Pleeeeeeasedon't suck.' Thankfully, I was immediately hooked by the end of the first song, so Savatage's status as my favorite band was safe. (Yes, I realize how stupid that sounds now.) I walked out to the parking lot and immediately slammed the tape into my car stereo, chanting 'Don't suck. My reasoning for this was that cassettes were cheaper,and I figured that if I didn't like The New Guy at least I'd save a couple of bucks. It seemed inconceivable that he could be replaced afraid that I would hate the new singer, I originally bought Edge of Thorns on cassette (remember those?) instead of on CD. Savatage had been my favorite band since I'd seen them live on the Gutter Ballet tour in 1990 and I'd been gutted by the news that Jon Oliva had left the band. I vividly remember the day I went to Tower Records (remember them?) to buy Edge of Thorns in 1993. Unfortunately, the rigors of the music business and life on the road were beginning to take their toll on Jon Oliva, who announced that he was stepping away from the microphone shortly after the release of Streets. Savatage's music matured by leaps and bounds under O'Neill's guidance over the next several years and they released critically acclaimed records like 1989's complex and atmospheric Gutter Ballet and 1991's Metal-Meets-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber concept album, Streets: A Rock Opera. Hall of the Mountain King also signaled the start of a fruitful partnership between the Oliva brothers and classical-influenced producer/songwriter Paul O'Neill.

Piano and keyboards became an integral piece of the puzzle and the interplay between guitarist Criss Oliva's fretboard fireworks and the skilled ivory-tickling of his vocalist brother Jon quickly became the band's trademark. Savatage's early works like Sirens (1983) and The Dungeons Are Calling (1984) were standard Judas Priest/Black Sabbath inspired metal that quickly cultivated a fervent following amongst the headbanger crowd, but on 1987's near-breakthrough Hall of the Mountain King, the band began expanding its sonic palette and hinting at a more dramatic, theatrical sound.

Rock opera definition