Savatage

[Jussi K]

Circle II Circle oli sitten soittanut Wackenissa tyngän The Wake Of Magellanin, "tour of magellan" tosiaan... Mutta eivät voineet silloin 2010 soittaa tällaista settiä sitten, eihän:

The Ocean
Welcome
Edge Of Thorns
Taunting Cobras
He Carves His Stone
Lights Out
Dead Winter Dead
Damien
Handful Of Rain
Watching In Silence
Take Back Yesterday
Consequence Of Power
Conversation Piece
Complaint In The System (Veronica Guerin)

edit: Jon Oliva on puolestaan soitellut tällaisia heinäkuussa:

Sirens
Gutter Ballet
Edge Of Thorns
Power Of The Night
Don't Talk To Me (Doctor Butcher cover)
Festival
Tonight He Grins Again
Ghost In The Ruins
24 Hrs. Ago
Beyond The Doors Of The Dark
Legions
Strange Wings
The Price You Pay
White Witch
Devastation
Prelude To Madness
Hall Of The Mountain King / Heal My Soul
Child In Time / Believe

Ja esim. 7.7. Göteborgissa, miksei Suomessa:

Gutter Ballet
Edge Of Thorns
Sirens
Power Of The Night
Tonight He Grins Again
Walk Upon The Water
Ghost In The Ruins
24 Hrs. Ago
Beyond The Doors Of The Dark
Legions
Strange Wings
The Price You Pay
White Witch
Devastation
Prelude To Madness
Hall Of The Mountain King
Believe

[Iron Constable]

^Olivan setit ovat minullakin heittämällä 85% hallussa, en pistäisi hanttiin laisinkaan moiselle. Kovaa kamaa vanhalle Savatage-fanille. Mutta, eipä sen kannata Suomeen tulla kuin korkeintaan jollekin isoimmista festareista, jos joku älyäisi sellaista edes vahingossa miettiä...

Kyllähän tämänkin ihan hyvin tunnistaa, iso mies se on edelleen...

Beyond The Doors Of The Dark, Grasspop 2012, -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsjT_do5kPQ

[Jyyd]

Beyond The Doors Of The Dark, Grasspop 2012, -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsjT_do5kPQ

Kappas, Jonihan tuntuisi laihtuneen viime näkemästä kun kävelykeppiäkään ei enää lavalla tarvita (thank god!) ja hyvä niin, olisihan se jo ihan liikaa jos tuosta vielä huonompaan kuntoon menisi (hyvä vaan jos vielä tosta saa painoa pois). Ääni tuntuu olevan edelleen tallella, tuo repivän karhea ja jyräävä ääni jota rakastan yhä. The one and only.

Tässä muuten 18-minuuttinen haastattelu Jonin kanssa tältä vuodelta, ihan heinäkuulta näköjään: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6IurOYcyEA

[Jussi K]

Mielenkiintoisia juttuja lupaillaan soolovaihtelun(?) lisäksi tulevalle Jon Oliva's Painin levyllekin:

JON OLIVA To Issue First Ever Solo Record In Spring 2013

JON OLIVA'S PAIN drummer/producer Christopher Kinder has checked in with the following update:

"We thank you all for your patience with regards to announcing our new recording plans. While JOP is very much intact and focused on new music and future touring... JON OLIVA will release his first ever solo record in early 2013.

Jon has assembled a collection of ideas from the past 4-5 years and wants the opportunity to present them as his own work. Jon will be recording nearly all the instrument tracks and vocals himself and also playing drums on several tracks. Once again, I have the honor of recording the bulk of the drum tracks on the new CD, but this record will have been created from start to finish with Jon being completely at the helm."

Oliva himself commented: "I’ve got some weird ideas that I wanna try and I’ve got some time to do it. I don’t want do just 'another' JOP record. I’ve done four of those already. I wanna do something different. I have some material that I’ve wanted to put out for a while, that I’ll talk with the record company about, maybe putting something out quickly, like in the next four or five months, to give me more time to do this JOP record. I want the next JOP CD to be very special. I’ve got some great friends from other bands that are going to be a significant part of the next JOP release. We are going to do a killer JOP record and then an additional bonus CD with guest stars... kind of like the AVANTASIA thing but not in a story line. Tobias Sammet does a magnificent job with it, but I don’t have that much time to write a whole story, so I’ll just have some powerhouse friends from various bands come in and take it over the top."

Drum recordings begin at the legendary Morrisound Studios in mid December. The record will be released via AFM in the spring of 2013.

[tsorl]

CIRCLE II CIRCLE: 'Seasons Will Fall' Teaser Available - Dec. 10, 2012
CIRCLE II CIRCLE, the band led by ex-SAVATAGE frontman Zak Stevens, will release its sixth studio album, "Seasons Will Fall", on January 25, 2013 via earMUSIC, the Hamburg, Germany-based international rock label which is part of Edel Group.

