Hall of the Mountain King

Not to be confused with In the Hall of the Mountain King.
Hall of the Mountain King
Studio album by Savatage
Released September 1987
Genre Progressive metal, heavy metal, power metal
Length 40:07
Label Atlantic
Producer Paul O'Neill
Savatage chronology
Fight for the Rock
(1986)		 Hall of the Mountain King
(1987)		 Gutter Ballet
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Jim Gordon (Favorable) [2]

Hall of the Mountain King is an album by the progressive metal group Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after their previous tour. This album shows the beginning of their progressive tendencies as they explore new forms of expression in their music. Many fans consider this album the original turning point in their musical identity, distinguishing between the old and new Savatage. As their first concept album, it has a constant tone (of darkness, in this case) and is more complex than their previous albums, with two entirely instrumental tracks that go beyond simple guitar riffs and solos, namely "Prelude to Madness" and "Last Dawn". Through Paul O'Neill's connections, he brought in Ray Gillen of Badlands fame to perform a vocal duet at the end of "Strange Wings".

"Prelude to Madness" is an arrangement of Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King from the Peer Gynt suite. Oddly, Grieg is not credited for this song, but for the following title track - which ironically, is an original song. The intro of "Prelude to Madness" features keyboards and guitar playing "Mars, the Bringer of War" from Gustav Holst's suite, The Planets.

This was the first album to feature the album cover drawn by artist Gary Smith, who was responsible for lead guitarist Criss Oliva's airbrushed guitars at the time.

Contents

Track listing

Original CD release
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. "24 Hours Ago"   Johnny Lee Middleton, Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva, Paul O'Neill 4:56
2. "Beyond the Doors of the Dark"   Jon Oliva 5:07
3. "Legions"   Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva 4:57
4. "Strange Wings" (featuring Ray Gillen) Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva, Paul O'Neill 3:45
5. "Prelude to Madness" (Instrumental) Edvard Grieg, Criss Oliva, Paul O'Neill 3:13
6. "Hall of the Mountain King"   Johnny Lee Middleton, Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva, Paul O'Neill 5:55
7. "The Price You Pay"   Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva, Steve Wacholz 3:51
8. "White Witch"   Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva 3:21
9. "Last Dawn" (Instrumental) Criss Oliva 1:07
10. "Devastation"   Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva 3:37

Personnel

At this point, Savatage remained essentially intact from their original group. Interesting to note is that in the liner notes for the album, they gave themselves roles instead of listing their instruments.

In Popular Culture

The song "Hall of the Mountain King" appeared in the video game Brutal Legend. [3]

References

  1. ^ Hall of the Mountain King at Allmusic
  2. ^ Official Band review
  3. ^ Reilly, Jim. "Brutal Legend Soundtrack Revealed [Update"]. ign.com. http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/101/1012369p1.html. Retrieved 22 December 2011.