martindavey87 Savatage's second album, and third overall release, is an improvement upon its predecessors, with every aspect of 'Power of the Night' being a step up from what the band had done before. The songwriting was more confident, the musicianship was more mature, and the production was a lot more polished, giving the album that perfect 80's metal sound (and there's nothing wrong with 80's metal dammit!).

The most obvious highlight here is the title track, which not only stands on its own merits as one of the bands better songs before they went all "classical metal", but honestly, it's one of their finer songs period. And while other tracks such as 'Warriors', 'Hard for Love' and 'Unusual' may be standard 80's metal pomp and circumstance, they're still pretty kickass anthems that indicate the talent and potential within this band.

Guitarist Criss Oliva truly shines here, showing a mastery that should have put him on par with heroes such as Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen, but whom sadly that legendary status had always eluded him. His flair for dramatic guitar playing is truly amazing to listen to, and fans of 80's metal (there's that term again), including subgenres such as power and thrash metal, will enjoy this shred masterclass.

If you're a Savatage fan (cheesily referred to as "Savafans", I believe), then 'Power of the Night' belongs in your collection. It's not the bands best work by far, but it's an early indication of the quality of music they were capable of writing, and would certainly establish them as a band worth keeping an eye on.

"Raise the first of the metal child".

UMUR "Power Of The Night" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US, Florida based heavy/power metal act Savatage. The album was released through Atlantic Records in May 1985. Savatage was formed in 1979 under the Avatar monicker (they also occasionally went by the Metropolis monicker). After releasing a demo and an EP under the Avatar name they changed their name to Savatage in 1983 and recorded a demo before being signed to Par Records for the release of their debut full-length studio album "Sirens (1983)". "The Dungeons Are Calling" EP followed in 1984 (also released through Par Records), before Savatage was picked up by major label Atlantic Records. At this point in time Savatage seemed destined for greatness and commercial success.

Stylistically "Power Of The Night" continues the traditional heavy metal style of "Sirens (1983)", although the tracks are generally a bit more polished and in the case of "Hard For Love" obviously aimed at a mainstream audience. In the other end of the spectrum Savatage also experiments with new features like slightly symphonic keyboards on "Unusual". So "Power Of The Night" is overall a more diverse release than "Sirens (1983)".

The sound production is sligthly thin sounding, but otherwise detailed and powerful enough. The performances are as always on a high level. Jon Oliva is blessed with a set of really strong pipes, and his delivery is commanding and passionate. Little brother Criss Oliva is a guitarist extraordinaire and puts the icing on the cake with his hard edged riffs and blistering solos. The cake here being the tight and well playing rhythm section of Keith Collins (bass, backing vocals) and Steve Wacholz (drums, percussion).

So upon conclusion "Power Of The Night" is a great sophomore album by Savatage although I wouldn´t necessarily call it a step up from "Sirens (1983)". It´s debatable if the more polished and accessible nature of some of the tracks is a plus or a minus, but it did show that Savatage wasn´t a one-trick pony and that they were capable of composing music in different musical styles. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

Kingcrimsonprog Power Of The Night is the second full-length studio album by the American Heavy/Power/Progressive Metal band Savatage, which was produced by Max Norman and released in 1985, following up their 1983 debut album Sirens and their 1984 EP The Dungeons Are Calling.

Stylistically; as opposed to the conceptual, symphonic, piano filled, Progressive Metal sound that the band would later adopt, or the commercial sound of the Fight For The Rock album which the band veered into just once; this album is more in the vein of their debut album.

The sound in question is somewhere around the point where classic metal becomes early Power Metal while sounding close to, but not quite Thrash Metal yet (although ‘Washed Out’ is kind of reminiscent of the first two Overkill albums).

As an album, Power Of The Night is good, but it isn’t perfect. In terms of songwriting, its not the most creative or memorable thing that the band have ever done, and there are a few tracks that don’t stand up all that well against the best of the band’s catalogue. The production isn’t exactly fantastic either and so the songs don’t jump out at you as energetically as they do on say, Hall Of The Mountain King.

That being said however, there is still a lot to like about the album and if you like the band its worth checking out. Standout tracks include the Title Track with its memorable lead riff; ‘Hard For Love’ which is an out of place Kiss-esque Hard Rock number with hilariously cheesy sexually suggestive lyrics and the big ballady album closer ‘In The Dream’ which has an absolutely fabulous guitar solo.

Overall; Power Of The Night is an interesting album and worth considering for your collection. There are better Savatage albums to start with admittedly, but if you enjoy the Jon’s voice or Chris’ distinctive riff and solo sounds and want to hear them play some direct, to the point, powerful classic metal then its definitely worth picking up.

Time Signature Metallophilia...

Genre: heavy metal

Savatage have always explored the three-way transition zone between traditional metal, progressive metal and power metal and helped define the latter two types of metal.

This particular release belongs mostly to the traditional metal category, although there are a couple if signs of things to come every now and then. I think it's a pretty good traditional metal album, which does seem a quite inspired by the likes of Judas Priest, but with a heavier twist due to Criss Oliva's somewhat aggressive and heavy riffs and Jon Oliva's raspy singing and, of course, his trademark screams.

While firmly placed in the realms of traditional heavy metal without really taking in elements from any of the other metal subgenres that were developing at the time, this album is still quite varied and contains both ballady tracks like 'In the Dream', aggressive uptempo tracks like 'Washed Out' and quasi-sleazy hardrock tracks like 'Hard for for Love' as well as heavier tracks like 'Unusual'.

If you love guitar riffage, this album is definitely worth checking out, as every track is teeming with solid Criss Olive riffs - just check out the opening riffs of 'Power of the Night' and 'Necrophilia', the verse and pre-chorus riffs of 'Unusual', and the intro and verse riffs of 'Skull Session', as well as the darkly groovy main riff of 'Stuck on You'.

There a no weak tracks as such on this release, but some are, of course, better than others, and any fan of traditional metal should certainly check this album out - it is a very enjoyable listen with a slightly dark take on good old heavy metal.