Savatage Retrospective

Timestamps:
Sirens: 7:22
The Dungeons Are Calling: 9:51
Power of the Night: 12:30
Fight for the Rock: 15:28
Hall of the Mountain King: 20:45
Gutter Ballet: 27:53
Streets: A Rock Opera: 34:37
Edge of Thorns: 40:18
Handful of Rain: 46:12
Dead Winter Dead: 50:44
The Wake of Magellan: 53:33
Poets and Madmen: 56:09
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[@johnoliva5014]

This is Jon Oliva I really want to thank you for this video I enjoyed it very much

[@DownFallNetWork]

If you are indeed the king, I am honored. Thank you so much for watching.

[@acelogan5591]

Do you have the Target s lyrics? I cant find them anywhere

[@danielagado1731]

I remember jon it was savatage opening for megadeth in mcallen Texas 1987 some jerk threw a shoe at you and you told the entire band to get off the stage damn I was angry because I love savatage hope your doing great only one savatage with criss oliva and jon oliva the real savatage is number one in the world 🌎

[@ryanwilson2016]

I saw you sing with obituary, jeez maybe 8 years ago, you absolutely killed it! Truly looked like you all were having the best time. I've seen them many, many times and that was the hands down best performance I've seen. Thank you for everything you've done. You are responsible for some of the best metal of all time. Not only with what you have actually done but even what you've influenced. Music owes you a huge debt of gratitude!

[@mitchelltheawesome1]

Savatage is the greatest metal band that nobody has heard of. Criminally underrated in every way. Streets is far and away my favorite record of the 90's.

[@Hecatecrossways]

DT Jesus 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@outoftime788]

streets was the wors lol. na it was wors than gutter

[@Jaysin31]

Streets is incredible. My favorite release by then as well. But in no way is Savatage underrated. Find and show me one comment where someone isn't singing their praises from a mountain top. Record companies gave Paul practically unlimited budgets to record. They are also extraordinarily highly acclaimed by their piers. I just do get why so many people think they are underrated or undervalued or whatever. They're f'N INCREDIBLE!!!!! I would give them the highest score with dazzling stars in every category. Am I underrating them??? It seems nobody ever underrates them. It's strange, but because of this sometimes I feel maybe they're overrated. Everyone who knows and loves them thinks the rest of the world should too. And that's just friggin nuts.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

And Hall of the Mountain King was the first metal shirt I ever owned. It wasn't a tour shirt.. Mind you. But I wore that f***** with pride. Front had the album cover. Back had a golden cup with all the members faces floating in the smoke. It was cool to me in my high school years.

[@johnkatsoudas4767]

Savatage are a great band!! They should have been much bigger than they were. I love both eras Jon oliva, and Zach Steven's era alot. Criss Oliva was an amazing guitar player.

[@marksobkowiak9959]

@@2000jago I hear ya,,,,HOWEVER, Edge of Thorns is a great album

[@DokkenSabbath]

I'm a huge Savatage fan. Have been my whole life, I love every album. Really good retrospective.

[@judowrestlerka]

Ive hung out with Jon and Chris Caffery in NY where the two lived for a while. Also go to see them many, many times. Great guys. Miss them desperately. RIP Paul O'neil

[@_racoon_7778]

Savatage is still number one on my list🎸🎸🎸🎸

[@123612100]

Savatage rules but you need to do a retrospective of Coroner.

[@memnoch6646]

Great job! Underrated band and Criss Oliva is the most underrated guitarist maybe ever.

[@craighenry2351]

I agree. I think maybe the only reason I don’t put him above a few other people is that he died too young, before we could see all that he could do. As far as underrated and taking into account style, he is very similar to but better than than two equally underrated guitarists, Alex Scolnick (Testament), who has gotten some acclaim and another criminally underrated guitarist, Jim Matheos (Fates Warning).

[@CHAOSMOVEMENT]

What a fucking excellent coverage of Savatage. I've loved this band since I was 14, a dude in my networking class with a long trench coat told me, "dude, you should check out SAVATAGE dude, they fucking slay!" And I did, and they did.

[@Foxentails]

Hall of the mountain king, gutter ballet and Streets is one of the best 3 album runs in metal of all times

[@PerpetualArt]

Dungeon and Dragons metal, that is what you would have called it back in the 80s. I never used this term, but I heard people saying it all the time.

[@KevinZ2269]

I saw these guys back in the day on Vine street in Hollywood!! Had to be late 80,s early 90,s. The heaviest most powerful band I have ever seen. The PA actually caught on fire ! 🔥 not kidding literally did ! They are the most original band I have ever heard also. Something very theatrical and different about these guys. I have always been addicted to there sound. I love and appreciate you guys very much. I’m also from Florida!!

