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Poets And Madmen
''Poets and Madmen'' is the eleventh studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 2001. It was their last album before their 12-year hiatus, which lasted from 2002 to 2014. The album has a loose concept inspired by the career and death of journalist Kevin Carter, but has much less narrative in the lyrics than the previous two rock operas ('' Dead Winter Dead'' and ''The Wake of Magellan'') penned by Paul O'Neill. Everything said in the album is fiction, except with regards to what is sung about Carter. The album is also noted as it is the only Savatage album to not feature a title song from the album, although the title was taken from lyrics to the track "Symmetry" from the band's 1994 album, '' Handful of Rain''. The album was the first since '' Streets: A Rock Opera'' in 1991 to feature the band's original vocalist Jon Oliva on lead vocals for all songs after the amicable departure of Zachary Stevens. It is also the first Savatage album to have guitarist C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s, sharply declined during the 1990s and had largely disappeared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concept Album
A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Sometimes the term is applied to albums considered to be of "uniform excellence" rather than an LP with an explicit musical or lyrical motif. There is no consensus among music critics as to the specific criteria for what a "concept album" is. The format originates with folk singer Woody Guthrie's ''Dust Bowl Ballads'' (1940) and was subsequently popularized by traditional pop/jazz singer Frank Sinatra's 1940s–50s string of albums, although the term is more often associated with rock music. In the 1960s several well-regarded concept albums were released by various rock bands, which eventually led to the invention of progressive rock and rock opera. Since then, many concept albums have been released across numerous musical genres. Defin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Plate
Jeff Plate (born March 26, 1962) is an American professional hard rock/heavy metal drummer. He plays with the group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is best known as drummer for American heavy metal band Savatage on their albums since ''Japan Live '94'', and was also a member of Metal Church from 2006 to their break up in 2009 and again from their reunion in 2012 to 2017. Life and career Plate was born in Montour Falls, New York,Jeff's Savatage.com bio lists his place of birth as being Horseheads, New York. His official site however lists Montour Falls, New York. and grew up on a farm in Horseheads, New York. As a youth, he dreamed of becoming a pitcher for the New York Yankees, but this dream took a bad turn when his hip popped out of joint at the age of 12. On crutches for 4 months, he was advised to give up playing sports for two years so the hip could heal properly. After watching Kiss perform on The Midnight Special, he began taking drum lessons in school and privately. Jeff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Lee Middleton
Johnny Lee Middleton (born May 7, 1963) is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitar player for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Musical beginnings Middleton was born in St. Petersburg, Florida. His first experience as a performing musician was as first-chair trumpet in the sixth-grade orchestra. The band director provided early encouragement. "I'd get free lessons from him, so I learned how to play the saxophone, the clarinet, ndthe oboe. He kind of gave me an ear for music." As a bass player, however, Middleton is largely self-taught. At age 14, he joined the high-school jazz band. With the bass rig behind him, he quickly discovered "the way the bass moves the earth" – and just as quickly realized "you could get more girls by playing bass instead of trumpet." He invested $35 in his first bass, locked himself in his bedroom with REO Speedwagon, Cheap Trick, and Black Sabbath records, and learned to play along. Among his influences, Mid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Criss Oliva
Christopher Michael Oliva (April 3, 1963 – October 17, 1993) was an American musician who was the lead guitarist and co-founder of the heavy metal band Savatage. During his lifetime, he released seven studio albums and one EP with the band. Biography Early life Oliva's family moved around the country during his childhood, stopping off in California before making Florida their home. It was in California that Oliva found music and considered it his calling, and he continued his musical interests when he moved to Florida. His main influences as a guitarist were Ritchie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Uli Jon Roth and Michael Schenker. He spent countless hours figuring out his favorite songs on records, and when he found it difficult to figure out a part on the record he just made up his own licks. This would later help him in his songwriting. Savatage Oliva and his brother Jon formed their first band together, Avatar, in 1978, from the ashes of their former bands Tower and Alien ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edge Of Thorns
