Criss Oliva was a master! He was right up there with Randy Rhodes in my humble opinion. R.I.P. Criss...

After all these years I'm still so impressed with Jon Oliva's voice. When the Crowds Are Gone is the song to get the feels.

Finally some Savatage on your channel! You MUST do “WHEN THE CROWDS ARE GONE” next.

"Gutter Ballet", "Chance" and "When The Crowds Are Gone" are others phenomenal songs by Savatage!

Streets - A Rock Opera by Savatage is one of the best albums ever made

Finally some Savatage!!!!! \m/ Although I think Gutter Ballet would be a better choice for Doug.

Their debut, Sirens, came out in April 1983 before Metallica's Kill 'Em All. They were one of the great underground Metal bands at the time and we used to play their music on our college station in Cleveland, WUJC 88.7. Criss Oliva was a special talent and it's a tragedy that he died. I am thankful I had a chance to see him perform with Savatage around 1990, too.

Savatage are such a great band. In this song in particular, Jon Oliva's performance is amazing. He really makes you feel the madness that the king is suffering from. I love it.

FATES WARNING Is underrated in the reaction community!

Savatage was more of a niche metal band. They had their own sound, and most importantly, they had a young, killer guitarist, Criss Oliva! He was good at everything. And he was known for practically playing his guitar all day long, every day. Criss had a fresh sound and was a high quality, high octane guitarist. Keep in mind that a lot of heavy metals' fan base is a bunch of other guitarists! Peace...

Glad to see Savatage on your list. Spent a year locked with the Oliva brothers, Paul O’Neil and Bob Kinkel as the recording & mix engineer on Streets. Was on RPNYC staff when they cut Gutter. Great guys. Sad to see Chris and more recently Paul pass. They were all very talented multi-instrumentalists; Jon was ambidextrous guitar. The full version of “Streets” with the narration is what I have on my engineer’s reference tape. Was bummed Atlantic cut it down when released but finally released the full length.

Hall of the mountain king is probably one of the best metal songs ever if you incl prelude . . . The prelude is literally the birth of TSO.

The entire Mountain King album is proto-Power Metal masterpiece. The last great pure Metal record they did before the opera and prog set in. Still a much loved and much undervalued band. Thanks for reacting 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

PLEASE do the song "Chance" off of the Handful of Rain album. It has some very interesting syncopated vocals.

Thanks for giving Savatage some attention. Still one of my all-time-favorite bands. If you want to check out another track, I would highly recommend either Gutter Ballet or Morphine Child.

I'm not a Savatage expert, but Gutter Ballet and Wake of Magellan are great tracks.

Savatage of all my favorite metal bands and any other bands i like have had the most infuence in my life as far as on a spiritual level. I am by no means a super religious guy but i do believe in some higher power and that we should strive to be the best people we can be. It was savatage's Streets album that changed me so much. Its what got me to consider the idea if God. I had been in church and had been talked to about God but never really interested me much until i heard that album. I was in Charlotte NC hours from home and i picked up the cassette in the mall. I was already a savatage fan. But i wasnt prepared for the epic that was Streets. A true rock opera. And some if the most wonderful and meaningfull lyrics for me at a young age. Really helped me cope with the bad things in my life. Definitely had a part in helping me become the person i am today. When i go back and listen to this album and read the lyrics its still hard to believe they did it. Their albums before and after are good too. Probably my second favourite is The Wake of Magellan. A wonderful rock opera about old age and not giving up and the idea that your most important accomplishment could still be yet to happen even when you think your way past your time. But Streets. Ahh what a masterpiece for me. So inspiring. The story and the music. Chris oliva one of the best guitarists out there who died way too young.

Wake of Magellan is excellent. I highly recommend it.

Finally Savatage!! Please do Gutter Ballet and When the crowds are gone next. You Will absolutely love Them!!

I love Savatage a lot! My favorite album is Dead Winter Dead. But this was the first song i heard from them and it got me hooked.

You have to do "Chance" from Handful of Rain. It's epic, especially the second half, which you'll love. Other good choices are Believe, When the Crowds are Gone, Wake of Magellan, All that I Breathe, Mozart & Madness (right up your alley), and the combination of Overture/Sarajevo/This is the Time from "Dead Winter Dead", which is the album where the eventual Trans Siberian Orchestra song Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24) first appeared on.

