jon Oliva, who is like a voice actor singing metal. Zak sounds stiff and robotic to me, like a Broadway star miscast in a metal band.
I got into them totally by chance when they came up in my youtube suggestions, then ended up buying a bunch of their albums. Definitely an underrated gem of a band from that era. I ran into an older guy (In his 50s, I'm 29) at the gym wearing a Savatage shirt and he was impressed someone my age knew who they were.
Hi Pete, funny to see that every of your last ranking videos deal with my personal favorite bands! I was very interested with your PT and now Savatage ranking. And I do agree for the most part of this last one. Would have ranked Streets, EOT and HOR a bit higher but as you said all the savatage discography is killer! Hope young teenagers see this video and feel the same emotions as we get back in time! Madness reigns...🤟🤟🤟Cheers from France
Savatage is my favorite metal band since I first heard "Streets" and that one is my nr.1 album 2. Edge of thorns 3. Gutter ballet 4. Wake of Magellan 5. Hall of the mountain king 6. Dead winter dead 7. Handfull of rain 8. Sirens 9. Dungeons are calling 10. Poets and madmen 11. Power of the night 12. Fight for the right
I can’t believe how similar our taste of music is. You throw me a bit with a couple bands I never heard. I am digging this Savatage episode. Thanks from Jersey.
Another great ranking. I’ve been a big fan of Savatage for years. Got hooked on them from a compilation cassette years ago that had 24 hours ago today on it. I need to pick up several of the discs listed, as I only have probably 5 in my collection
Savatage was such a varied band. Crushing riffs, melodic, classical, blues, jazz and even showtune rock operas. Incredible talent. 24 hours ago is my favorite song along with Gutter Ballet.
You and I are the same age and almost everything you said about this band mirrors how I remember hearing them for the first time and how I feel about each song and album, and yes “Hall” still gives me goosebumps!
1) Streets 2) Gutter ballet 3) Edge of thorns That's my top 3, but i liked them all :-) A coupla of years ago, i had the change to organise 4 gigs for Jon Oliva in Belgium, still great memories of that .
Great Great Metal band.... I own a good chunk of their stuff and dig it a lot. Need to fill in the holes and dig on the rest....Thanks for doing this one 🎶👍🍺🤘🔥
Always been a big Chris Caffrey fan. Liked him in Savatage, love him in TSO! And thanks for teaching me a new word. The next time I comment on Chris' FB page, I'll be sure to tell him what a "crunchoid" sounding player he is...😂 Oh, I'll give you all the credit for it Pete!!
I just love Savatage. Difficult to rank them but my top two would be the same as yours. Hall of the Mountain King just dominated me and my friends boom boxes back in the day. I probably listen to Gutter Ballet more nowadays though. Can, and do most days, listen to When the Crowds are Gone everyday. That said, been really digging Handful of Rain so much more than I used to. I had it but gave it little to no time back in the day, am really enjoying the hell out of it now. Thanks for doing this, they are such an under rated band and deserve some spotlight time. Much appreciated!
Wake of Magellan. I used to run do a 3 mile run back in the day and would listen to this from beginning to end on my cassette player. Loved it and bought Dead Winter Dead and that became a favorite. Of course then I bought them all. One of the greatest band discoveries of my life. To start with Zach on vocals + Al Pitrelli on guitar and then go back in the catalog and discover the great Chris Oliva..just the opposite of your experience.Paul O'Neil's production in Savatage and TSO, along with Jon Oliva's writing and banshee wail made me put this band at the top of my favorites. I even realized later I had a promo of the Avatar album in my huge stack of LPs, not knowing it was an early version of the band. getting Rock info was a lot harder back in the day. Google has spoiled us..and I never want to go back! Your channel is the best.
I can't do it, Pete. I just can't. I tried. The Tage is my favorite metal band of all time (fan since 1989), I'm not able to rank their albums. I love them all equally. Yeah, even Fight For The Rock!! Dude, I really tried. :-)
About to watch this episode. Power of the Night is my favorite. No question that Savatage and in particular Criss Oliva qualify as most underrated. Some people just don't know what they are missing. Love your content Pete. Rock on and stay Cool.
Thanks for doing this. My favorite band nobody ever heard of. I discovered them back in the mid eighties by picking up HOTMK because I liked the cover! Amazing band.
I've been an absolute fan of Savatage since I met them with "Sirens" and they are still one of my favorite bands of all time. Thanks a lot, Pete, for bringing all these amazing albums back and give us the chance of listening them again. This is my top ten : 1. Gutter Ballet 2. Hall of the Mountain King 3. Sirens 4. Power of the Night 5. Streets 6. Edge of Thorns 7. Dead Winter Dead 8. The Wake of Magellan 9. Handful of Rain 10. Poets and Madmen Really looking forward to seeing you ranking Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Dio, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden discography. Greetings from Spain.
No matter how many times I say it … welcome to my middle school teacher life lol. V-32 was a Lakeland, FL music video channel and they had a metal channel. That's where I got my love for Savatage and "Hall of the Mountain King". Hall first, Ballet second, Dead Winter Dead third. And the song "Edge of Thorns" is one killer anthem in a concert.