[@SavoxYT]

Oh hey, I can watch this again. This had been blocked here for ages.

[@cryptochronic2981]

Great Video!! Love All these Albums. Own all...seen Many times live had privilege of meeting these guys. Favorite Metal Band long live the Mountain King!!

[@mojoi_iv_v7_i975]

Savatage were quite literally a decade ahead of their time. They were probably the first metal band who wrote most of their songs in alternate tunings. Sure they used standard tunings and tuned down a half step but they also tuned down a whole step, tuned to drop D and I think they even used Drop C on occassion. Nobody else was doing this in the 80's. At least not to the extent Savatage was. True metal pioneers and they never get credit for it! And don't even get me started on how Chris Oliva has been over looked in the guitar community. Hands down the most underrated metal band in every way imaginable!

[@StackBundle]

Black Sabbath (Tony Iomi) was probably the first hard rock group to heavily utilize down tunings and that was a decade before Criss and Jon were writing songs as Avatar. Regardless, I'm pretty sure most/all of the POTN album is in drop c. It definitely wasn't common at the time.

[@BobNSuch]

Love this!!! Big Savatage fan...I love your sarcasm

[@Setha107]

Great video! Thanks for doing this. Savatage really is a monumental band. Besides Michael Jackson, Jon is one of my favorite vocalists. And Criss is certainly a influence for my guitar playing.

[@madladd57]

Maybe a late reaction on this vid but. Thank you on doing this retropsective on Savatage. On of my favorites for sure and underrated in my opinion. \m/

[@Fabretteable]

One of a kind - wonderful!

[@RScott413]

It is nothing short of a crime that these guys weren't on the waves constantly back in the 80s.

[@richardcranium5048]

Shortly after the death of his brother Chris, Jon Oliva went in the studio and laid down what amounted to a solo album under the name Doctor Butcher and its phenomenal led by the song Dont Talk To Me... two thumbs up o highly recommend checking it out

[@houseofclouse1509]

Fantastic video! I will have to check this band out. I love Iced Earth and Sanctuary so I should really enjoy these guys!

[@WeGachaMetal]

Great job here. You really nailed this bro....

[@thedddemon]

Excellent retro thanks!

[@nte6355]

The by far best video I've ever seen about Savatage. Love this! I think you would also enjoy Grave Digger and Running Wild. Not US Power Metal but very similar...

[@norsecrafts5433]

Gutter buffet. Dude, that shit cracked me up! Love these Retrospectives man, keep them coming.

[@zackmccrea4731]

ballet

[@Willee64]

Wacholz is pronounced wock-olls. Have seen them several times. Even went to the Criss tribute concert in 2003 (10 years after his death) in Ybor City, Florida.

[@jacek_poplawski]

I enjoyed this movie a lot, I will try to watch more, I see you have also Dio and Ozzy and maybe also other cool stuff :) thanks for the great work

[@SiCkDiAbLo]

Great video, enjoyed it...Thanks

[@FelipeAyres]

Hey dude! I really enjoyed your retrospective! It is very nice to see a timeline like that with your personal comments and preferences. You made me reavaliate some albums in fact! Handful for me for example was really out of place and context (except "chance" which was the first savatage track I heard and made me fall in love for the band). But hearing your opinion on that was nice and made me rethink the album. Poets and madmen is my favourite, I guess for emotional reason. This is the closer of original savatage we heard, but with a more modern approach I guess which I like very much, and a was 15 when it was released, I saw them in Brazil, it was amazing, made a mark. Well thx for the video bro!

[@FelipeAyres]

PS: to hear the one and only single Jon Olivia's scream on surrender was such a joy!

[@_racoon_7778]

Savatage-in the dream I dedicated to my gf when she passed away bc honestly shes all i dream of...😔🎸🎤🎹

[@MrAlfisti21]

Man I almost burst into tears. I cannot imagine losing my wife. Be strong man

[@gladieuxsound5449]

Damn, man. I'm so sorry for your loss. I couldn't imagine. Stay strong!

[@andrewtaylor1670]

Went through the same nightmare , music saves

[@donstevenson2660]

I was a Heathen fan and went to a small club to find out they were a no show, but Savatage jumped up from the supporting slot. The Oliva Brothers and Doc Killdrums were the best live set I'd seen in years. That was '87 and of course already late to the party, but that unit will be the one I remember.

