Sometimes all the talent in the world is just not enough for an artist. It is equally essential that the same talent is given the right exposure, so that the right art is reaching the right people. Heavy Metal legends Savatage had to wait until their fourth major release Hall of the Mountain King, to receive the acceptance they deserved. Prior to the album Savatage laid buried under the tons of other metal bands that were arising by the minute, in the eighties mainly due to bad management of the band. With Hall of the Mountain King the band understood their real potential and actually made the right sort of inroads into the metal scene.

The bands first concept album begins with 24 hours ago, which serves as the bands announcement that they were back with a bang. Jon Oliva’s never sounded better and more confident on any of his prior recordings. The track and the following Beyond The Doors of The Dark, feature Jon’s amazing range and his trademark long extended high pitch shrieks, which were an integral part of the Savatage experience.

Under new producer Paul O’ Neill, the band received the consent they needed to fuse classical music into their music, an experiment which would later prove to be an immensely successful one. The song Prelude To Madness, features the band taking classical pianist Edvard Grieg’s piece to the workshop for a workshop. Legions, has got a very catchy bass line to it which runs right around the majority of the track. Along with Devastation, the track has got the ingredient of stick ability and hover around the vicinity of more orthodox metal as to compared to the progressive nature of the rest of the album.

It would be quite incontrovertible to expect good guitar work in any good metal album from the 80’s. But, Criss Oliva took the metal guitar to another level on the album. Fast over the top licks was a mainstay of the 80’s sound, but it soon became a little monotonous. However, Criss always managed to maintain a sense of excitement in his playing. All while playing roughly similar music he always threw in unexpected licks from his armory of tricks. Be it the passionate lines on Strange Wings or the title songs heavy riffs fueled with slithery leads, it was quite unlikely that Jon could another guitarist who could complement his style so aptly.

Hall of the Mountain King, is not an album which would change the world of music overnight and nor does it claim to do so. The album is what every metal album should be- loud, heavy and technically brilliant. The album steered the band to a progressive side, what many would agree was the right side for the band. The album brings out the interesting point that Savatage being such an amazing band were not considered part of the big guns, so one gets a good idea of how tough the competition was back in the day. Hall of the Mountain King – an album which shall hold an eminent presence in the history of progressive metal.

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Rishi Agarwal is a student of finance and is a multi genre guitarist. He likes playing with his dog, christened Elvis after The King. He lives off the likes of Hendrix and Clapton , and aspires to one day jam with John Mclaughlin of The Mahavishnu Orchestra.