Formed in 2001, CIRCLE II CIRCLE has always reinvented itself throughout the years, constantly maintaining the signature sound that fans around the world love. The turning point for the band came in 2012 with CIRCLE II CIRCLE's monumental performance of the entire SAVATAGE album "The Wake Of Magellan" at the world’s largest heavy metal festival, Wacken Open Air in Germany. What followed was a sold-out European club tour.

"Seasons Will Fall" is CIRCLE II CIRCLE's strongest album to date from both a musical and production standpoint. It blends Stevens' history and unique "SAVATAGE style" with the fresh sounds he developed with his current outfit. From the howling guitar riffs on "Diamond Blade" and "Killing Death" to the energetic sound of "Never Gonna Stop", it contains everything you want from a heavy rock album.

Says Stevens: "With earMUSIC releasing our sixth album, we are exactly where we need to be at this point in our career. We have the right album along with a fantastic new label. The timing of all this will take the upcoming world tour to an entirely new level. We are very much looking forward to the release of 'Seasons Will Fall' on earMUSIC. This is an album that will strongly define the identity and place of hard rock and heavy metal music in the world today."

In a recent interview with Metal Babe, Stevens said about the upcoming CD, "The record is sounding really great and the goal of this album from the beginning was for it to be the best CIRCLE II CIRCLE to date. Of course, that's a lofty goal, but I really think we've done it here with 'Seasons Will Fall'."

He added, "From the beginning, we wanted it to have some elements of all five previous releases, along with some entirely new sounding stuff. So that's basically what we've done with 'Seasons Will Fall'. We're really happy with how it turned out. Now it's just down to the fun part of mixing it and putting the final touches on everything."

Asked if there is a certain theme or concept that this CD focuses on, Zak said, "Being that it's not a concept album, the record focuses on a variety of different subjects. What I notice right away in the music and the lyrics is the amount of introspection of everyday life. Because of this, it really reminds me of our first album, 'Watching In Silence'. It really has that sort of feel to it. It also reminds me of 'Burden Of Truth' in some ways, too, but this one's definitely not a concept album in that sense."

"Seasons Will Fall" track listing:

01. Diamond Blade
02. Without A Sound
03. Killing Death
04. Epiphany
05. End Of Emotion
06. Dreams That Never Die
07. Seasons Will Fall
08. Never Gonna Stop
09. Isolation
10. Sweet Despair
11. Downshot
12. Only Yesterday

A one-and-a-half-miniute teaser for the album can be seen below.

CIRCLE II CIRCLE is:

Zak Stevens - Vocals
Mitch Stewart - Bass/Vocals
Bill Hudson - Guitar/Vocals
Christian Wentz - Guitar/Vocals
Henning Wanner - Keyboards/Vocals
Adam Sagan - Drums

Teaseri täällä

[Jussi K]

Uuden CIIC:n (newsflash: kamala kansi) avausbiisi Diamond Blade täällä. edit: 1:24 paskaklippinä, sori.

[Jyyd]

Ihan hyvältä CIIC-junttaukselta tuo vaikuttaa, kyllähän levy tulee tsekattua.

[Jussi K]

Täysin irrelevanttia, mutta elokuussa 2001 Savatage soitti "salaisen" keikan Rob Rockin lämppärinä, hitto kun tuollaisen vielä joskus kuulisi:

As reported here several days ago, a “surprise” show by members of SAVATAGE that took place last Saturday, August 11th, at Green Parrot in Largo, Florida turned into a full-blown SAVATAGE gig, which served as a warm-up for the group's upcoming appearances in Brazil. The full set list for the concert was as follows:
...
01. Commissar
02. Surrender
03. Of Rage and War
04. City Beneath the Surface
05. Strange Wings
06. Sirens
07. Unusual
08. By Grace of the Witch
09. Handful of Rain
10. Wake of Magellen
11. Dead Winter Dead
12. Edge of Thorns
13. All That I Bleed
14. Morphine Child
15. He Carves His Stone
16. Chance
17. Believe
18. Temptation Revelation
19. Gutter Ballet
20. Hall of the Mountain King

Aika pitkähkö lämppärisetti... kai se on ollut co-headliner vähintään

edit: Euroopan kiertueelle ollut lähdössä tuolloin lokakuussa Vicious Rumors / Symhony X / Savatage ..vittu, toteutuikohan tuo

[Edward Mannerheim]

WTF??? TSO sijalla 22. melkein 10 miljoonan taalan tuloilla.

[Jyyd]

WTF??? TSO sijalla 22. melkein 10 miljoonan taalan tuloilla.

