What I liked most about this album from the start was that it was immediately impressive on all levels. Jon Oliva's vocals are uniquely his own, moving between a conversational lyrical tone to a higher register with ease, and despite the gruffness about his vocals it is a higher and tuneful voice than a growl, before then throwing in a real scream and what is a trademark cry every now and then. It helps to typify the Savatage sound. This is cross purposed with his brother Criss and his wonderful guitaring. His riffs and solos on this album are just sensational, and though parts of them may remind you of some other past songs of other bands, (there's a bit of Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart" in the riff of "Strange Wings" and a bit of Black Sabbath's "Hole in the Sky" in the riff of "Devastation") they are on a whole brilliant. In some places they are breathtaking, and he has an amazing flair in his playing. Check out especially "Beyond the Doors of the Dark", "Legions" and "Devastation" for his solos. Something special. Backing all of this up are Johnny Lee Middleton on bass guitar and Steve Wacholz on drums, who do their job so well that you probably don't even notice their excellent contributions while you listen to the Oliva brothers - but the album couldn't be this good without that solid rhythm section pounding away in the background.
The album itself flows almost perfectly from song to song, not losing any momentum from a change in style or radical changes in song structure. "24 Hours Ago" and "Beyond the Doors of the Dark" are both dominated by a heavy guitar riff and Jon's vocals, punctuated by those amazing guitar solos from Criss. "Beyond the Doors of the Dark" is just brilliant. "Legions" follows and is dominated by Criss' amazing guitaring, which is the highlight here. "Strange Wings", perhaps because of the aforementioned riff similarity, comes across as almost a mainstream sounding song especially after the opening tracks.
"Prelude to Madness" is an instrumental that incorporates Edvard Grieg's theme from his "In the Hall of the Mountain King". In combining a well known music piece to this instrumental intro to Side 2 of the album, it not only deepens the anticipation as to what will follow, it increases the interest of those that do not know the album as well, and opens the second half in style. This segues beautifully into the title track "Hall of the Mountain King", with a great riff that immediately generates that feeling that a great song is about to follow. This is the track that can sell you the album. "The Price You Pay" has touches of Accept in both vocals and music which is amusing when Jon hits his high screams. Following the second instrumental of the album, the reflective "Last Dawn" leads into the final track "Devastation", which ends the album on a high note.
I'm not a fanatic about either this band or this album. That comes from not having found them earlier or having grown up with them. When it comes time to throw on a album at home or in the car or at work, Savatage is not one of those bands that immediately jumps into my mind to find. But that doesn't detract from the fact that I like the band, and I think this is a really good album. And when I do run my fingers along and they come to rest on this album and I pout it on, I am never disappointed. In fact I am constantly reminded about how good an album this actually is, and wonder why it doesn't get recalled by me in that way often enough. It has all of the hallmarks of the albums that I rate as my all time favourites, it just doesn't have that unconditional love that those albums have from me. Despite this, Hall of the Mountain King is a terrific album and worthy of your attention.
Rating: Hell is eternity, Hell is your destiny. 4/5
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