martindavey87 ‘Believe’ is a 1998 compilation album by American metal band Savatage. It was only released in Japan, and focuses primarily on the bands 90’s output, most notably with cuts from the studio albums ‘Handful of Rain’ and ‘Dead Winter Dead’, as well as the two live albums ‘Japan Live ‘94’ and ‘Ghost in the Ruins: A Tribute to Criss Oliva’. With that in mind, while it serves its purpose well as some kind of 90’s commemoration, it’s a bit of pointless and uninspired release.

And what’s up with that lame cover art?

Still, for what it’s worth, Savatage are one of my all time favourite bands, and the material on offer here is still bloody brilliant! From hard rockers like ‘Taunting Cobras’ and ‘Handful of Rain’ to symphonic epics such as ‘Chance’, ‘This is the Time’ and ‘Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)’, while there are other songs from the studio albums that are missing, these are still great tracks. Plus, you get the song ‘Believe’ from the ‘Streets’ album, which is always a fan favourite.

And as for the live tracks... well, I’ve always been a sucker for studio albums, but still, you’ve got the likes of ‘Edge of Thorns’, ‘Gutter Ballet’, ‘Hall of the Mountain King’ and ‘The Dungeons Are Calling’, so there’s some good stuff there too.

But as a whole, looking at this album in retrospect, it’s pointless. There are other Savatage compilations that do a fantastic job of covering the bands entire career. Whereas this one is best left for the absolute, most die-hard and committed collectors, like me, and even then, I’m never going to listen to it.