[@GERAH717]

One of my favorite band

[@norcalvirg]

Amazing dude, good job! \m/ \m/

[@marksobkowiak9959]

Streets is my second favorite Tage album after H.O.T.M.K. Chris's tone is just SAVAGE

[@borderlinedelusion]

Hey guys. I just wanted to thank this station.i am an old school 80s metal head. I want to share my music with u guys. Dio rules

[@SouthernSkeptic]

I think Edge Of Thorns is their best record, but I love everything they did when Criss was alive.

[@charalamboscharalambous1172]

Totally!! Constantly overlooked. Top notch guitar work.

[@danzemacabre8899]

Dude, don't forget Helloween, Walls of Jericho was a fave in the 80s, also right on with Savatage , wore out Sirens also

[@borderlinedelusion]

Keep up the good work . It’s great to see someone talking about these bands.i don’t know if u did a retrospective on. Manowar?? I play guitar and write words for my band borderline delusion. We were a metal band . Now we sound more like no doubt.. But I am trying to bring back my metal roots one day..but seriously, u r doing a great job ..

[@sketchyjoker455_4]

Love your video style. The way you talk reminds me of KZbinr NakeyJakey

[@amandam8103]

This is gold

[@miguelfc3917]

I'm now discovering Rock-metal music groups in English. Savatage has a remarkable vocalist although is both brothers that make it better. You should also make a retrospective on helloween or blind guardian. Great video, entertaining and very informative with great music 🤘😎

[@ynwcuadra8494]

fight for the rock is actually one of my top 5 savatage album, also Hyde and red light paradise are on my top 15 favorite savatage songs, and yes Hyde is creepy. Also Red Light Paradise is on my top 10 favorite savatage songs.

[@judowrestlerka]

White Witch was originally on Dungeons Are Calling....I had an original printing.

[@lemmyhead8578]

I first heard of Savatage when I was a wee lad, maybe about 12, and purchased a live album from Japan while on vacation. Great fucking band.

[@robertlundgren2704]

My dad got me into savatage

[@patricklarsh7063]

I compare the death of Criss to the retirement of Chris DeGarmo. We lost 2 very special talents

[@SouthernSkeptic]

A cup of tayyyyyy.

[@richhayes4359]

1. Ma-GEL-len 2. 'Gutter Buffet' - Ololololol! 3. Great work. Very entertaining and informative.

[@bloodofmyenemies]

I guess they figured after King Diamond they they could also pull off evil tea lyrics.

[@dalime605]

kudos for mentioning medieval steel. that album kicks ass \../

[@paulwills1459]

jon is right there with halford dio and dickinson on vocals and criss was as good as any guitarist ever !!!

[@ctfan1486]

Agree on vocalist. But Criss was better than any guitarist in priest maiden or dio.

[@paulwills1459]

@@ctfan1486 hard to argue that .. too bad we never got see him all the way till now

[@PortugueseMACPOW]

My top 5 vocalists: -Jon Oliva -King Diamond -Dio -Rob Halford -Bruce Dickenson

[@martynelson3013]

The most epic opera ever...

[@Feegle32]

The sign of a great band for me is when I can’t pick a favorite album. Savatage has a definitely one of those bands.

[@shangri-la-la-la]

Guy who threw in a Sirens cassette in with the Dark Angel Leave Scars LP I bought 15 years ago. Thank you.

[@arturfilipecastanha580]

Would you consider do a retrospective of ICED EARTH? My fav us Power Metal band

[@thesentinel5523]

Mine too!

[@arturfilipecastanha580]

Saw them live twice in Portugal and they are great live band and Jon Schaffer was class

[@johnkatsoudas4767]

Artur Filipe Castanha I agree!!!! Iced Earth is one of the greatest bands that have released many great albums. Iced Earth has way more great songs on their albums than filler songs. They are the most consistent band ever when it comes to quality in my opinion. I pretty much love all of their albums with the exception of The Crucible Of Man. I especially love Night Of The Stormrider, The Dark Saga, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Horror Show, The Glorious Burden, Dystopia, Plagues Of Babylon, Debut album, and Incorruptible. I also love the side projects that Jon Schaffer has done such as Demons And Wizards and especially Sons Of Liberty.