This whole album is so great. One of my favorites ever

You should have been jumping out of your seat you just heard "Savatage" one of the most unknown, underrated, underappreciated, metal bands of all time did you not hear the amazement in all of that, wow, I heard that over 30 years ago and still am astounded by there craftsmanship, and musical prowess simply awesome , please listen again without analyzing it just sit back and let it take you for the ride!! Forever metal thank you for posting DB1

Strange Wings of the same album is an absolute banger!

One of THE greatest Metal bands of all time!

You could say that Savatage was the first true Symphonic Metal band. And to prove it's no accident, The Trans Siberian Orchestra was founded by Savatage members as well as their producer Paul O'Neil.

You need to add Savatage - Chance into the hopper for a listen - different singer but still epic with loads of layers and vocal/musical variety

I highly recommend their song "Believe" from the album Streets: A Rock Opera.

10 years ago, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary, I had the pleasure to listen live to the complete album Hall Of The Mountain King by Jon Oliva's Pain.I still think back to that with pleasure. Thanks for the reaction.

Dude has some amazing vocal ability, but the thing that always stuck out to me was the sheer AMAZING riffs! A lot of people will talk about Gutter Ballet, Crowds are Gone, and some others, but for me the hard hitting tracks like Commissar, Sirens, and Holocaust are more what I think of when I think of Savatage. Hall of the Mountain King is one of those killer tracks too.

There's a LOT of Savatage pieces you should check out, Doug. Such a underrated - in the most real sense of the word - band. When the Crowds Are Gone, Gutter Ballet, St. Pattrick, If I Go Away, Believe, Follow Me, All That I Bleed, Chance, Alone You Breathe, just to name a few.

Thanks for doing Savatage, Doug. Maybe you could do "Chance" or "Believe' by the same band. I think you'll like those better. Both are great examples of Jon Oliva's masterful songwriting.

You gotta listen to the song "Chance" because it was the first Savatage song to contain the usage of counterpoint vocals, or "Morphine Child".

I'm a huge Savatage fan and I've seen them play about 1/2 dozen times back in the day. Criss Oliva was an amazing guitarist and he is dearly missed.

Some songs you'd probably enjoy more are When the Crowds Are Gone, Chance and Edge of Thorns. Their catalog is just bursting with great music! I definitely miss Criss Oliva's guitar work. RIP

Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally including Savatage. They are perhaps the most criminally underrated band of all time. Please don't stop at just these tracks. There is so much great music in their catalog. R.I.P. Criss you were taken from this world much too early.

When you finally got around to a Savatage reaction my biggest fear was that your first taste would either be "Christmas Eve" or "Hall Of The Mountain King". Because neither is truly representative of what this band is. I am glad you chose to include the intro, Prelude to Madness. Hall of the Mountain King marks the beginning of Savatage's collaboration with Paul O'Neil who is as important to Savatage as Sir George Martin was to the Beatles. Hall of the Mountain King marks the true beginning for what this band would eventually become. Each record after this is a remarkable growth period for the band. They get much more progressive while still maintaining that heavy sound while incorporating an almost broadway'esque quality which they put to good use. They produced 4 concept records during the 90's and early 00's. All of them are excellent. I'm looking forward to more Savatage reactions from you and I do think that when you get deeper into the catalog you will understand why so many people have been hounding you for this.

It's cool reaction, as always. There's a lot great stories and music delivered by Savatage. Chance, The Wake Of Magellan, When The Crowds are Gone, The Ocean, Morphine Child, Gutter Ballet, Edge of Thorns... every of these songs is ready to be Your next pick :)

The Oliva brothers are some of the most brilliant musical minds and talents to ever live! There’s no shortage of outstanding music to choose from to do next! Beyond the doors of the dark, city beneath the surface, tonight he grins again, streets, edge of thorns, believe, st. Patrick’s, gutter ballet, when the crowds are gone, labyrinths/follow me, all that I bleed, degrees of sanity, hounds, the unholy, Thorazine shuffle, conversation piece, mentally yours, I could keep going haha. And these are just the ones Criss played on. Madness reigns!! 🤘🏻

I love that you react to these songs with all of your expertise while treating it with the respect of true analysis. I learn something new about so many of my favorite old songs and how the theory applies from every video.

