jon oliva's pain festival

Released: 22 February 2010 Label: AFM

Jon Oliva is for those who don’t know the former front man of Savatage who were an influential heavy metal band with a progressive edge. Jon Oliva’s Pain isn’t just a continuation of Savatage but a vehicle for some new ideas, and, of course, include Jon’s trademark gruff vocals.

There are more ‘traditional’ heave metal elements included but a mix of keyboards and effects add another dimension to Festival. There are numerous really groovy sections chucked in as well which create some very memorable moments. This is very apparent during Afterglow which is possibly one of the most style shifting tracks ever recorded, going from massive doom laden riffs to a bit of jazz on the piano towards the end.

There is a nice bit of contrast between the heartfelt Looking for Nothing to the downright dirty sounding The Evil Within which is packed with powerful riffs and Jon’s vocals sound full of malicious intent!

Festival is a very varied album with many different ideas and a very interesting assortment of songs, it is very much like going to an actual festival as there is a bit of everything on offer which makes things more entertaining!


by Claudia Glazzard