Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best there is, April 22, 2003
I am shocked at how many negative reviews there are on this album. I almost have to wonder if someone doesn't hold a grudge against Savatage and is fabricating all these critical comments of an album that is first-rate. But even the Amazon.com "Editorial" review throws out false accusations of this album being a "tight metal funnel that squeezes much of the joy out of the proceedings". I don't know what this guy was smoking (or not smoking as the case may be), but he couldn't be any further off-base. Folks, this album is an incredibly complex arrangement of crunching guitar riffs, dancing keyboards, and vocal melodies that range from haunting to downright angry. Of course, due to its complexity, it takes a few listens at high volume before you actually start grasping how much is going on with this masterpiece. I am assuming that the negative reviews of this album come from people who failed to give this disc the few extra spins necessary, and not from people whose heads are so far in their holes that all they can hear is their hollow heartbeat. While touting itself as a concept album (which its not), this album in less like Dead Winter Dead and Wake of Magellan than it is to Mountain King and Gutter Ballet, although the songwriting is much more mature and production is excellent. This album delivers hard and heavy in the 80's style of grooving riffs, hooks, and melodies. I love all Savatage, but when I have the irresistable urge to let my hair fly and strain my neck muscles, this is the first disc to land in my CD tray. Poets and Madmen is not speed metal, or thrash metal or any of the other sub-category of the genre. It is just straightforward heavy metal, well-written, well-produced, and well-played...at least in my hallowed halls.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Savatage Raises The Concept Album To New Heights Again!, April 10, 2001
With their latest concept album, "Savatage" again approaches a socially conscious subject, but this one is done in a more unusual manner. The "story within the story" centers on a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and a photo he took of a four-year-old girl in the Sudan. Her family was caught up in a man-made famine and they were walking 30 miles to a feeding station. During the journey, all her family members have died and she struggles through the last miles alone. When the child reaches the feeding station she's told the food is gone. Exhausted and alone the girl collapses in a squatting fetal position, a vulture sitting beside her waiting for her to die. This is the photo that won the Pulitzer Prize, but it slowly drove the photographer into the depths of depression, contemplating suicide and landing him in a mental institution. This is where the actual story begins. Three teens break into what is supposed to be an abandoned and haunted mental institution, but find they are not alone. They see a figure in the corridor ahead of them and follow it to a closed and locked steel door after the figure steals the jacket of the teen with the car keys and his cigarettes and lighter. When they reach the door they find the jacket neatly folded outside with the keys, lighter and box of cigarettes with one missing from the pack. They can see the figure through the window in the door holding the unlit cigarette. The owner of the smokes slides his lighter under the door, the figure lights the cigarette and slides the lighter back. This is when the teens see a chart beside the door and discover the history of the photographer inside the room. You'll have to buy the album to see how the story comes out! Anyone familiar with Savatage and their concept albums is already aware that these albums tell a story. The lyrics and music portray different parts of the story and liner notes become a very important part of the listening process. As the story advances, narration not on the album is printed between the lyrics to the songs and the combination carry the story line. This album relies heavily on guitar work that is really outstanding. Although guitarist Al Pitrelli has since left to join Megadeth, he was still with the band when the album was recorded. The dual guitars of Pitrelli and Chris Caffrey drive this album from beginning to end. Jon Oliva, founder of "Savatage," carries the vocals on this album. There is a very definite ominous sound to most of the songs on the album, and you can totally picture this abandoned building in the middle of nowhere haunted by the ghosts of its former inhabitants. Then there's the one that seems to have been left behind. . . I can't stress enough how much the guitars set the atmosphere, but there are also outstanding keyboards, bass, drums and vocals to support them. Most of the album is very hard rock/metal, but the softer songs make even more of an impression because of this. The trademark "Savatage" vocals in "round-robin" presentation (each vocal starts with a certain lyric and tone and is then overlaid with a new lyric and tone 3 more times) is SO impressive. Hearing all these different melody/lyric lines happening at the same time with none of them getting screwed up is nothing short of fantastic. The progression in intracacy from the first "Savatage" concept album "Streets," through "Dead Winter Dead" and "Wake Of Magellen" becomes even more apparent on "Poets And Madmen." This band has been around for a long time, but each new album seems to outdo the previous ones. I highly recommend this album to any music lover. There is so much diversity in instrumentals, vocals and lyrics it's impressive even if the genre isn't your favorite type.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Actually, It's Not That Bad, August 30, 2005
The many bad reviews on this site made me not want to buy this album at all. Only seeing it used on Amazon, and reading several other really good reviews convinced me to order this. At first I wasn't impressed, but then, it blew me away. Actually every Savatage album since Gutter Ballet, except Handful of Rain, has blown me away (Handful of Rain was good, don't get me wrong, it just didn't have as big of an effect on me). Jon Oliva is back on vocals, and he does a pretty good job. He uses only a growl; no high screams of the earlier albums. While he sounds pretty good, there are some parts that really make me miss Zak Stevens, and Oliva sounds strained in some parts. Al Pitrelli is gone at this point to Megadeth, although he plays some guitar solos (for a full list of solos Pitrelli did on the album, check out the FAQ on Savatage's website), Chris Caffery takes over in the writing process, cowriting nine of the songs. For the solos, Caffery uses Al Pitrelli's Les Paul, so there's only a subtle difference in the playing. This is a concept album, although much more loosely based on the story in the liner notes than Savatage's previous two albums.
