EDGE OF THORNS

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This Savatage's record was the Criss Oliva's last one, before he was killed by a drunk driver in a road... And the first with Zachary Stevens on vocals, who is one of the most original and personal singers I've heard in my whole life.

Maybe It's one of the most hard-rocking works of Savatage. In that time, Jon Oliva wasn't an official member of the band, although he played piano, keyboards and some drums here (and he took part of the composition too...). For that, we can hear a lot of the Criss Oliva's touch in the composition, and "Edge of Thorns" it's a work less symphonic and bombastic than the two previous "Gutter Ballet" and the great masterpiece "Streets". But it's still a masterpiece in my opinion and it still have great progressive and symphonic moments, but in a more guitar-oriented way.

Every Savatage's album is different from all the others, and this is any exception. When you hear this album, it's obviously Savatage, but with a very different feeling than the previous "Streets" and the upcoming "Handful of Rain". That's one of the things that make Savatage a very special band...

Best songs: it's difficult to say what are the best songs of this album, because it has no weak tracks. But if I had to choose, the best for me are: Edge of Thorns, Follow Me and All That I Bleed. But I also love Damien, He Carves His Stone, Sleep, Miles Away...

Conclusion: maybe if you are an obsessed progressive fanatic, you will not be able to apreciate this album and the Savatage's work, but I recommend it to everyone who loves really good music (being progressive or not) I will not give "Edge of Thorn" the perfect rating, because it's a little step under the Savatage's metal operas in quality, and it's also a bit less progressive and symphonic, being more hard rock and classic heavy metal oriented... Nevertheless, you'll hardly find a metal album with such a great sound, such great compositions, and with such a great guitar player... The very missed Criss Oliva, in his last (and marvellous) recording! Incredible music.

My rating: ****1/2

"Edge Of Thorns" is a huge turning point for Savatage in so many ways. What was initially meant to be a record of new beginnings later became the record of one big ending. The ending in the form of the last record of one of the best guitarists of our time, Mr. Criss Oliva, who passed away soon after Savatage finished the tour for this album. This record is Criss' swan song and a great epitaph to one of the greatest musicians who ever walked the earth.

Well, I mentioned before, that this record has a handful of new beginnings. The most significant one is that Mountain King handed his vocal duties to Zachary Stevens. I was a little bit sceptic about the thing at the start, since Jon is such a great singer, but hell, Zakk grew on me in no time. His voice isn't as powerful as Jon's and he sounds a bit softer than him, but he really puts all of his emotions in his singing and he has a great voice color.

And like as they would knew that ''Edge'' would be Criss' last record, Savatage decided to make a guitar based record, different from orchestra/piano based Gutter Ballet and especially Streets. You couldn't say that Edge Of Thorns is a ''back to the roots'' record, though. It's somewhere between their early works and their later works with Stevens.

Nevertheless, this record has a fair share of everything: slow piano intros and ballads, powerful choruses, great solos and riffs and even some occassional thrashy moments (just check the break in He Carves His Stone). The production is great, but then again, I've never heard a Savatage album with bad production. Criss' playing has again evolved a lot on this album. His riff ideas are still catchy as hell, and his solos and leads are better than ever on here. There is actually quite a lot of reverb used on here, but it suits awkwardly awesome into the music. The intros are usually Jon's piano parts, but he also plays along with Criss' chords most of the time, which gives the music some sort of depth and melody. Doc and Johnny make a good rhythm section, especially Wacholz puts on a great drum performance, with lots of fills and great beats.

The overall feel of the record is great. It is an expirience, not just a record! There are some beaufitul and touching moment and there are some total power monsters.

Highligts? Huh, all of them, except maybe the solid, but in songwriting terms by Sava- standards average "Skraggy's Tomb". But the most memorable stuff is: the powerful choruses of the title piece and "Follow Me", touching balladry of "All That I Bleed" (they usually play this one live for Criss) and "Sleep", also the uncomparable "Conversation Piece" with it's mind-blowing chorus or the pure punch of "Damien"!

This is definitely an extraordinary record from the (in my book honestly) greatest Metal band of all time and a great purchase in every way. But In respect of an proghead's ears I say listen to the album first, because it may be not proggy enough for you. I can't give this record any less than 5 stars though, since I rate/review an album in terms of quality, not how proggy an album is. It's all about the music, don't forget. And it really can't go much better than this excellent stuff here. Cheers!