Huhhuh, tiesin että TSO on tuottava bändi mutta silti kovia lukemiahan nuo ovat. Joulun aikana kelpaa varmasti rahastaa ameriikoissa kun siellä kulutetaan paljon rahaa joulujuttuihin, tolla TSO-teemalla kelpaa siis ratsastaa vielä vuosikausia ja eläkerahat on taattu. Toista se on esim. CIIC:n jampoilla, tuskin mitään miljonäärejä kuitenkaan ovat.

[Jussi K]

Se Jonin oma, ei Pain:

JON OLIVA'S PAIN and SAVATAGE mastermind Jon Oliva will release his first-ever solo album on June 5 via AFM Records. The 11-song CD, which contains ideas collected over the course of the last four or five years, was tracked this past winter at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida with producer Tom Morris, with Jon handling laying down nearly all the instrument tracks and vocals himself as well as playing drums on three songs.

Commented JON OLIVA'S PAIN drummer/producer Christopher Kinder: "Oliva will be the first to admit that it took one hell of a challenge writing, performing 90% of all the tracks himself and vocals... he is exhausted, for sure."

He added: "It's a very interesting and powerful offering. Diverse, emotional, and varying styles of writing and music everywhere. A truly great accomplishment for the mountain king, indeed."

Oliva previously stated about his decision to record a solo album: "I've got some weird ideas that I wanna try and I've got some time to do it. I don't want do just 'another' JON OLIVA'S PAIN record. I've done four of those already. I wanna do something different. I have some material that I've wanted to put out for a while, that I'll talk with the record company about, maybe putting something out quickly, like in the next four or five months, to give me more time to do this JON OLIVA'S PAIN record. I want the next JON OLIVA'S PAIN CD to be very special. I've got some great friends from other bands that are going to be a significant part of the next JON OLIVA'S PAIN release. We are going to do a killer JON OLIVA'S PAIN record and then an additional bonus CD with guest stars... kind of like the AVANTASIA thing, but not in a story line. [EDGUY and AVANTASIA mastermind] Tobias Sammet does a magnificent job with it, but I don't have that much time to write a whole story, so I'll just have some powerhouse friends from various bands come in and take it over the top."

[Jussi K]

Uusi biisi Father Time, hyvä on!

Leppoisasta riffittelystä (Crissin tekemää muka?) tulee mieleen eräs UFO:n Sharksin (2002) kappale, mutta vain tyyliltään.

[Jussi K]

^ tuo levy jäi etäiseksi, vaikka olisikin (Mapen sanoin) "kuunneltavissa hyväksi" asti. Mutta näin mie juuri äsken:

ns: Savatage - Jesus Saves (original version)

kuten uuden Streets -a Narrated Version -painoksen vihossa lukee, mutta tämänhän pitäisi olla D.T. Jesus -mahtavaa kuulla muuten kunnollisella masteroinnilla tämä, eikä minään demolevyltä raapaistuna.

Mutta ennen kaikkia aiemmin kuulemattomia välipuheitakin* (sillä tätä edeltää tietysti sama, klassinen I ain't no bum or nothin' Jon Olivalta kuin on totuttu) huomaa, kuinka paljon paremmin kyseinen versio sopii TÄMÄN albumin ympäristöön. Kun Streets on pitkänä alkusoittonakin rauhallinen, on musiikkivideo**version riffi alkuperäisellä Atlantic Recordsin 1991 klassikolla ehdottomasti liian äkkiä hyökkäävä.

Nimittäin oman, koko 'Tagen suosikkibiisini (Tonight He Grins Again) ja a Little Too Farin jälkeen vasta You're Aliven sähköinen energistyminen sopii Streetsin tunnelmaan, näin postuumisti. Mutta on se vain uskomaton albumi aina vain, levyhyllyni toinen ikinä, mistä omistan nyt kaksi eri painosta.

* nämä narraatiot ovat tuossa orig. painoksessa siihen 1. aukeaman tarinasivuille tavallaan kirjailtuina kuultuja jo, mutta Jon puhuu ne saman katupummin roolissa läpi nyt sitten. Johan noita Paul O'Neillin tarinoita onkin tullut luettua vihoista vuosia tuon jälkeen, joten hyvä toisinkin (tarkoitetuin) päin!

** nautinnollista oli myös katsoa kaikki Savatage-musiikkivideot DVD:ltä, omasta töllöstä, hyvällä laadulla!! Eikä mitään 'subtitulanos espanjoles' näy lukemassa kuvan päällä, vaikka joidenkin [tsorl] mukaan joutube onkin tehnyt 'tällaiset bonukset kyseenalaisiksi' .

ps: Älkää yrittäkö poistaa sitä perkeleen "FSK 6 jahren freigegeben" -tarraa, jotka nykyään devaria sisältäviä kansia "koristavat" -t. nimim. repeämään lähti...

