THE WAKE OF MAGELLAN

Savatage's return to narrative concept albums on Dead Winter Dead was strong enough to prompt another concept - this time, a suicidal sailor taking his boat out to the deep ocean, only to find new reason to live. This time around, they dial up the progressive aspects of their music, creating the most prog metal thing they'd put out for quite some time. It's not super-proggy by any means - don't be fooled by the nod to Dream Theater in the liner notes - but Jon Oliva lets himself get more indulgent with his keyboard work and song structures, yielding an enjoyable light-prog metal experience.