Hall of the Mountain King (album)

Hall of the Mountain King
Studio album by Savatage
Released September 28, 1987
Recorded Record Plant, New York City
Genre Heavy metal, power metal, progressive metal
Length 40:07
Label Atlantic
Producer Paul O'Neill, Savatage
Savatage chronology
Fight for the Rock
(1986)		 Hall of the Mountain King
(1987)		 Gutter Ballet
(1989)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Martin Popoff[2]

Hall of the Mountain King is the fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1987 under the direction of producer Paul O'Neill. It is their first album produced by O'Neill, who was assigned to the band after the tour in support of Fight for the Rock. This album shows the beginning of Savatage's exploration of progressive metal, in their search for new forms of musical expression. Many fans consider this album the original turning point in their musical identity, distinguishing between the old and new Savatage. It is not a concept album, but 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 (credited as Ray Gillian) 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. Hall of the Mountain King reached position No. 116 in the US Billboard 200 albums chart.[3]

Track listing

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "24 Hours Ago"  Jon Oliva, Criss Oliva, Johnny Lee Middleton, Paul O'Neill 4:56
2. "Beyond the Doors of the Dark"  J. Oliva 5:07
3. "Legions"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 4:57
4. "Strange Wings"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva, O'Neill 3:45
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
5. "Prelude to Madness" (Instrumental)Edvard Grieg, C. Oliva, O'Neill 3:13
6. "Hall of the Mountain King"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva, Middleton, O'Neill 5:35
7. "The Price You Pay"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva, Steve Wacholz 3:51
8. "White Witch"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:21
9. "Last Dawn" (Instrumental)C. Oliva 1:07
10. "Devastation"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:37

Personnel

Interesting to note is that in the liner notes for the album, the band gave themselves roles instead of listing their instruments.

Band members
Additional musicians
Production

In popular culture

The song "Hall of the Mountain King" appeared in the video game Brütal Legend.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Orens, Geoff. "Savatage Hall of the Mountain King review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2013-05-11.
  2. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  3. ↑ "Hall of the Mountain King Billboard Albums". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
  4. ↑ Reilly, Jim. "Brutal Legend Soundtrack Revealed [Update]". ign.com. Retrieved 22 December 2011.

External links

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