''Edge of Thorns'' is the seventh album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released on April 6, 1993 on Atlantic Records. This is the last Savatage album to feature guitarist Criss Oliva, who died six months after its release, and their first release with Zachary Stevens on lead vocals, following the departure of Jon Oliva from his role as singer in Savatage, although he did produce and write songs for the album. The drums on this album sound different from other Savatage records, as Steve "Doc" Wacholz decided to use electronic drums. Although most of the drum kits sound authentic, a difference in the timbre of the toms can be heard. "All That I Bleed" and "Miles Away" were the last songs Jon Oliva, Criss Oliva and the producer Paul O'Neill wrote together. For that, they are still Jon Oliva's two favorites on the album. The woman in the picture of the album art is Dawn Oliva, Criss Oliva's wife. Gary Smith, who also did the front and back covers for '' Hall of the Mount ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. Their music features complex arrangements and fast rhythm sections, dual lead guitars, and lyrical themes of war, politics, religion, death, and personal relationships. In 1985, Megadeth released their debut album, '' Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!'', on the independent record label Combat Records, to moderate success. It caught the attention of bigger labels, which led to Megadeth signing with Capitol Records. Their first major-label album, '' Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?'', was released in 1986 and was a major hit with the underground metal scene. Band members' substance abuse issues and personal disputes had brought Mega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Pitrelli
Al Pitrelli is an American guitarist, best known for his work with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Joe Lynn Turner, Asia and Savatage. Career Early career (1982–1995) Pitrelli attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston in the early 1980s (where keyboardist Derek Sherinian was his dorm roommate; they would later work together in the Alice Cooper band). While at Berklee, Pitrelli formed an original 1980s metal band with classmates that included Venom guitarist Mike Hickey. After dropping out of Berklee, Pitrelli worked as a session musician and taught guitar lessons in Manhattan and in Bellmore, Long Island. His first major label gig was performing with Michael Bolton, helping him support his single " Fool's Game". Pitrelli said of the single, "This was when Michael Bolton was still trying to be Sammy Hagar and not Engelbert Humperdinck." In 1989, Pitrelli featured as second guitar on the song "Uptown" on bassist Randy Coven's first album " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chris Caffery
Christopher Caffery (born September 9, 1967) is an American musician, best known for his work as a member of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Recently, Chris has been pursuing a solo career, releasing four albums since 2004. Biography Raised in Mahwah, New Jersey, Chris began playing guitar at age 11, but some of his earliest memories include performing the Beatles song ''Help!'' for a show and tell in kindergarten. Chris' favorite bands growing up included the Beatles, Kiss, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Rush among others. He has cited guitarists such as Ted Nugent, Rik Emmett, Ace Frehley, Randy Rhoads, Michael Schenker as influences throughout the years as well. After only 13 months, Chris grew bored with guitar lessons and decided to teach himself. He was part of a band called ''"Blitzkrieg"'' in middle school and played a few shows, the first of which was at a bar in Ridgewood, New Jersey when Chris was only 13. At the age of 14, Chris and his brother forme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zachary Stevens
Zachary Trussell (born March 5, 1966), known professionally as Zachary "Zak" Stevens, is an American singer, best known as the second lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage. He currently performs with the heavy metal band Circle II Circle. Stevens also has a degree in psychology but is not, as is often reported, a licensed, practicing psychologist. Career Stevens first achieved fame singing for a band called Wicked Witch. However, after Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva stepped down from the fore of the band at the conclusion of their tour in support of '' Streets: A Rock Opera'' in 1992 to concentrate on other projects, namely his other band Doctor Butcher and a Broadway-bound musical entitled ''Romanov'', Savatage required a replacement. Oliva hand-picked his replacement, who was discovered and introduced to the band by Criss Oliva's best friend and guitar technician Savatage's lead guitarist, and their long-time producer Paul O'Neill heard demos of Stevens and wanted hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Rock Opera
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient Greek letter alpha, from which it derives. The uppercase version consists of the two slanting sides of a triangle, crossed in the middle by a horizontal bar. The lowercase version can be written in two forms: the double-storey a and single-storey ɑ. The latter is commonly used in handwriting and fonts based on it, especially fonts intended to be read by children, and is also found in italic type. In English grammar, " a", and its variant " an", are indefinite articles. History The earliest certain ancestor of "A" is aleph (also written 'aleph), the first letter of the Phoenician alphabet, which consisted entirely of consonants (for that reason, it is also called an abjad to distinguish it f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Handful Of Rain
''Handful of Rain'' is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1994. This is the first album since the death of the band's founding member and lead guitarist Criss Oliva who in turn had contributed to writing on two of its songs before his passing, namely "Taunting Cobras" and "Nothing's Going On". ''Handful of Rain'' marked the only time that Savatage had recorded together as a three-piece, their only release with then-former Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick (who had replaced Criss), and their only one without Johnny Lee Middleton (who is credited on the insert, but did not perform) since 1985's '' Power of the Night''. Drummer Steve Wacholz (also credited) had already left Savatage by the time the album was recorded. Instead of replacing Middleton and Wacholz, Jon Oliva provided both drums and bass on the album as well as rhythm guitar, piano, keyboards, and backing vocals. Recording Before the recording of the band's previous album, ''Edg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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