1. Stay With Me Awhile 9/10- Good song to kick off the album. I love that guitar interlude in the middle.
2. There in the Silence 9.5/10- Starts off with an eerie synth melody. Probably has Caffery's best guitar work of the whole album even though it doesn't have a solo per say; there are a number of parts with no singing that Caffery fills with incredible and catchy, crunchy guitar riffs and runs.
3. Commissar 10/10- Starts out with trademark piano licks but is really unlike anything Savatage has done before. Features IMO the only successful usage of Oliva's rap-singing and a 3 (!) part guitar solo in the end. For those who are curious it goes Pitrelli/Caffery/Pitrelli.
4. I Seek Power 9.5/10- I love the harmonic guitar leads in the verses, but Oliva sounds strained in the chorus. The guitar solo starts out great but is too short.
5. Drive 5/10- Unlike anything Savatage has done before, but this experiment was a partial failure. Not really bad, just not that good.
6. Morphine Child 10/10- Progressive metal fans will love this 10:00+ song. Great intro and riff as well as a fantastic solo in the middle. Savatage uses the layered vocals similar to Zak Stevens only instead of Stevens they use a choir made of the entire band, Paul O'Neill, and a couple of others that I can't remember.
7. Rumor 10/10- Another song that is like nothing I have heard Savatage do before. It is half acoustic guitar based folk and half heavy metal. Pitrelli does the solo and leads in this one, but Caffery is the star once again with a several great riffs. The lyrics here are the best I've heard from Savatage since "St. Patrick's."
8. Man In The Mirror 10/10- Oliva sounds great here during the quieter parts, he's actually singing instead of yelling. The lyrics fall prey to some cliches, but for the most part, this is a great song.
9. Surrender 8/10- Good guitar work in the first part, but the ending is what hurts this song, especially with the piano-saturated part where Oliva repeats "See the show!"
10. Awaken 5/10- Weakest song on the album, comes close to filler.
11. Back To Reason 7/10- Decent song, but I was hoping Savatage had finally ditched their ending ballad formula after I heard "Hourglass," but I was wrong. If you like Savatage's earlier ballads (Alone You Breathe, Believe), you'll love this one.
12. Shotgun Innocence 7.5/10- Decent song from the Edge of Thorns era, with Chris Oliva on guitar and Zak Stevens on vocals. If you like nostalgia, you'll love this song just for the fact that it has those previous two people playing, although the song itself isn't anything great.
I'm tired of bands that were popular in the 20th Century releasing albums in the 21st Century saying that it's a "back to the roots" album, especially when its not. This is not "back to the roots." It's heavier and more riff-based, but it's closer to "Wake of Magellan" than "Hall of the Mountain King."
Contrary to what many people say, this is one of Savatage's better albums. It is more consistant than "Wake of Magellan" and has more lasting power than "Dead Winter Dead." I can't say that this is their best ever, although I'm not 100% sure why. Zak's departure has a part in that, plus there's a noticable lack in extended solos, and Al Pitrelli IMO is a critical aspect of the band's sound, his guitar has the best sound of any guitarist in the history of rock/metal (except maybe Slash). Still, if you can find it, this is a great album. Highly Recommended.
P.S. Chris Caffery is more talented than you might have originally thought. His work here shows it, but also look to his solo album and his stunning work with Doctor Butcher.
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