Jon Oliva may be one of the most underrated musicians in all of metal-dom. The guy led one of my favorite bands ever, Savatage, through years of shifting personnel and personal tragedy, to put together a body of quality songs from ‘80‘s power metal to opera-inspired progressive concept metal/rock. Yet, they never really came out from under the radar like they deserved. And few people realize that he is the force behind the scenes, and perhaps most responsible for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, with all their successes. Do yourself a favor: Stop “not hearing” of Jon Oliva, and check out Festival, the latest release from his main project right now - Jon Oliva’s Pain. It is awesome!
The thing I like the best about this album is how eclectic it is. For me, that’s a good thing. It’s impossible to get tired of what you hear, because there is such a variety, yet it all is very cohesive and plays well from start to finish. The album opens with the hard-hitting, “Lies.” It has pretty much a classic metal vibe with syncopated guitar riffs that move your head. The keyboard work on that song and on the album as a whole makes for a big sound, and it frequently showcases seizure-inducing arpeggios which underlay the guitars, so it sounds really fast and cool. “Death Rides A Black Horse” is an interesting song, which is apparently based on Oliva’s nephew joining the army in Afghanistan. It has a slightly middle-eastern flavor to the melody, with group vocals and heavy keyboard adding to the muscular guitars.
“Afterglow” is my favorite song of the album. It starts out with a fully-metal guitar solo, before it starts shading the tune with an acoustic guitar and cello. Oliva’s voice sounds better than I’ve heard in years, delicately singing the verse before waling the chorus in trademark melodic yells (no, that’s not an oxymoron). Keyboards and group vocals add fullness to the main melody, and tempo changes throughout kept me smiling, especially when all other instruments suddenly dropped out except a jazzy piano riff for a few bars before yet another time change as the guitar came crashing in to jolt me into another realization why I love good metal music. Other shadings of acoustic instruments appear in “Winter Haven” and “Now,” which come across as really cool stuff going in on rather than, “Oh this is the folk song track, or “This is the ballad track.” It all fits so well together, that I would just classify it as good progressive metal, with the attention on the metal. “Living on the Edge” and “I Fear You” are up there with some of the heaviest stuff Jon has written in a long time.
There are two things you get with Festival, as in nearly all other Oliva-helmed albums, and the first is his voice. Jon Oliva’s voice is something of an acquired taste. It’s very far from the crispness of Zak Stevens who took over lead vocals in Savatage for a few albums. It could be compared to Brian Johnson with AC/DC, not that they sound too similar, but that you either like it or you don’t. I have never been a huge fan of his voice, but the music is so good, that it didn’t make much of a difference. With Festival, though, I actually liked his voice most of the time. I think it’s some of his best vocals that I’ve heard from him, and it is varied enough on the album that it doesn’t all sound the same. The second thing you get in droves is melody. That’s one of Oliva’s strengths, I think, and keeps the heaviness from getting old after a listen or two. These songs all have great melody, and you even can replay the guitar riffs in your head, long after you’ve shut the CD off.
This is a fantastic album, and one of the best that has involved Jon Oliva in years. It’s my favorite Jon Oliva’s Pain album, and should gain them a lot of new fans. From start to finish it’s an excellent listen and a really run metal disc.
Reviewed by Matt Milligan
