Edge of Thorns

Last updated

Edge of Thorns
EdgeofThorns.jpg
Studio album by
Savatage
ReleasedApril 2, 1993 (1993-04-02) [1]
Recorded1992–1993
Studio Morrisound (Tampa, Fla.); 321 (New York City)
Genre Heavy metal [2]
Length59:54
Label Atlantic
Producer Paul O'Neill, Jon Oliva, Criss Oliva
Savatage chronology
Streets: A Rock Opera
(1991)		Edge of Thorns
(1993)		 Handful of Rain
(1994)

Edge of Thorns is the seventh studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released on April 2, 1993, by Atlantic Records. It was 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.

Contents

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. [3]

"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. [4]

The woman in the picture of the album art is Dawn Oliva, Criss Oliva's wife.[ citation needed ] Gary Smith, who also did the front and back covers for Hall of the Mountain King , the front cover for Gutter Ballet , the back cover for Streets , and all of Criss Oliva's airbrushed guitars, painted the cover. The face in the trees is supposed to be Jon Oliva, though producer O'Neill disputes that despite its publication in a Criss Oliva interview from 1993. The cover is supposed to represent good (the woman) vs. evil (the face in the trees). According to Criss Oliva in a 1993 interview, "The girl is surrounded by fear and innocence. But the face in the trees is evil. Everything around her is evil. It's about good and evil. The songs on the CD reflect this, too." [3]

The opening piano riff to the title track was used extensively in the MTV reality series The Real World: San Francisco during scenes involving the hospitalization of Pedro Zamora.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal 7/10 [5]
Metal Hammer (GER)7/7 [6]
Rock Hard 9.5/10 [7]

In a contemporary review for Rock Hard magazine, where Edge of Thorns had been elected Album of the Month, Matthias Breusch wrote that Savatage had "not lost a pinch of their compositional potential and energy" and praised Criss Oliva's guitar playing; he complimented new singer Zak Stevens' "powerful, energetic voice", which was "cleverly adapted to the melodic lines" of the new songs, although he missed Jon Oliva's "crazy screams". [7]

Modern reviews are generally positive. AllMusic Geoff Orens praised Savatage's continuous experimentation of new sounds and wrote that Edge of Thorns moved away from the progressive metal of the two previous albums, being a "leaner, more understated guitar-driven record", with the majority of the songs consisting "of stripped-down metal anthems, recorded with less flashy guitar work and production" than before. In his opinion, the new material fits well the "less bombastic delivery" of new singer Stevens, who does "not have the emotional range that Oliva showed on Gutter Ballet and Streets". [2] Canadian journalist Martin Popoff remarked how Edge of Thorns was "a raucous return to old Savatage vein", with "mountains of thirsty power riffs" and "an odd adherence to a goth past", mostly out of fashion in the alternative metal scene of the time. He was more critical of "the band's mellow tendencies" and the murky long intros to the songs. [5]

Track listing

All music composed by Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill. All lyrics written by Paul O'Neill and Jon Oliva.

No.TitleLength
1."Edge of Thorns"5:54
2."He Carves His Stone"4:14
3."Lights Out"3:10
4."Skraggy's Tomb"4:22
5."Labyrinths" (instrumental)1:29
6."Follow Me"5:08
7."Exit Music" (instrumental)3:05
8."Degrees of Sanity"4:36
9."Conversation Piece"4:10
10."All That I Bleed"4:41
11."Damien"3:53
12."Miles Away"5:06
13."Sleep"3:52
Original Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."Forever After"4:20
15."Shotgun Innocence"3:30
1997 Edel Music CD reissue
No.TitleLength
14."Believe" (Acoustic version)3:52
2002 SPV CD reissue
No.TitleLength
14."Forever After"4:18
15."Conversation Piece" (Rehearsal 9/24/94)4:19
2010 EarMusic CD reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleLength
14."All That I Bleed" (Acoustic version)4:34
15."If I Go Away" (Acoustic version)3:49

Personnel

Savatage
Additional musicians
Production

Charts

Related Research Articles

<i>Hall of the Mountain King</i> (album) 1987 studio album by Savatage

Hall of the Mountain King is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after the tour in support of Fight for the Rock. O'Neill's influence pushed Savatage to adopt a conceptual progressive metal style beginning with this album.

<i>Dead Winter Dead</i> 1995 studio album by Savatage

Dead Winter Dead is the ninth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1995. It is a concept album, that tells a story from the perspectives of a Serb boy, a Bosniak girl and an old man. The story of the album is set during the Bosnian War, which was ongoing at the time.

<i>The Dungeons Are Calling</i> 1985 EP by Savatage

The Dungeons Are Calling is an EP by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1985 on Combat Records. Though the EP was not released until 1985, most of the songs featured on it and the debut album, Sirens, had been in the band set list since 1979, and are part of the Live in Clearwater and City Beneath the Surface EPs. The Dungeons Are Calling is a loosely based concept album and the title track, contrary to popular belief, is not about Hell or torture, but about the horrors of drug use. The song used many metaphors, which have been sometimes misunderstood.