[@nephalemresurrection7518]

We also want Iced Earth retrospective 💙💚

[@hectorescobar9450]

Ridiculously underrated genre.Ine thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of these bands were ether short lived or had great first few albums but failed to keep the quality after that. Reason maybe why Euro Power thrived more with bands like Blind Guardian and Helloween being quite a bit more consistent in quality throughout their careers

[@danielblake1537]

Lol I was going to say frontman for the band Death Chuck Schuldiner brought me here to check out this group because I'm a huge fan of his and wanted to find more music that was similar to how they put stuff together (because I honestly feel like noone was sounding like Death with Chucks vocals and his unique Minor Harmonic scale solos and just the way he would put riffs/solos together made them so catchy and melodic but hard sounding at the same time!) And thought it was odd when you kept saying this band was from the U.S. when I thought they were from France. So I went to figure out why I was so confused and realized I was thinking of the French group "Sortilege" but I believe Chuck also liked this band alot too so it's a win/win! Would be cool to see a retrospective on the band Watchtower I'm not that familiar with their stuff and would love to see a vid about their work! #LetTheMetalFlow

[@matsnilson7727]

Really great band with many awesome albums. Streets: A Rock Opera is easily one of my most played albums. It's probably a tie with Queensryche's Operation: Mindcrime. Two absolute masterpieces in my book. Guess I really prefer the moody conceptual stuff :)

[@Aesopos]

Dead Winter Dead is the first Savatage album i listened to,so it has a special place in my heart. Definitely not their worst album in my opinion,but we can argue about your worst to best for a week and still not agree. At least we agree on which is their best one! hehe By the way,Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia(not USSR),which after the war split to Serbia,Croatia,Slovenia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro,Skopje(then "FYROM" and now "North Macedonia") . I subscribed to your channel. Please do more of these videos with other bands. Vicious Rumors would be an interesting one!

[@ReidGarwin]

YES

[@Mythologos]

"Gutter Buffet" - awesome.

[@Savatanica]

Nice job,great vid,good details.Some notes; Skolnick had a car accident while listening Sirens :/ Metallica wanted the exact production and sound of PotN when it was released.Ghost in the Ruins solo was Dime's fave,while Summer's Rain solo was Criss'.Criss' steel pick was an important part of his sound.Jon's fave song is Beyond the Doors of the Dark,and Criss loved to play She's in Love live.Check out my vids if you have some time dear Sava fans.

[@VromanEmpire]

She's in love has been my pick for opening song and playing live it has such a great groove

[@bradflanagan7302]

Seen them at acadia theater power of the night tour tightest band I ever seen .

[@akaboo69]

Before I hang is from gutter ballet demos

[@MeatballAvenger]

Charles Benson Metalhead and some of the other Songs aswell (stranger, target, and living if I remember correctly).

[@peterichards3261]

The sadly missed and utterly fucking brilliant Criss Oliva

[@falseflag42]

I dig Worrld needs a Hero haha

[@waynehickman8317]

According to the liner notes of the Sirens & The Dungeons are Calling: the Complete Session release a few years back Jon says that Sirens and Dungeons were supposed to be one complete album but running time constraints on the vinyl release mean't the latter half couldn't make it onto Sirens so they released those tracks as the EP

[@machupikachu1085]

Yeah, I remember that they were so tight that they tracked something like 20 songs in 18 hours, enough for two albums I believe. All that epic stuff from one long ass recording session. Epic.

[@Amiga1200_Juicer]

Best band ever!

[@remove_marko]

Mom can we have metalmythos? -No we have metalmythos at home Metalmythos at home: But seriously nice video man

[@ca4129]

Poets and madmen rule 🤘

[@axxellein]

The Quill!

[@goblinsillusion]

Red Light Paradise /m/

[@andreveach7520]

Over the years, when 'friends' brag about Trans-Siberian Orchestra; I'm always like: "Lemme educate you on Savatage....."

[@dg4145]

hall of the mountain king and especially ( edge of thorns)...best. sav.

[@jonvanskaik2191]

What did you call me ? Buck Metal Head ? WTF !

[@craighenry2351]

Not bad, considering that I have maybe the exact opposite take on what is good and bad with the band that you do, but you did cover it all and I love all of it, even though the two main iterations of the band are markedly different. Like you said, it’s, pretty much, all good. Kudo’s for not trashing Zak, even though it is obvious that you prefer Jon’s vocal style to his, you still seemed to enjoy those Savatage recordings with him as lead vocalist, just not as much. I guess maybe for me, I like a lot of the newer stuff just for the fact that the edge that Jon has to his voice is hard to duplicate, and I love singing this stuff. I guess, really,Jon’s vocal style, although awesome, is tough to do. In that sense, he reminds me of Dexter Holland from the Offspring, not in vocal style, but that unique quality is hard to duplicate. With that the edge they both have to them, you can hit the notes, but it’s still not quite the same. You were so right on one thing, though Criss Oliva, to me, is the most underrated metal guitarist of all time. The other thing missing from them now is Paul O’Neill. He was a much bigger part of them than anybody knew. From his concepts to his help with lyrics to his streamlining their sound, Paul was as much Savatage as Criss or Jon over the second half of the bands career. Bottom line, although what we like about the band is different, their brilliance shows in the fact that we both still like them.

