Favorite Savatage era

The band went through lots of changes over the years, including the worst kind when Criss passed.

Which Savatage era is your favorite?

Not even close for me. Sirens to Hall!

Sirens to Hall Of The Mountain King......

I like pretty much everything they ever did but my mania for this band was at its absolute peak during the Gutter thru Edge of Thorns era.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I like pretty much everything they ever did but the Gutter thru Edge of Thorns era was when my mania for this band was at its absolute peak.

Yep.

Sirens to halls. Pure metal magic!

Little anecdote for y'all:

Me and a buddy were in the process of getting shitty one night at a local watering hole(Twin Oaks Bar & Grill, Denver, NC for those of you keeping score at home) when we met this dude who told us he was a drummer in a metal band. When asked what the band's name was, he informed us "Savatage". We both said that we were fans of "his band" and proceeded to grill him about it. You could have heard the tires squealing as he hemmed and hawed, finally confessing he only played with them for a couple of live shows. He then promptly made an excuse to disappear. As far as I know he hasn't been seen at T.O. since. The moral of the story is to be careful when bullshitting someone, for you never know when you'll run into the only two guys in Denver, NC who've heard of Savatage.

Sirens To Hall. I like Gutter as well. The rest are not my thing.

Gutter Ballet and Edge of Thorns are my go to Savatage albums. Ballet is a pinnacle of theirs, I believe. Don't like Streets at all, but these two are unmatched, so the vote goes.

I chose the fourth option: all of 'em!


Savatage is/was awesome in many ways, and that puts them above the rest.


And JOP are/were awesome too.

The Wake of Magellan is my favourite album, but Hall, Gutter and Streets (and Dungeons, if you count that) are about on par. All really awesome, as is pretty much everything else released by this band as well. Except for Fight for the Rock, of course. That's only so-so.

Truly an amazing band. The best ever.

Gutter Ballet to Edge Of Thorns because that's the era my bro introduced me to first and it's been the sound I associate with them the most although my fave album is The Wake Of Magellan.

I went with liking them all the same. It's all good as far as I'm concerned.

I don't hate the albums, but it just wasn't Savatage to me after Criss died.

Well, Criss is my favourite too, but Alex Skolnick is like my man-crush and Al Pitrelli and Chris Caffery are also both great. I never had a problem with the axe work on a Savatage album.

Caffery also has kind of nailed that Criss Oliva guitar sound and tone. His solo albums are a thrill to listen to partly because of that. Of course he doesn't quite do the intricate stuff as well, but it's that sound that I really want.

I heard Caffery asked for Criss' amps and gear, and I don't know if he got them but I wouldn't be surprised because there is something there definitely in the tone.

And don't get me started on Matt LaPorte. A totally different and unique, but still very awesome. Jon Oliva always seemed to surround himself with terrific guitarists. Certainly made no compromise, apart from the obvious one of not having access to Criss' playing and songwriting anymore.

Sirens to Edge Of Thorns is for me the era of their biggest albums


After those albums they still releasing great songs but no great albums

Gutter Ballet is my favorite, so I chose that era.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I like pretty much everything they ever did but my mania for this band was at its absolute peak during the Gutter thru Edge of Thorns era.

This pretty much sums it up for me as well.

As of late, I'd rather listen to JoP.

I still dig all three eras of Tage

James B. wrote:

As of late, I'd rather listen to JoP.

I still dig all three eras of Tage

I seem to listen to JOP more than Savatage these days too.

I just played Maniacal Renderings the other day, and it's aged well and I also rediscovered some really good tracks on the second half of the album that I hadn't been paying attention to before.

metalinmyveins wrote:

Not even close for me. Sirens to Hall!

Same here.

I'm with FF.

Dark Horseman wrote:

I'm with FF.

Have you two set a date yet ?

I believe that kind of marriage is legal in Jersey

I like the first two.