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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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".
Japan Live '94 is a live album and VHS by the American heavy metal band Savatage. The show that was recorded was held in Kawasaki, Japan on November 12, 1994, and was the last show on the short Handful of Rain tour. The show is noted for featuring Jon Oliva in a prominent role, his first since "leaving" the band in 1992. Oliva has an extended piano intro on "Gutter Ballet" and shares lead vocals with Zachary Stevens, making it his first performance as a lead vocalist with the band for two years. Oliva also performs rhythm guitar on "Hall of the Mountain King".
Jeff Plate is an American professional hard rock/heavy metal drummer. He plays with the group Trans-Siberian Orchestra. He is best known as drummer for American heavy metal band Savatage on their albums since Japan Live '94, and was also a member of Metal Church from 2006 to their break up in 2009 and again from their reunion in 2012 to 2017.
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.
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.
Johnny Lee Middleton is an American musician and songwriter, best known as the bass guitar player for Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Circle II Circle is an American heavy metal band from Tampa, Florida. The band was formed by former Savatage lead vocalist Zachary Stevens and longtime friend and band manager Dan Campbell in 2001. They play varied genres of metal including traditional heavy metal, power metal and progressive metal.
Christopher Caffery is an American musician, best known for his work as a member of Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Chris has been releasing solo records singing and playing guitar for almost 20 years, releasing 9 albums and many singles since 2004.
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.
Watching in Silence is the debut astudio album by the American heavy metal band Circle II Circle, released in 2003. It featured guest appearances from lead vocalist Zachary Stevens's former band mates from Savatage, Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery, who co-wrote most of the songs on the album.
The Middle of Nowhere is a 2005 release by American heavy metal band Circle II Circle. It was the band's second studio release, but the first featuring the new band assembled after Stevens fired the original band in 2003. Like the band's first record, it features guest appearances and writing credits for Stevens's former Savatage band mates, Jon Oliva and Chris Caffery. The Japanese edition of the album features three bonus tracks. One track was a live performance of the title track from the band's previous release, Watching in Silence. The other two tracks were previously released on the All That Remains EP.
Burden of Truth is a 2006 release by Circle II Circle. It was the band's third full-length studio release so far, and is a concept album, with the songs telling a story based on The Da Vinci Code. Unlike the band's first two albums, this album does not feature a guest appearance from lead vocalist Zak Stevens's former Savatage bandmates, Chris Caffery and Jon Oliva.
Machines of Grace is an American hard rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. The band features two former members of Savatage, namely vocalist Zachary Stevens and drummer Jeff Plate. Zachary Stevens is also the vocalist for Circle II Circle and Jeff Plate is the drummer for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Metal Church and violinist Mark Wood. The band plays varied genres of hard rock including heavy metal, acoustic rock, and melodic metal.
Bill Hudson is a Brazilian-American heavy metal guitarist, currently serving as the main composer, lead guitarist and founder for power metal supergroup NorthTale. He worked with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra as well German heavy metal bands U.D.O. and Dirkschneider, both fronted by former Accept vocalist Udo Dirkschneider and American death metal band I Am Morbid, featuring former Morbid Angel frontman David Vincent and drummer Pete Sandoval. As of 2021, he is the guitarist for German heavy metal legend Doro Pesch, after acting as a fill in guitarist since 2017.
