Oh well.
Not that I didn't expect it, since they've held the kid for so long. I admire Damond for being so patient and never speaking against the band. Remember way back in 2001 when he replaced Zak, Jon and everyone else said Damond was the guy and he'd be on the next Sava album (which was due soon) blah blah blah.
A lot has happened since then. First the not-so-good parting ways with Jack Frost. However, even then, didn't Jon or anyone else admit that Damond would also be leaving. Soon enough, both Jon and Chris Caffery focused on solo discs, leaving the new kid stranded. Damond, on the other hand, toured a bit with a bunch of extreme metallers and did his own thing and all that. All the while, we were dying to hear the good news about the new Sava disc getting finally recorded with both Damond and Jon sharing the vocal duties, something Jon had never achieved with Zak during his 8 years with the band.
However, TSO and more solo gigs came up. Nobody believed in a new Savatage album anymore. People were talking about a 25th anniversary release coming out in 2007, which I assumed would be the final record of the band. Interestingly, in a recent interview with a Norwegian reporter on Oct 14, Jon has announced that Damond is no longer in the band and if this 25th anniversary thing ever happens they will ask Zak to come back to sing a couple of songs.
Well, I love Jon. But I am terribly disappointed in him.
Zak left at his own will. He wanted to leave. He wanted to spend time with his family and on his return he decided to take his own path. He formed CIIC, but much to my dismay, always depended on Jon and Caff's writing skills to complete his albums. And then a while ago, he spoke positively about willing to return to Sava if it came down to it.
Obviously no one gives a shit about Damond. He's just the new kid after all.
On the other hand, Jon also nicely badmouthed his 90's catalog, saying he had no idea about what The Wake of Magellan deals with, nor is he interested. He said he hated Paul's concept albums and wanted Poets and Madmen to be a non-concept but it got changed in the last minute. So all those people who claim Savatage is Jon are full of shit. Jon has basically no say in what gets done in Sava, unless Paul approves of it.
So hence why he always labels his solo material as "old school Savatage". I've always been apalled when he and some reviewers were comparing Jon Oliva's Pain to pre-HOTMK era Savatage. I love JOP, but to me, the album sounds nothing like the older Tage material. It's basically the same stuff Jon has done post-1995, except that the songs aren't related with each other. Obviously in the interview he also reveals why it's likened to older Sava stuff. Cause Jon wrote it all by himself and produced it, and the lyrics were also put down on paper by him. However, the music is still 90's to 2000's Sava. Whatever. I'm just rambling.
Savatage is still my favourite band, but I am more than disgusted by how things have been handled at the Sava camp. I kinda think Caff's reason for closing down the Sava boards was to get all those people on his own site with their attention glued to his solo album. Blah.
Savatage are over. Whether they release the anniversary disc or not, I highly doubt they are ever going to tour or record afterwards. After all, Jon has spoken: "Savatage is not a band anymore. It's not a priority. I'll do solo, Caff will do solo, and we'll do TSO together. No time for Sava."
How cool.
Not that I didn't expect it, since they've held the kid for so long. I admire Damond for being so patient and never speaking against the band. Remember way back in 2001 when he replaced Zak, Jon and everyone else said Damond was the guy and he'd be on the next Sava album (which was due soon) blah blah blah.
A lot has happened since then. First the not-so-good parting ways with Jack Frost. However, even then, didn't Jon or anyone else admit that Damond would also be leaving. Soon enough, both Jon and Chris Caffery focused on solo discs, leaving the new kid stranded. Damond, on the other hand, toured a bit with a bunch of extreme metallers and did his own thing and all that. All the while, we were dying to hear the good news about the new Sava disc getting finally recorded with both Damond and Jon sharing the vocal duties, something Jon had never achieved with Zak during his 8 years with the band.
However, TSO and more solo gigs came up. Nobody believed in a new Savatage album anymore. People were talking about a 25th anniversary release coming out in 2007, which I assumed would be the final record of the band. Interestingly, in a recent interview with a Norwegian reporter on Oct 14, Jon has announced that Damond is no longer in the band and if this 25th anniversary thing ever happens they will ask Zak to come back to sing a couple of songs.
Well, I love Jon. But I am terribly disappointed in him.
Zak left at his own will. He wanted to leave. He wanted to spend time with his family and on his return he decided to take his own path. He formed CIIC, but much to my dismay, always depended on Jon and Caff's writing skills to complete his albums. And then a while ago, he spoke positively about willing to return to Sava if it came down to it.
Obviously no one gives a shit about Damond. He's just the new kid after all.
On the other hand, Jon also nicely badmouthed his 90's catalog, saying he had no idea about what The Wake of Magellan deals with, nor is he interested. He said he hated Paul's concept albums and wanted Poets and Madmen to be a non-concept but it got changed in the last minute. So all those people who claim Savatage is Jon are full of shit. Jon has basically no say in what gets done in Sava, unless Paul approves of it.
So hence why he always labels his solo material as "old school Savatage". I've always been apalled when he and some reviewers were comparing Jon Oliva's Pain to pre-HOTMK era Savatage. I love JOP, but to me, the album sounds nothing like the older Tage material. It's basically the same stuff Jon has done post-1995, except that the songs aren't related with each other. Obviously in the interview he also reveals why it's likened to older Sava stuff. Cause Jon wrote it all by himself and produced it, and the lyrics were also put down on paper by him. However, the music is still 90's to 2000's Sava. Whatever. I'm just rambling.
Savatage is still my favourite band, but I am more than disgusted by how things have been handled at the Sava camp. I kinda think Caff's reason for closing down the Sava boards was to get all those people on his own site with their attention glued to his solo album. Blah.
Savatage are over. Whether they release the anniversary disc or not, I highly doubt they are ever going to tour or record afterwards. After all, Jon has spoken: "Savatage is not a band anymore. It's not a priority. I'll do solo, Caff will do solo, and we'll do TSO together. No time for Sava."
How cool.