[@memyopinionsche6610]

Great music to play magic the gathering or dungeons and dragons to. Savatage. Manowar. Gwar. DIO. Helloween.

[@xerodelacroix5552]

Criss is the most underrated metal guitarist, however, i'm still mad Jon Olivia plagiarized X Japan several times (most notably All That I Bleed being literally the same song as Endless Rain), he's even been called out on it. They made this mistake of playing it in Japan and you can hear the confusion in the crowd.

[@1shoryuken]

thanks for reminding me, i was listening to Edge of Thrones the other day and that track immediately made me think of an X Japan Ballad and i couldn't figure out which one it was.

[@spectrebird3984]

some other good examples of US Power Metal are Savage Grace, Crimson Glroy, and Attacker

[@ness21785]

This has already been uploaded

[@ZergothThrash]

It was taken down for copyright. Hopefully this sticks. \M/

[@memyopinionsche6610]

Still quite surprised there's not a retrospective on the band VENOM. Or even GWAR.

[@ilijas3041]

TBH for me it really kicked off with Gutter Ballet, and started seriously kickin asses when fat boy sat behind keyboards and Zack took over the role of frontman. That is the point when they really started standing out of the multitude of technically gifted but genre defined and uniform sounding bands. Dead Winter Dead is my firm favorite, but I admit that might be due to my personal issues and circumstances (actually living through the war in Bosnia). Anyways, thanx for this, not much content of this type out there. I particularly like that you were not shy to express your opinion and rate all the albums, even though I look at the band from a completely different perspective. Rock on dude!

[@Wveth]

Don't sell Jon short; that man has incredible growling vocals.

[@markcavich1871]

For me, Zack’s vocals sound putrid.

[@jeremygillihan]

Savatage rules, but another great classic Power Metal band from Florida everyone should check out is Crimson Glory.

[@nephalemresurrection7518]

We want Iced Earth retrospective

[@wesleysobik9137]

Wow, way to not know that Chris caffery is actually their old friend and was their touring member. He even stood with olivas parents at his funeral and was considered a family member.

[@DownFallNetWork]

I literally said he joined the band for the gutter ballet Era stupid.

[@wesleysobik9137]

You said he fucked off after that, make the distinction that he was just a touring member, but ok.

[@DownFallNetWork]

No he straight up left the band dumbass. Learn your history before you act like a salty blowhard.

[@michaelthompson3286]

As an English person I approve of "cup of tea" ☕👌🏼

[@Mythologos]

I started with Hall of the Mountain King and exited after Streets. Sorry, Streets is their masterpiece - but I grew up on musicals & opera & classical music - not everyone gets bored the millisecond the "power met-al" stops.

[@runetech]

Loved the Astonishing flash at exactly the right moment... :) Love Dream Theater, but that one was astonishingly bad, only good thing about it is that it puts me to sleep very effectively... :)

[@vonbass1300]

The reason I still spell Sabatage wrong.

[@drew5400]

Cliffs was a homage more than anything. Probly giant Sav fans

[@mondomacabromajor5731]

Hall of the Mountain King is close to the best metal song ever - no doubt ...

[@alwashere7261]

You go wash you mouth out with soup. You need to rate this R LOL but thanks for keeping it real. Gutter buffet LOL that is mean but funny. Seems like you did a boat load of research and video editing. nice job. Saw them with Chris and hung out on tour bus (got a Polaroid with them). I told Chris he should make a guitar lesson video. He Smiled. I wish he did cause he was awesome. That was great day for me. It was at the THE CHANCE 6 Crannell St, Poughkeepsie, NY. I miss that place so much. (in IL now) its General admission so you just work you way to front of stage.

[@acelogan5591]

Does anyone has the lyrics from the Savatages song TARGET?

[@DuffyLONER64]

Good Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen? LOL, it's GOD Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen. Personally, my favorite record by them is actually Dead Winter Dead (followed by Handful of Rain), but to each their own.

[@craighenry2351]

If I ever do get married, I would use Not What You See to propose. I swear on tomorrow if you’ll take this chance, our lives are this moment, the music, the dance. And here in this labyrinth of lost mysteries, I close my eyes on this night and you’re all that I see!

[@mouni777]

Your cliff burton "under the bus" quote is so not needed and feels like something razordick would say. Everything else is good.

[@iceWaterProductions1]

I agree, it comes out of no where and is really in horrible taste.

[@scottshaffer7296]

Can we get sanctuary/ nevermore

[@psychosneighbor1509]

Any update on the stinkin' Iranian?