<i>Streets: A Rock Opera</i> 1991 studio album by Savatage

Streets: A Rock Opera is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage and is a rock opera dealing with the rise and fall of the fictional musician DT Jesus. It was originally released in October 1991 on Atlantic Records. The album took almost a year to record, with pre-production beginning in October 1990. It was also Jon Oliva's last album as lead vocalist until 1995's Dead Winter Dead and 1997's The Wake of Magellan, where he shared lead vocal duties with Zak Stevens. He resumed lead vocal duties exclusively on 2001's Poets and Madmen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Savatage</span> American heavy metal band

Savatage is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album Sirens (1983), they changed their name to Savatage, as Avatar was already taken by another band. Savatage is considered to be an integral part of the American heavy metal movement of the early-to-mid-1980s and has been cited as a key influence on numerous genres, such as power metal, progressive metal, speed metal, thrash metal, death metal and symphonic metal.

<i>Sirens</i> (Savatage album) 1983 studio album by Savatage

Sirens is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Savatage, released on April 11, 1983. The music on this album is heavier than in later Savatage albums, where the band developed their own style of progressive metal. It has also been cited as a key inspiration for the then-burgeoning thrash metal scene.

<i>Power of the Night</i> 1985 studio album by Savatage

Power of the Night is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1985. This record was produced by Max Norman, who later went on to produce Megadeth's 1992 hit album Countdown to Extinction.

<i>The Wake of Magellan</i> 1997 studio album by Savatage

The Wake of Magellan is the tenth studio album released by the American heavy metal band Savatage. The album was released in September 1997 in Europe and Japan, and in April 1998 in the US.

<i>Poets and Madmen</i> 2001 studio album by Savatage

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 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.

<i>Handful of Rain</i> 1994 studio album by Savatage

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".

<i>Gutter Ballet</i> 1989 studio album by Savatage

Gutter Ballet is the fifth full-length album produced by the American progressive metal band Savatage. This was the second album created under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill and was initially released in December 1, 1989.

<i>Fight for the Rock</i> 1986 studio album by Savatage

Fight for the Rock is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released on June 30, 1986. It is their first album with new bass player Johnny Lee Middleton.

<i>Ghost in the Ruins – A Tribute to Criss Oliva</i> 1995 live album by Savatage

Ghost in the Ruins – A Tribute to Criss Oliva is a live album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, recorded between 1987 and 1990. Many of the tracks on this album have since been added to the re-releases of other albums in the Savatage discography by the German label SPV in 2002. The Japanese version of the album, titled Final Bell – Tribute to Christopher Michael Oliva and released by Zero Corporation in 1997, shows the track "Criss Intro" as "Criss Oliva Guitar Solo" on the track listing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Oliva</span> American heavy metal singer (born 1960)

John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Since 1996 he has also been a songwriter, musician and vocalist in Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Producer Paul O'Neill referred to Oliva in numerous interviews as the single greatest vocalist/musician he has ever worked with.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criss Oliva</span> American guitarist (1963–1993)

Christopher Michael Oliva 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Lee Middleton</span> American musician and songwriter (born 1963)

Johnny Lee Middleton is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitar player for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

<i>Doctor Butcher</i> 1994 studio album by Doctor Butcher

Doctor Butcher was a side project involving Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery of Savatage which released one major self-titled studio album in 1994. The original album title, A Living Hell, was changed at the last minute.

Steve Wacholz is an American heavy metal drummer. He is best known as the drummer of Savatage from 1977, 1979–1994. His hard-hitting playing style earned him the nickname "Doctor Hardware Killdrums" by his bandmates, as he was known for using a large three kick drumset and extra large 3S drumsticks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edge of Thorns (song)</span> 1993 single by Savatage

"Edge of Thorns" is a song by American progressive metal band Savatage. The song was released as the promo lead single from the band's seventh album Edge of Thorns. The single is Savatage's first song to feature new vocalist Zachary Stevens.

References

  1. ↑ "Savatage - Edge Of Thorns". Metal Storm. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Orens, Geoff. "Savatage - Edge of Thorns review". AllMusic . Rovi Corporation . Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Savatage FAQ: Section 2 - The Albums Part1". Savatage Official Website. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
  4. ↑ "Savatage - Edge of Thorns". Edel AG. 2010. Archived from the original on October 22, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Popoff, Martin (August 1, 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 383. ISBN   978-1-894959-62-9.
  6. ↑ Nieradzik, Andrea (May 1993). "Savatage – Edge of Thorns". Metal Hammer (in German). Retrieved May 8, 2018.
  7. 1 2 Breusch, Matthias (1993). "Review Album Des Monats: Savatage - Edge of Thorns". Rock Hard (in German). No. 71. Retrieved April 8, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Savatage Chart History: Heatseekers Albums". Billboard.com. Billboard. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  9. ↑ AA.VV. (April 25, 2006). Album Chart-Book Complete Edition 1970~2005. Tokyo, Japan: Oricon. ISBN   978-487-1-31077-2.
  10. ↑ "Album – Savatage, Edge of Thorns". Charts.de (in German). Media Control Charts . Retrieved April 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Savatage - Edge of Thorns (Album)". Greekcharts.com. Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
  12. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Savatage – Edge of Thorns" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved July 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Savatage Chart History: Mainstream Rock". Billboard.com. Billboard. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.