That 60-seconds in the middle of the song before the solo, with the repeating killer riff over the changing chords, causes an ear-gasm in me every time. I've always loved musical passages like that. You pointed out another great one towards the end of Dream Theater's Count of Tuscany, and a classic popular example of this is the main riff from Don Henley's The Boys of Summer.

Thank you for covering Savatage. Criss Oliva was a tremendous influence on me, and I feel he was one of the greatest guitarists ever.

Loved this. Especially love the honesty and analysis.

OMG I've been waiting for this. Let me just sit back and enjoy

My favorite band! Their next albums, Gutter Ballet and Streets a Rock Opera really just get even better for them. RIP Criss Oliva, a truly amazing talent on guitar.

One of my favorite bands. "The Price you Pay" is a great and underrated song from the same album as "Hall"

Wooo!! love this song back in the day !! glad you listened to it!!

I flipped over this song when I saw the video on MTV! Love this album and Streets: A Rock Opera especially. My eldest grandson used to watch a show called Lil' Einsteins, which played a different classical piece and focused on its composer in each show. He informed me at the age of 3 or 4 that he really liked Edvard Grieg's "Hall of the Mountain King."

Nice! Something from their 'Wake of Magellan' album would be cool. There are some amazing layered vocals on a few of the tunes you might enjoy.

Wow!!! So happy to see Savatage here! This is such a great album, as is Streets - A Rock Opera! 🤘🤘

This takes me back to my freshman year of high school when I had the world by the balls. At least that's what my dad used to say to me. I cried real tears when I bought Handful of Rain only to learn that Chris Oliva had passed away. My jam of all jams is to listen to New York City and Ghost in the Ruins back to back. It's good to see other people's comments and know that I am not alone in my love for this band.

Yes, I have been waiting for you to review this band.

FATES WARNING - A Pleasant Shade of Grey or The Eleventh Hour!!!?

Now you must react to “When the crowds are gone” by Savatage!!

you're an inspiration to the music industry with the comments that you make you have a great insight with your commentary

Doug you have definitely gone down a rabbit hole with this band when a saw it was Savatage I had to watch. John and Chris Oliva could probably be the greatest brother musicians of all time. Chris Oliva has inspired countless guitar players over the years including myself. Tragically Chris was killed by a drunk driver way to soon. But their parent’s were classically trained musicians I believe. Their parents took them to many classical concerts as well as being inspired by attending plays. Often times when you listen to their music you can imagine this. Please, please check out their rock opera Gutter Ballet there is a killer official music video for that one.

Give "Chance" a chance! Counterpoint, symphonic, epic, emotional, it's just great.

Edge of Thorns is also amazing!

I just randomly found this channel and holy shit this channel is Amazing! Keep up the metal dude!!!!

YES!!! I hope it's the first of many Savatage reactions.

I'm a huge Savatage fan. It's one of my favourite metal bands. I love "The wake of Magellan" and "Desde winter dead". I suggest these two albums for future reactions. You won't be disappointed!

Hey Doug, so glad you did some Savatage, they were one of my all time favorite bands growing up. If u find some time, you should definitely check When The Crowds Are Gone (with its prelude, called Temptation Revelation), St. Patrick's, Edge of Thorns and Chance.

these two tracks take me back to being 16/17 years old when this album was released and going to my first rock/metal club. these tracks opened the night every week. brilliant band.

So happy to hear Savatage. My suggestion for a follow up would be When the Crowds are Gone, especially the live version of it is just soulrending, the whole Gutter Ballet album is closer to this earth and hits to the feels so much harder.

savatage the most criminally underated band ever!

Savatage, finally! Good job with the song selection too Dougie! I'd absolutely love to hear you analyze some old finnish prog, f.ex. Wigwam or Tasavallan Presidentti. Just a thought. Love the content!

SUPER stoked that you've dipped your toes into Savatage! Going forward, they've got a bunch of songs with choral polyphony that are just terrific that I think you'll really enjoy.

Gutter Ballet was my first Savatage album. Still an incredible album. Criss was a phenomenal player. I have a tattoo with the legend “Silk & Steel” on it in his honour.

Been a Savatage fan since the first album, when someone in my D&D group brought it over and played it during one of our gaming sessions. 1983? 1984?

"St. Patrick's" is a great Savatage song with much more interesting lyrical content. I think you'd dig it, Doug.

