Audio CD review:
Savatage - The Wake of Magellan

Savatage - The Wake of Magellan

Band: Savatage Title: The Wake of Magellan Rating: Release Date: 2002-11-26 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: The Ocean 2: Welcome 3: Turns to Me 4: Morning Sun 5: Another Way 6: Blackjack Guillotine 7: Paragons of Innocence 8: Complaint in the System (Veronica Guerin) 9: Underture 10: The Wake of Magellan 11: Anymore 12: The Storm 13: The Hourglass 14: Somewhere in Time/Alone You Breathe 15: Sleep 16: Stay

The Ultimate Savatage Album Like Dead Winter Dead, the Wake of Magellan is a concept album, this time focusing on three seemingly unrelated stories. It's hard to imagine that Savatage could get any better than their 1995 album Dead Winter Dead, but when they released the Wake of Magellan in 1998 the band did just that. O'Neill and Oliva weave the three together, while the band makes the story come alive. This is easily Savatage's most epic and progressive album to date, as emphasized by everything from the powerful instrumental tracks to the intricate vocal layering. The Wake of Magellan is an album that recalls the very best of Iron Maiden, Rush, and Queen. This is also the Savatage album most likely to draw parallels with O'Neill and Oliva's highly successful Trans-Siberian Orchestra project. Founding member Jon Oliva once again contributes vocals to this album. His voice is perfect on those tracks where a little extra aggression is required, and serves as a nice counterpoint to regular (but never ordinary) vocalist Zak Stevens. Sadly, this album is the last Savatage release to feature Stevens on vocals. He has since launched a solo project called Circle II Circle, which should definitely appeal to Savatage fans. While the album was extremely strong from start to finish, there are some standout songs that rank among Savatage's best, including the title track, the Storm, the Hourglass, and Blackjack Guillotine. The beautiful instrumental tracks are just as impressive. There really isn't a weak moment on the whole album, which remains my all-time favorite Savatage release. The Wake of Magellan has not been remastered, but the 2002 SPV reissue does have a few extras that make it worthwhile. It features 2 additional tracks - This Is Where You Should Be and an acoustic version of Desiree. The real bonus is that the liner notes have been expanded to include several pages of very detailed information about the band during this particular stage of their career. When added to the chapters from the other SPV Savatage reissues, you'll get the real story behind one of the best (and most underrated) metal bands of all time. Unfortunately, the SPV reissue does not contain the three acoustic bonus tracks from the regular version, so I have two copies of the Wake of Magellan on my shelf. The Wake Of Perfection The previous album, Dead Winter Dead, was their comercial breakthrough, and The Wake Of Magellan builds on that music to a satisfying climax. On this, Savatage's final album with Zachary Stevens on vocals and Al Pitrelli on guitar, the band has taken their operatic metal sound to an absolute pinnacle. The band took their experiments with counterpoint vocals, layering multiple lyrics and melodies over top each other, to the ultimate level. On the title track, Stevens is singing no less than 6 distinct vocal parts, overlapping. Such is the wonderful production (as always by Paul O'Neill) that you can hear each one, with a little bit of effort. Not only this, but Stevens also successfully tackle's O'Neill's patented "rapid fire lyrics", singing them in a blur, but distinctly, all within the same song! Band members Johnny Lee Middleton, Al Pitrelli, and Chris Caffery all provide co-songwriting credits on this album. This is somewhat rare for a Savatage record, as the last several were usually written by keyboardist/vocalist/founder Jon Oliva, and Paul O'Neill. The result is that this is a more varied record than Dead Winter Dead, and more riff oriented. Dead Winter Dead was written on keyboards, this album was written on guitar, and the difference is evident. This reissue, for the most part, makes a good thing even better! The liner notes are fantastic. They are enlightening, in depth, and feature insights from many band members. They are long enough that they take almost as long to read as the album does to listen to. The bonus tracks on this CD have been heard before, but are hard to find. "This Is Where You Should Be" was previously available on a greatest hits album, and chronologically does not fit in with The Wake Of Magellan. It was recorded 10 years beforehand by a completely different version of the band. "Desiree" was available on a Japanese import, and is much more rare. It doesn't exactly fit in with this album either, but at least now it's easier to get. Finally, the cover art for the album has been (unintentionally?) altered for this reissue. The original was bright and clear, this version is dark and muddy. Although this is dissapointing, the wonderful liner notes here make this my preferred version of the album. Any Savatage fan, from any era of the band, would do well to pick up this version of The Wake Of Magellan. Musically it offers something for all of us, and added value of bonus tracks is always a plus. You can see a complete list of all Savatage discography, or go back to the Savatage tabs