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| The Wake of Magellan, Savatage, released on April 7, 1998. ELPfan 09's rating: 10/10 |
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The Wake of Magellan is yet another spectacular concept album by Savatage. With lyrics by Paul O'Neill, it tells the story of an old sailor, named Hector Del-Fuego Magellan, in a small Spanish town who contemplates ending his life by drowning himself in the ocean. Through the course of the album, he looks back at his life and how much the ocean has meant to him. His story also intertwines with the story of the death of an Irish reporter named Veronica Guerin, and the story of stowaways on a Taiwanee freighter who were tossed over board. That's the very abridged version, but it's still a good album.
As typical, the album starts out with an instrumental overture. It nicely sets the stage for the rest of the album, along with the second track, "Welcome." "Turn to Me" has Magellan looking at the woman he loves through the window, seeing everything that she had and what she wishes she kept. This track really shows the great vocal harmonies that are used throughout the album, as well as the guitar solos. "Morning Sun" is a great track, because it features such a drastic juxtaposition between the acoustic guitar sound and the heavy-metal sound. Ovila's vocals are used on "Another Way," giving a great dark sound to the song. "Blackjack Guillotine" is another cool song, featuring a whole bunch of good guitar work.
"Paragons of Innocence" might be my favorite song on the album. Another Ovila-led track, I just love the vocals. (Does this guy ever breathe?) "Complaint in the System" brings the Veronica story back into the plot. Paul O'Neill has all of his stories very well laid out in the liner notes, and I know I'm not doing it justice, so I'll just stick with the music for now. Speaking of which, "Underture" is another instrumental piece. And it's a pretty good piece at that. "The Wake of Magellan" is another good piece, feature some abosoultely amazing vocal cannons. "Anymore" is a good piano-led, ballad-esque piece. This is very similar to the way the many TSO pieces are written, even the use of the children's choir. Another instrumental piece, "The Storm" also features much piano. I really like the lead guitar part, too. "The Hourglass" ends the story in triumphant fashion. Its constant heightening of tension, power and speed is characteristic for the band, and as usual, works out beautifully, including one more vocal cannon.
The album also includes three bonus acoustic tracks that are not part of the concept ablum. "Somewhere in Time/Alone You Breathe," "Sleep" and "Stay" are all duets between Stevens and Oliva. The first two are material that has already been released, while "Stay" was a song that was planned for Streets, but never used. These pieces give a nice closing touch to the album.
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