Year Of Metal #041: Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King
This 1987 album is a risky proposition - a heavy/power metal record that seems to take itself more or less entirely seriously. When that works, it can spark superior songwriting, and less of a reliance on fucking around that seems to be a hallmark of this particular subgenre. When it doesn’t work - when the songs aren’t so strong - the result can be a bit embarrassing. Not only is it goofy, but somehow you imagined it wouldn’t be.
There are certainly some decent tunes on here. “Strange Wings” creeps into power ballad territory, with its reverb-heavy guitar and epically harmonised chorus. Jon Oliva’s vocals are a strong point across the album; he can reach high, witchy notes when he wants to, like on the histrionic “24 Hrs Ago”, but he’s capable of injecting a lot of warmth, too. His brother Criss is a highlight of this song, too, ending energetically with a relentless, looping riff.
Another highlight is “White Witch”, sort of the mid-point between Sabbath and Maiden. In general the album has a lot more thump and impact than a lot of the power metal I’ve listened to, and the jump in pace doesn’t hurt when it comes to adding a little oomph (I’ve read that Savatage were at an early stage a proto-thrash act, and while there’s little sign of that by this, their fourth record, there’s a tightness and grit to “White Witch” that does hint at a harder edged past).
“Legions” is decent, too. The band would later transition to a more progressive sound (they have a 70 minute long record called Streets: A Rock Opera which I doubt I’ll ever listen to), and while they keep things tight for Hall Of The Mountain King, they show off some technically impressive, knotty guitar work here. The problem, like with a few of these tracks, is that the chorus doesn’t ever really take off; there’s nothing especially catchy to hold onto. I know that’s a complaint you could levy at the vast majority of doom metal, too, but you’re working with different parameters when it comes to fun power metal.
The centrepiece is “Prelude To Madness” and the title track. Confusingly, the former is in fact “Hall Of The Mountain King” by Grieg, only with some guitars. More confusingly, Savatage have given themselves writing credits on what is a faithful rendition of the classical piece but with some guitar heroics to punctuate things. Metal covers of classical music are a dime a dozen, and this isn’t a great example of the form by any means. Savatage throw everything at the wall when it comes to the title track itself, but not an awful lot sticks. It’s all more than technically sound - it’s some of the better playing I’ve heard on this type of music - but for me, it doesn’t quite connect.
At the risk of being entirely too reductive, it seems to me that you have to be charmed by this kind of music in order to really get on board - that is to say, the songwriting on its own rarely tends to cut it along in my experience of power metal. Savatage feel stuck between goofy charm and trying on something more serious, and to that end, it falls a little flat to me.