R.I.P. Criss Oliva...your work will live on 'til all eternity, specially for those who are loyal to this uncomparable band.

album rating: 9.5/10 points = 96 % on MPV scale = 5/5 stars

point-system: 0 - 3 points = 1 star / 3.5 - 5.5 points = 2 stars / 6 - 7 points = 3 stars / 7.5 - 8.5 points = 4 stars / 9 - 10 points = 5 stars

Criss Oliva's last musical document

Everybody knows what happend with Criss Oliva in 1993, a drunk driver killed him, and another fabulous musician leaves his soul to the heaven. R.I.P. So this is second best after the masterpiece Streets, in fact this is also a masterpiece of prog metal, absolute flawless album. From the cover to the last tune Sleep (what a beutiful track) this album kick ass. A more straight-up heavy metal approach, but maintains a progressive edge, in a enough cantity to be a prog metal album not just a heavy metal album. The result is a damn good one from the fastest tunes Damien, Skraggy's Tomb to the mid tempo pieces Degrees Of Sanity and Conversation piece and the slow ones Sleep, Exit Music, Savatage delivers the best of his carere. Jon Oliva did a very great job making some keys passages that is hard to forget just listen to Exit music, not to mention his brother, one of the best guitar hero from metal, the rest of the musicians are also high skilled, the voice of Zachary Stevens, match perfect with this kind of music, great voice, and the piece where it showed the true talent of this yound man (then) is All that i bleed, super. In the end a masterpiece of prog metal history 5 stars, and if you don't have this record buy it now worth every second of it. Recommended, and one of my favourite albums ever.

You guys ARE kidding me, right? RIGHT?

So, here we are at the Edge of Thorns, the so called magnum opus of Savatage and Chris Oliva's last album. It was recorded before he was hit and killed by a drunken driver, another great loss to metal, much like the death Cliff Burton was also a great loss. However, this album is not as good as its grade may make you think and it is not the best work of Savatage with Chris Oliva (that being Streets) as it is not also the best work of Savatage ever (that being The Wake of Magellan or Dead Winter Dead). In fact, this is a pretty weak album and i am really surprised it could get so many good grades and reviews.

However, i must admit that Edge of Thorns is a big turning point for Savatage: Zak Stevens tackles the singing department, a significant improvement since Jon Oliva's vocals don't fit well with Savatage's new approach, this is Chris Oliva's last album ever and it is also the last album where Savatage had only progressive influences, since from Handful of Rain they where clearly on the progressive metal track (although i consider Streets to be their first truly progressive metal album).

Grade and Final Thoughts

Though being praised as a good album, most of Edge of Thorns go from mediocre to average, with only very few good moments and that is why i give this album a two star grade (well, actually 1,5 stars but anyway. . .). i'm just glad that they got back on tracks in Handful of Rain.

The highlights go to Edge of Thorns, Labyrinths, Follow Me, Exit Music (best song in the album in my opinion), All That I Bleed and Sleep.

The saddest moments are: He Carves His Stone, Skraggy's Tomb (worst song in the album, in my opinion) and Conversation Piece (cup of tea, yeah yeah??, seriously man, wtf is that???).

This album is good, there's little question about it. But is it progressive?

I'll say from the get-go: NO. This is not really progressive music, by any means. This is very well- crafted, intelligent heavy metal with pianos and very good melodies, plus excellent musicianship of all parts involved. But other than that, neither the usual elements of the narrow definition of progressive- metal nor the more form-related ones that informed most progressive-rock are here to be found.

This is heavy metal crafted after QUEENSRYCHE. If you've ever heard that band's superb "Operation: Mindcrime", then you'll have a decent idea of what this record sounds like. Good riffs, thunderous, empty drums, pianos used not only as background but in some important part of songs, and loud, soaring vocals that overpower anything that dares to defy them.

The music has a certain majestic tone to it. It sounds full of grandeur, full of elegance. Probably, that's why many people called this and other albums "progressive metal". After all, the metal genre was not really a darling of the mainstream media, and any kind of metal that sounded elegant or highly- polished must have been "progressive" for some people.

But musically, the progressive-link is weak. Sure, melodies are great and there are some instrumental passages and new ideas, but they're so unimportant in comparison to the main musical body which is made of plain heavy metal, that this record barely fits the description (if we can find one).

Nevertheless, "Edge of Thorns" is a much more accomplished album than "Hail of the Mountain King" (the previous one I reviewed) and it should be an addition for any metal fan's collection. In the progressive scale, it gets a 2.5. As a metal album, it gets a 4.5. We'll average this as a 4, as the quality of the music overcomes its lack of progressiveness.