Savatage – Power of the Night (1985, Atlantic Records)

1. “Power of the Night” … 5:12
2. “Unusual” … 4:23
3. “Warriors” … 4:00
4. “Necrophilia” … 3:35
5. “Washed Out” … 2:13
6. “Hard for Love” … 3:57
7. “Fountain of Youth” … 4:28
8. “Skull Session” … 3:18
9. “Stuck on You” … 3:06
10. “In the Dream” … 4:10

Band:
Jon Oliva – Vocals, Keyboards
Criss Oliva – Guitars
Keith Collins – Bass
Steve Wacholz – Drums

Producer: Max Norman

This was the band’s third release and it really signaled the changes to come over the band’s next two releases. I can definitely hear similarities here to what I believe is their best effort — 1987’s Hall of the Mountain King.

Also, “Hard for Love” is a fairly commercial effort, giving another taste of the future when the band would follow this release up the very next year with the mainstream hard rock sounds of Fight for the Rock. Not that I’m complaining though, it’s a darn catchy piece of almost hair metal. The rest of the album does not follow that format, it’s power metal through and through.

Though respected, this album generally doesn’t seem to rank amongst the best of the Savatage albums. I’m not sure why. There’s some filler here but “Power of the Night”, “”Warriors”, “Unusual” and “Necrophilia” are classic Savatage tracks.

Highlights: “Power of the Night”, “Unusual”, “Warriors”, “Necrophilia”, “Hard for Love”, “In the Dream”

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E o trupa speciala pentru sufletul meu, o trupa care care imbina heavy metal-ul cu elemente de progressive si le iese chiar bine. Piesa zilei este Morphine child”, facand referire la problemele tinerilot din zilele noastre. Piesa face parte de pe albumul “Poets and Madmen” (2001), fiind dupa mineun album de exceptie, mai ales ca reprezinta si ultima realizare in formula Savatage.

There’s a thief on a summer’s night
Across an ocean
Who sees another’s life fading away

And of this life he writes
Without emotion
Then pushes it from sight
Somewhere faraway
To a distant land
Every tear betrayed
And never makes
And never makes
And never makes
And never makes a stand
never Makes a stand
Lord there’s something wrong
never Makes a stand

Could a star’s forgotten light
A child’s devotion
Embrace eternal night
In shallow graves

As we watch from distant heights
No breath or motion
Still every ghost must haunt in its own way
Sleep beneath my dreams
Safe within my hands
Where I never under
Never under
Never understand

Lord there’s something wrong

No one remembers
No one denies
No one asks questions
No one replies

Here nothing enters
Nothing departs
Here nothing’s ended
If nothing starts

In your life could you carry on
Could you never think about it
Till in time you start to doubt it

Then you close your eyes
Is it really gone
How in truth can you defend her
If you’re really not remembering

No regrets
If you just forget
If a memory is lenient
You can find it most convenient
So you let it fade
Till it’s very vague
Just a silhouette of shadows
But the shadows are still lingering

Still I hold you there
With your endless stare

I’m too old to be living this
Lived to long to be given this
Can our god be forgiving this

I had a light that shined
Across my mind
Rarely see it any more

Now it is mostly dark
Accept for sparks
Can’t remember what they’re for

I am the morphine child
The dream defiled
The never ending metaphor
I am the wizard oz
Result and cause
Never look behind that door

Cantations
Cantations
Cantations
Cantations

Never listen to the crowd before me
Never listen to the self ordained
Never really wanted to believe it any way

Time is fading
Night is calling
I am on my way

Turn around turn around
Turn around turn around

Time is fading
Night is calling
I am on my…

Savatage – Hall of the Mountain King (1987, Atlantic Records)

Track Listing:
1. “24 Hrs. Ago” … 4:56
2. “Beyond the Doors of the Dark” … 5:07
3. “Legions” … 4:57
4. “Strange Wings” … 3:45
5. “Prelude to Madness” … 3:13
6. “Hall of the Mountain King” … 5:55
7. “Price You Pay” … 3:51
8. “White Witch” … 3:31
9. “Last Dawn” …1:15
10. “Devastation” … 3:37

Band:
Jon Oliva – Lead Vocals, Piano
Criss Oliva – Guitar
Johnny Lee Middleton – Bass, Backing Vocals
Steve Wacholz – Drums
Robert Kinkel – Keyboards

Produced by: Paul O’Neill

My favorite Savatage release and one of my favorite albums ever. It was the first Savatage album I tried and that was because it was the cheapest Savatage album I could find at FYE one day. I think it had the “NICE PRICE” of $9.99. Score!

I was blown away by this album and I still am to this day. Creepy and atmospheric, nothing before or since by the band has come close to this release, IMO.

My favorite track is “Hall of the Mountain King” where Jon Oliva really goes insane.

Highlights: Everything, one of the best albums I’ve ever heard