#jon oliva

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Savatage

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Savatage - Rage

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Wednesday, November 12: Savatage, "Rage"

R.I.P. Criss Oliva (1963-1993)

Nobody saw Sirens coming: Avatar had been woodshedding and gigging in Florida for about 4 years before changing their name to Savatage and independently releasing their debut, but that record sent shockwaves across the underground with its combination of disciplined writing and playing and focused attack supported by production that was low-budget but not low-rent.  “Rage” was everything its title promised, from Criss Oliva’s frenetic riffing and Jon Oliva’s even more frantic snarling and yelping to Steve “Dr. Killdrums” Wacholz pummeling his kit, and even though it didn’t reinvent anything it was still a jolt on account of being diamond sharp as the band played from a place of experience versus simply coasting on energy.

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Lançado em 24 de outubro de 1995, Dead Winter Dead é o 9º álbum de estúdio do Savatage. Com faixas como “Starlight”, “This Is the Time (1990)” e “I Am” no tracklist, o disco é um álbum conceitual que narra a história a partir das perspectivas de um garoto sérvio, uma garota bósnia e um homem idoso, tendo como cenário a Guerra da Bósnia, que ainda estava em andamento na época.

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🖤 Ayreontasia Inktober Day 11-12: Favorite Confusing Word or Lyric that Tobi has Used 🖤

Death is just a Feeling is an Avantasia hidden gem, and this lyric makes it even better 🤣

Jon Oliva, the singer, was so confused by this lyric he kept asking Tobi “what the fuck is Finitude?!” So I had to incorporate that here 😂

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Savatage: Hall Of The Mountain King (1987)

Cover Art by Gary Smith

Atlantic Records

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Hall of the Mountain King (1987)

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The Devils I Know - Number 14

Welcome to “The Devils I Know!” For this spooky time of year, from now till Halloween, I’ll be counting down My Top 31 Depictions of the Devil, from movies, television, video games, and more! Today’s Devil is a Trans-Siberian Menace. Number 14 is…The Version from “Beethoven’s Last Night.”

“Beethoven’s Last Night” is a rock opera created by Trans-Siberian Orchestra – a group most well-known for their many, MANY Christmastime albums and Yuletide song covers. The story is sort of a bizarre blend of “Faust” and “A Christmas Carol,” taking place on – as the title implies – the last night of Ludwig Von Beethoven’s life. Moments before what will be his death, time stops and the Composer is first confronted by the angelic figure of Fate, and her warped son, Twist, who are planning to escort Beethoven to Heaven even as the composer is in the midst of completing his Tenth Symphony.

However, before the pair can do this, the Devil himself – here called Mephistopheles – sweeps into the room and declares that Beethoven’s soul belongs to him. However, he is willing to let Beethoven’s soul go in exchange for one simple thing: the destruction of the Tenth Symphony. Beethoven is torn by a monumental choice: either allow himself to be damned for all eternity, or give up his greatest masterpiece and final legacy. Fate offers to help, and takes Beethoven on a trip through his past, as the composer hopes he can change his life around and find some way to save both himself and his life’s work. This endeavor does not go the way Beethoven hoped, and when he returns to the present, the Devil is still waiting for him. But Mephistopheles offers a new counter-bargain: he points to a small child, a lonely orphan, shivering in the streets. He declares that if Beethoven is so desperate to keep his soul and his music, he will let him have both…but the girl and her soul will, as a result, be given up to the Devil. Another monumental decision stands before Beethoven as a result: save himself and his creation, or let an innocent child – a girl he knows nothing about – be condemned to an undeserved fate of torture and despair. I absolutely LOVE Beethoven’s Last Night. It’s never been staged as a proper stage show, but it HAS been performed in a concert form many times, and there are multiple editions of the album to pick from. Fittingly, multiple performers have sung the role of Mephistopheles in the show. The original singer, on the album, is Jon Oliva; Oliva’s vocals remind me distinctly of characters like Mark Hamill’s Joker or Steven Blum’s Green Goblin. His Devil is a shrill, cackling creature with a decidedly maniacal quality to his voice, but there’s also a smoothness and a sharpness to it, and even a sense of raw power in several points. You never forget that this is a being of cosmic and anti-divine might, but he’s also entertainingly wicked. In the concerts, the role has been sung by Jeff Scott Soto and Ronny Munroe. Soto’s Devil is a little more flamboyant in his gestures and expressions, really playing up the Devil as a master showman who knows how to make a big entrance. Munroe, meanwhile, plays the character as a much more coldhearted, tough sort of character, with moments of terrible stillness punctuated by sharp and sudden motions and vocal changes, creating an unpredictable and frightening character.

All three of these Devils do a fantastic job. I think, personally, Munroe might be my favorite, but Soto and Oliva are utterly brilliant, as well. Kudos, also, to artist Greg Hildebrandt, who created MANY pieces of artwork related to the album, for promotional and storytelling purposes. His dark-shrouded, shadowy Devil is a black-cloaked walking archetype of evil, with serpent-like eyes and clawed hands, and looks magnificent when paired against the powerful silhouette of Beethoven and the purity of Fate. No matter which way you slice it, Mephistopheles in “Beethoven’s Last Night” is one of the greats in my book. He and all his incarnations are more than worthy of a place in my Top 15.

Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 13! HINT: Two Devils For the Price of One.