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CD reviews

Edge of Thorns

Savatage - Edge of Thorns Audio CD

A fair review of the Savatage "Edge of Thorns" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Savatage reviews here, or go back to the Savatage tabs.

Band: Savatage
Title: Edge of Thorns
Rating:

Release Date: 1993-04-06
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Edge of Thorns 2: He Carves His Stones 3: Lights Out 4: Skraggy's Tomb 5: Labyrinths [Instrumental] 6: Follow Me 7: Exit Music [Instrumental] 8: Degrees of Sanity 9: Conversations Piece 10: All That I Bleed 11: Damien 12: Miles Away 13: Sleep 14: Forever After 15: Shotgun Innocence

A Beginning And An End
He also checked into rehab during the Streets tour. Jon Oliva managed to finally throw his voice out as Dio had told him he would(that's not difficult to imagine when you listen to how he sings). Still fronting Savatage, but no longer able to fulfill vocal duties, for business reasons, Jon is no longer listed as an official member of the band.
In comes vocalist Zak Stevens, and Savatage would never be quite the same. It was a ballsy and wise decision to hire a vocalist who was not a Jon impersonator. In fact, he sounds absolutely nothing like Jon. But be that as it may, for the most part, Zak was pretty much welcomed with open arms and accepted by the Savatage fans. Sure, there are those who prefer Zak over Jon and those who feel Jon is the only voice of Savatage, but I don't think anyone objected to or disliked Zak. Zak has a fantastic voice. It's very smooth and theatrical(as you'd expect a Savatage vocalist to be). He's got a helluva range, and can flip from powerful metal shouts to tearjerking softness.
Edge Of Thorns wasn't a rock opera like the previous album, Streets, but was made more to showcase Criss Oliva's guitar playing. This makes sense coz it is quite a guitar driven album. The piano is featured heavily as on the previous two albums and the rest of the albums to come. But the piano isn't used strictly for ballads, it's very prominent in the uptempo numbers. Edge does have a nice mix of emotional ballads and rockers, and never gets boring. It was also the first Savatage album to get some real radio airplay with it's title track(a killer song by the way).
So yes, the Zak Stevens gamble paid off and Savatage released another stellar album. Sadly it would be Criss Oliva's last.

Good but run of the mill ...
Still, I don't regret buying it. This is good but there are a thousand bands out there exactly like this and some are even better.

Savatage - Enter Zach Stevens
The band went through a strange evolution. Savatage was one of the pioneers of progressive metal to come out of the 1980's. Jon Oliva was the band's vocalist, keyboardist, and main creative force on all of the early albums. I am not sure what the whole story is on the "Edge" album, but Oliva does not appear on it, yet he co-wrote all the material and produced the disc. The vocal chores on this one go to Zach Stevens (who has a better voice than Oliva). There must be more of a story behind this, but I don't know what it all is. The album is a bit of change of direction for the band as well. Instead of the rock operas that they had been doing prior to this disc, "Thorns" features mostly shorter songs that do not appear to be related. There is still a lot of tasty instrumental work to be found though and a few of the tracks are expanded out beyond the realms of normal hard rock. Highlights include the title track, "He Carves His Stone", "All That I Bleed", and "Damien". At times this album has a bit of a generic hair metal sound to it, but for the most part the material rises to the occasion. Vocalist Zack Stevens has considerably more range than Jon Oliva did and in my opinion is a big improvement. His voice has a similar timbre to Oliva's, but at times also reminds me of a lower register Geoff Tate from Queensryche. "Edge Of Thorns" was a transitional album for Savatage and although they did better it is well worth having in your collection.

filler and still 5 stars
Here are some reasons why. This is the only record that I can think of that has as much filler as it does and as much bad mixing as it does and still I can give it no less than 5 stars.
1. The Title Track. It is the ultimate rock anthem. Great solo, great vocals, and an unbeliviable hook.
2. Conversation Piece. How on earth had this kind of a hook and lyrics not been thought of prior.
3. All That I Bleed. A great Ballad. Not too sappy, heavy when need be and really a true savatage masterpiece.
4. Miles Away. This song is just so moody. For me, it may be right place right time. Here it is. A cool summer morning drive with a light rain in the middle of nowhere and this song is playing. If you ever needed a song for a certain time in your life, that would be the time. Sorta like Huey Lewis and the News - If this is it reminds me of the beach in the 80s this one makes you want to wake up early and live for the early days of the summer. So much to look forward to and there you are living for the moment.
With the rest of the album there are still some great track, Sleep is a great ender and Follow Me really shows off some good songwriting. There is some filler and the record has poor mixing at some points (the drum intro on He Carves His Stone really sounds like crap), but you almost think it was planned because of the parts of the record that really shine. This, as we all know was Criss' last album and it makes you wonder what that man was capiable of. Guess we'll never know and after all it was all just a show

.

Last with Criss, first with Zach
The band of Johnny Lee Middleton, `Doc' Wacholz and Criss Oliva are in fine form and new throat Zach Stevens is a welcome addition to the witches brew bringing as he does a smoother form of power and a rich vocal gravitas that allows him to interpret what are in essence quality and classy metal musings that speak on a variety of tangents. As the slow burn start up of lead cut Edge of Thorns warbles out of your speakers it becomes apparent that Savatage are intent on continuing the slightly less face melting yet in some ways more grandiose direction that became apparent on Gutter Ballet.

Produced by Paul O'Neill with Jon and Criss helping out the album breathes nicely with a number of metal stompers most pointedly in the form of Lights Out. This tune and a large chunk of He Carves His Stone rates as amongst the most histrionic of any tunes laid down by this long serving band and the inclusion of a couple of face melters is a tradition that basically all latter day (i. e. Zach Stevens era) `tage albums followed.

What is encouraging is the bands ability to not only pen these tunes but to also address the area of mid paced cruisers such as the title track and the mid album tune Degrees of Sanity which has a delicate beginning which is nicely balanced by the outright screaming metal of the piece once it gets started. This excellent song has a spiritual twin in the following track Conversation Piece which is also a judicious blend of slow and fast lane metal.

Elsewhere we are treated to more downcast stompers like Damien which rides a nice vocal groove intertwined with the guitar riff and the uplifting Miles Away. The album finishes with Sleep which is a strange way to close off an album. An almost solemn paean to peace and quiet that carries with it an air of resignation and surrender which places it in almost exact contrast with the aforementioned Miles Away.

An interesting album for sure and one that probably more than even cemented in my mind the view that this band were actually too talented on too many levels to ever really make it big. An album that I returned to again and again over the years with admiration.

You can see a complete list of all Savatage discography, or go back to the Savatage tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.