[Jussi K]

Ennenkin ollut puhetta siitä eeppisestä (ainakin kännin suhteen, mutta myös fanittamisen!) Domin PF/CIIC-illasta, jossa myös moni foorumilainen oli messissä. Vittu, kun eivät voineet silloin soittaa tätä, yksi omista all-time-Sava-fav:

Follow Me - Le Korigan @ LUYNES - 31/05/2013

Vissiin aika kurimuksessa nähtiin & tavattiin bändiä tuolloin 2010 kun ketään muita ei enää ole Zakin matkassa, kuin Mitch Stewart. John Osborn, Kevin Rothney, Andy Lee, all gone... Mutta silloin piti soittaa käytännössä kokonaan uusin levy, vain Edge Of Thornsilla höystettynä, prkl. Mutta kas, ovat tuolla samalla Ranskan keikalla, ennen Wake Of Magellanin kesälläsoittamista, kaikki vaihtaneet instrumentteja The Trooperiin!

Olenkohan tässä maininnut, tai ns-ketjussa, mutta uusin Circle II Circle, Seasons Will Fall alkoi napeksimaan loppukesästä. Alkuvuoden "meh" -suhtautumisen jälkeen, hienoa tunnelmaa tulvillaan levy. Paras sitten Burden Of Truthin?

[Jyyd]

Olenkohan tässä maininnut, tai ns-ketjussa, mutta uusin Circle II Circle, Seasons Will Fall alkoi napeksimaan loppukesästä. Alkuvuoden "meh" -suhtautumisen jälkeen, hienoa tunnelmaa tulvillaan levy. Paras sitten Burden Of Truthin?

Jahasjahas, minulta meni Seasons ihan ohi kun ei se jaksanut muutamien kuuntelukertojen jälkeen napata ollenkaan, pitää yrittää lähiaikoina uudestaan. Jos sieltä aukeaisi esiin Waitingin, Heal Youn tai Watching In Silencen kaltaisia helmiä niin tykkäisin kyllä (nuo ovat minun all time-suosikkejani CIIC:lta).

[Jussi K]

Jumalaare; paraikaa eurooppaa kiertävän TSO:n sivuilla kävin katsomassa että minkäs varjolla (kokoelmalevyn), mutta nuo joskus tulevat aktiviteetit olisivat aika -'Tagen vuoksi!

Upcoming Albums
Romanov: When Kings Must Whisper

Based on the 1917 Russian Revolution with the music written primarily by Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva and Bob Kinkel, this album began its life in 1993 with the intention of it being TSO's debut album. It is being worked on currently with no official release date scheduled, though Oliva has stated that it will be released sometime in 2014.[54] Though it was originally intended as the first TSO release, it was sold to Pace Theatrical Group for development as a Broadway musical.[55] Pace paid for the rights to the story for six years before rights reverted to O'Neill and Oliva. According to Oliva, "It’s a very dark, dark album, but there’s some good music and a good story on it."[56]

"Winter Palace", a song included on their 2012 Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night) EP, is the first song released from this forthcoming project. "Time You Should be Sleeping", also from this EP, is a song that was part of the original Romanov demos in 1993, though it is not yet known if this new recording of it will be on the final released recording.[57]

Gutter Ballet And The New York City Blues Express

A project currently in development, though no release date has been set. According to Oliva, "It’s the Savatage album Streets: A Rock Opera story with some songs from Gutter Ballet, a couple songs taken out from "Streets" replaced with ones from "Gutter", and a couple from Handful of Rain. And the stories are altered."[58]

Beginning with the 2010 Fall/Winter tour, TSO has been featuring songs from this project in each of their tours. A medley included "Sleep", originally a song from Savatage from their 1993 Edge of Thorns release, and a new song entitled "Child Unseen". Also often included in the medley is a portion of The Beatles' "Help". The 2011 and 2012 Fall/Winter Tours featured Kayla Reeves and Dari Mahnic performing another new song from this forthcoming "Gutter Ballet" project entitled "Someday". The studio version of this "Someday" was released on the 2012 Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night) EP with Tim Hockenberry on vocals. During the 2012 Spring tour, vocalist Rob Evan performed "A Little Too Far" from the Streets: A Rock Opera album during radio appearances.

[Jussi K]

Uusi CIIC Reign Of Darkness tulossa lokakuun kuudestoista; odotukset ovat oikeastaan pelottavan korkealla: 2013 Seasons Will Fall oli ja on yllättävän vahva albumi, parin edellisen järkyttävän alisuorittamisen jälkeen. Oikeastaan Zak & co:n top-kolmosessa Burden Of Truthin (pitäisikin kuunnella pitkästä aikaa!) ja Watching The Silence-debyytin jälkeen.

01. Over-Underture (intro)
02. Victim Of The Night
03. Untold Dreams
04. It’s All Over
05. One More Day
06. Ghost Of The Devil
07. Somewhere
08. Deep Within
09. Taken Away
10. Sinister Love
11. Solitary Rain