GUTTER BALLET

Savatage

Progressive Metal

4.02 | 217 ratings

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Prosciutto

Savatage keeps on improving from record to record and establishing in the melodic heavy metal field.

"Gutter Ballet" is by far their best record by that time both in songwriting, musicianship and lyric content. Paul O'Neil who arrived as a manager on the previous record (Hall of the Mountain King) allowed the band to unleash their talent and thus began a long and valuable colaboration between the band and him. By this time Criss Oliva became another songwriting force inside the band alongside his brother Jon. The impressive opener "Of Rage and War" is in my opinion their first progressive metal song and holds an explicit critic to the world power leaders. Some tracks features the personal side of Jon Oliva ("When the Crowds are gone") while others go back to his horror stories (the fantastic "Hounds"). The disc ends with a trilogy ("Mentally yours", Summer's Rain" and "Thorazine Shuffle") about a kid who belongs to a dysfunctional family and developes some mental problems and ends in a psychiatric center.

This great album was just the beginning of the best years of Savatage and should please metal lovers and prog lovers.

4 stars: in my opinion Savatage made better albums than this one in later years...

Prosciutto | 4/5 | 2005-8-31

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