POWER OF THE NIGHT

Riffs, riffs, riffs. This album has plenty of them and all of them are tasty with nice little hooks. The production is awesome for it's time (1985) due to the fact of star producer Max Norman producing this, who is a household name for his powerful, clean productions. Chris Oliva's guitar work is unbeatable yet again, as this album shows plenty of his creative solos and riffs. The whole band is tight on the songs, and Savatage planned all these songs very well before recording. The album starts off with the killer title track "Power of the Night" which has one of the greatest riffs I've ever heard and this song is more or less based around the groove of the band, than the singing with a legendary chorus passage: RAISE THE FIST OF THE METAL CHILD!!!

#2 on this album is "Unusual" which is a more vocal-oriented song that has some eerie keyboards,and guitar parts to give the album some needed varience. Steve Wacholz does a great job pounding the skins on this album, and Keith Collins does some pretty bass playing to back up the band nicely. Jon Oliva ails like a madman about to rip off someones balls on this album.

Anyways track number three is "Warriors" and is one of the catchiest songs on the cd which opens with a cool guitar part and then has some outstanding Vocals during the Verse and Chorus. As Jon Oliva chants "Warriors, warriors, warriors of the World" I always think of the Manowar cd "Warriors of the World"....were Manowar Savatage fans? Warriors is one of early Sava's best song period in my opinion.

Next up is "Necrophilia" which starts off with another great guitar riff, and busts into a heavy rockin' song, that lasts the remainder of the song (which is not a bad thing in the least bit as this is one of Savas most killer tracks ever). If you want metal with catchy riffs rocking songs then this is the one for you. Like any of Savatage's early CDs.

"Washed Out" is the next offering on Power of the Night and although it is a short song it delivers some pretty good fast paced riffage.

"Hard For Love" is one of my fave songs on this album as it has a very catchy guitar part and a sweet and memorable chorus to boot.

"Fountain of Youth" is a special song on here, with some simple but very effective axe work by Criss Oliva. I love Jon Olivas screams in this song so much it gets me going all the time. The atmosphere of this track always captures me.

Next up is "Skull Session" which starts off with a fast powerful riff and then turns into a groovy verse with plenty of surprises. One of the less memorable songs on the disc, but still solid though.

"Stuck on You" has yet a handful of great riffs, but is the weakest track on POTN in my book. The song becomes tired pretty fast, but is still worth a listen of course.

"In the Dream", the closing piece, is more of a mellow track, which is Savatage's first real power ballad, as it suits the ending of the album, and still has that edge that is very attracting to the ears. The song has a sentimental vibe with sad lyrics and a catchy chorus. Very good indeed!

Overall this is a great album from start to finish (with possible exception of Skull Session and Stuck on You) and should be in your collection if you like Metal/Hard Rock of the 80's or Savatage. Traditional US power metal at it's best! Not interestening for a stucked proghead though, but already for the casual classic metal collector/listener.

album rating: 8.5/10 points = 85 % on MPV scale = 4/5 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