Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King

Behold, one of the best heavy metal bands you might have never heard of. While that proclamation might sound more like the title of a YouTube video to try and entice your engagement, we are purely in the business of bringing you the very best in rock and metal every single week, so don’t be alarmed by it. Also, if you’re reading this, we’ve already got your engagement, so there’s no further need to bait the hook. Business, baby!

Onto the business at hand; Savatage, and just how much heavy metal ass they kick. They’ve been dropping riffs and wielding the sort of hair that would make your local pastor tut since the late 70s, when they were originally known as Avatar; a name that was abandoned due to that classic social faux pas of having the same name as someone else. It’s a good job they did, honestly; Savatage is an absolutely killer name, and well worthy of the sort of stuff they were putting out. They were a massively influential force in the heavy metal scene for a good while there in the early 80s and, until the unfortunate death of guitarist Criss Olivia, it felt like they could have been one of the all-timers. After a few more years and a few personnel changes, the band would go on to reforge its scattered shrapnel into the more household and always sensational Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but always retained a spark of their heavy metal roots, a sparkle of Savatage behind the eyes that never gets old. 

This Friday, it is all about the headbanging and we are serving up a true prime rib of a track to that end. Hall of the Mountain King is a monstrous blend of all that heavy metal good stuff and it will turn your Friday into a better one no matter what stage you’re at in the day. Look out for the band on the horizon, by the way – in 2023 the band announced they were getting all their instruments out of the shed and giving it another try, so watch out for their final ever album Curtain Call this year if this Rock Song of the Week pick tickles your fancy. Which I’m willing to bet that it has.