Jon Oliva´s Pain - Global Warning
A new album from singer and songwriter Jon Oliva is always an anticipated event for an old Savatage fan like myself. This third solo album feels like a continuation of Maniacal Renderings and improves on that one in several ways. If you are a newcomer to the world of Jon Oliva then I recommend you to check out the early works of Savatage. "Hall of The Mountain King" and "Gutter Ballet" are good places to start. In "Jon Oliva's Pain" the line-up is intact since last album, except Matt Laporte is now handling all guitars with Ralph Santolla guesting on "Adding the Cost" and "You Never Know".
 
Once again Jon has rummaged around the shoebox that was discovered a few years ago and brought forth music that he created back in time with his brother Criss (R.I.P.). Savatage nostalgics will surely rejoice.
 
Global Warning is a varied album and even if they don't always work, a few head-scratching experiments give the album an unpredictable edge. Adding distortion effects to Jon Oliva's voice still feels like blasphemy in my ears and the song Master, while interesting, fails in the long run due to a monotone drive and those vocals.
Jon Oliva's voice shows signs of age in some of the more aggressive passages while he nails others with a force that impresses and surprises even me. This is especially true for Before I Hang where the chorus holds an intensity that I had not imagined still possible. He delivers a performance here that reminds of his early Savatage days. Hard, relentless and immensely powerful. Color me wide smiled.
 
Opening the album is a trilogy of songs that feel intertwined. The title track opens the album with a well put together instrumental passage added a bit of unfortunate vocal effect work. Look at the world feels like a nice intermission and has some good detail in the bass and rythm section. Adding the cost is a mixed experience. The intense verse sections build a fantastic momentum but the sterile chorus throws it out the window. The two parts of this song don't work together so well. The guitar solo and especially the last verse makes up for this but it is a shame that the chorus lets the song down.
 
For its few shortcomings, when the album shines it shines with such a bright light that they are forgotten. On several occasions a song comes along that possesses a special feeling, that I cannot describe any other way than being magical.
Firefly is one such song. It has incredible depth and overflows with heartfelt emotion. Jon's voice is fraught with feeling and the way his voice rises in tune with the music in the chorus is truly stirring. Music, lyrics and atmosphere unite in a perfect way for this song and deliver a chilling, unforgettable experience. The lyrics take their origin in war but several parallels can be drawn to other situations, making the song work on several levels. Song of the year so far.

Master: As soon as I heard the distorted vocals I thought "Oh fuck.... Game over..."
 
With two lives left to go and a Zeppelin'ish guitar sound The Ride successfully captures a specific, almost hesitant feeling that works very well. A good rythm and a splendid relaxed atmosphere is the gist of the song. The short section that begins 2:40 is one of those moments I look forward to with each listen. The chorus is not 100% successful, but nitpicking aside The Ride is a different and enjoyable little journey.
 
With O to G and Walk upon the water the album reaches another high. A touching requiem by voice and piano sets the stage for Walk upon the water, the perfect vehicle for the current Jon Oliva to unfold. The song has a fantastic atmosphere, brought by emotional singing and incredible intensity.
The bridge section is an absolutely wonderful passage with the one starting with "All I can say, trying to find my way. It's gonna be allright, It's gonna be allright..." really hitting the mark. 
 
Open your eyes is another highlight where Jon Oliva shines in all his emotional glory and brings back memories of the splendour that a song like When the crowds are gone once created.
 
Someone is another great song with emotional vocals and meaningful lyrics. The chorus brings the song an aggressive edge and this time it works perfectly.
Souls ends the album on a fitting acoustic note. It is another proof to myself that I can listen to Jon Oliva sing for eternity and still be amazed at the emotion and spellbinding effect his voice has. There is that magic feeling again.

Throughout the album there are many hints and cool references to older Savatage material. One complete song in particular is a passageway back somewhere in time when that band was still telling Stories. Firefly also has some pointers back to older Savatage songs. Others appear in the heavy You never know and Before I Hang where the opening section is based on a leftover Streets track called Larry Elbow (Enjoy the demo here and discover the instrumental passage that was later used in Follow Me off the "Edge of Thorns" album).

There is a serious amount of music to get into here. On first listen I found several songs instantly captivating but it takes many listens before the album peaks and several songs only flourish on repeated listens. The band is creative and their energy is evident. Global Warning shows great promise for the future...

Written by Steen
Friday, May 9, 2008
Show all reviews by Steen

Ratings

Steen: 7.5/10

Members: 9/10 - Average of 1 ratings.



Member ratings

This profile has not added a pictureChippyMinton

Rating: 9/10
Well in general I have to agree with Steen's review. Firefly is truly amazing, Before I Ha... · Read more ·

This article has been shown 3760 times. Go to the complete list.



RevelationZ Comments


Review by ChippyMinton (Member) - Sunday, January 4, 2009
This profile has not added a picture

View Profile


Comments: 1
Ratings: 1
Well in general I have to agree with Steen's review. Firefly is truly amazing, Before I Hang is pure Savatage (well what else would it be when you combine two Savatage songs together into one?) and O to G is hauntingly unfinished.

I find this album to be the most Savatagesque, and the best, of the 3 JOP albums so far.

I have to disagree with the appraisal of "Master", it's actually a very clever song. I wasn't too struck on it at first, the vocals are quite different, but I finally got what the song was on about when I was sat at my computer, it was giving me grief and this song came on. It really felt like my computer was mocking me, taunting me as I sat there, it actually made me recoil from my computer. If the vocals were pure Jon then I don't think it would've had quite the same effect.

Anyway, it gets a 9 cos it's my album of 2008, it's one of the few that I've listened to over and over and over again.


Rating: 9/10

Posted by ChippyMinton
Sunday, January 4, 2009










Review by Steen

Released by
AFM - 2008

Tracklisting
01 - Global Warning
02 - Look at the World
03 - Adding the Cost
04 - Firefly
05 - Before I Hang
06 - Master
07 - The Ride
08 - O to G
09 - Walk Upon the Water
10 - Stories
11 - Open Up Your Eyes
12 - You Never Know
13 - Someone / Souls
14 - No More Saturday Nights*
14 - I See **
* limited edition bonus track
** Japanese edition bonus track


Supplied by Target


Style
Heavy Metal

Related links
Visit the band page

Jon Oliva´s Pain - Official Website

Other articles
´Tage Mahal - (Steen)

Maniacal Renderings - (Steen)

Festival - (Steen)



Z supported shopping






Ratings
1 - Horrifying
2 - Terrible
3 - Bad
4 - Below average
5 - Average
6 - Good
7 - Very good
8 - Outstanding
9 - Genius
10 - Masterpiece
666 - Unrated

More details...


Daily Spotlight
D:A:D - Riskin' It All
CoverThis was my first D:A:D album and in fact the first time I really started taking notice of Rock music back in the day. 1991 t....
Read full review















Retro Reviews

(Tommy)
Judas Priest - Jugulator
CoverJudas Priest without doubt counts as one of the best and most charismatic Heavy Metal bands in history, and has always been one of my favourite bands. Their career can be labelled as astonishing and e....
Read full review






(Michael)
Deep Purple - Stormbringer
CoverRecorded and released in 1974 "Stormbringer" features the Deep Purple Mark III line-up consisting of David Coverdale (vocals), Glenn Hughes (vocals and bass), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Ian Paice (dr....
Read full review








Archive
 · Albums of the month
 · Retro Reviews
































Back to the top - © 2002-2011 RevelationZ Magazine - Back to the top