A powerful metal hit \m/ Tks, Doug!

this added a dimension I was not aware of to one of my favorite rock bands!

The greatest band ever

Great reaction! Savatage is one of the greatest bands of all time. I suggest anything from 'Streets: A Rock Opera' or 'The Wake of Magellan'.

Douglas, thanks for doing SAVATAGE. Great job at interpreting the lyrics. Power - isolation - madness. You nailed it as usual.

Got hip to these guys recently, super interesting band! Thanks Doug!

You need to do the Zak Stevens (Vocals) era, they got much more progressive with him on vocals. Some songs "Chance", "The Wake Of Magellan", "Follow Me", "Alone You Breathe", "One Child", "The Hourglass"...and "Morphine Child" (Morphine Child has Jon Oliva on vocals)

I've not heard Savatage before, but Prelude to Madness is completely familiar to me, as it seems to appear in just about every TSO concert I've been to over the years, I'll have to find a video reference to add to this. Found a good version: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oNOCgs-rptHRpI0.html enjoy!

Getting goosebumps listening to Criss Oliva's guitar solo... Such a tallent, shame how soon he was taken away from us.

oh my goodness ,, im so happy somebody still remembers savatage

I would love to see your reaction to the german heavy metal pioneers Accept and their song Metal Heart. That song has a great solo with a twist.

If you want it to hit you in the feels, we need some later Savatage. "When the Crowds Are Gone" or "Summer's Rain" would be other good ones for Jon Oliva. Or any of the albums with Zak Stevens would be a good choice. Maybe "Chance" from Handful of Rain?

Savatage is just great, one of those amazing musical journeys of discovery when you go through their discography.

Great Stuff! Thanks for giving Savatage a listen.

Really should react to Gutter ballet and When the Crowds are gone.. RIP Criss. I think you'd like those two songs way more. Hall of the Mountain King is a little different, this band has a lot of different styles etc.. but I really think Gutter Ballet and When the Crowds are Gone are probably the more "radio friendly" songs that are really great.

Savatage is one of my favorites, you should check out their Dead Winter Dead album, that's where "Christmas Eve - Sarajevo" comes from. I'd recommend "This is the Time" or "Starlight". Also, if you want more Grieg, you should check out Kamelot - Forever!

Finally, a Savatage review...I'm asking this ever since.Thanks

Jon Olive is a living legend and genius. Chatted with him in S.F. for about an hour about life and many other things. He is the most genuine and lovable person I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. One of the greatest experiences of my life. I have seen Savatage, Jon Oliva's Pain, and TSO in 88 thru the 2000's .... Always a memorable experience. Peace and love to Jon and especially Chris (R.I.P.).

up next: SAVATAGE - "When the Crowds are Gone" & "Chance" cheers!

Great and honest reaction, Doug. Thank you! I recommend listening to Gutter Ballet, Temptation Revelation (instrumental) and When The Crowds Are Gone in one go. In the instrumental Criss Oliva showcases his exeptional skills. Grieg inspired more metal bands, listen to Forever by Kamelot. You can hear Solveig's Song in there.

What a legendary masterpiece! \m/

YES! Savatage!!! So happy for this!

FATES WARNING FATES WARNING FATES WARNING!!!!

Awesome band. Listen to Leave the Past Behind from Fates Warning.

Thank you Soooo much Doug.. YOU ROCK!

Absolutely the best bunch of loving gentlemen skills and talent such a blessing

Criss Oliva, most amazing guitarist ever!!! R.I.P. Maybe you could give a listen to “Streets - A Rock Opera”, that was their masterpiece!

Well that is the thing with Jon's voice, you either love it or it strikes a dissonant chord with you. Try some songs from their later works after Zac took over the singing duties. I love both of them equally. Criss Oliva was a master guitarist who never gets the credit he deserved. Sadly he was killed by a drunk driver after the release of the first album that Zac was on. Another great guitarist taken too soon.

Thank you, for playing Savatage.

So glad Savatage made it to this channel!!! So many many great tunes you could explore. "The Wake of Magellan" (the song from the album with the same title) has some VERY VERY VERY nice counterpoints that I think you would enjoy A LOT. And then there's "The Storm" , "Chance", "Believe", "Morphine Child", "Believe" and so on and on...