booB said:
Savage Land was such a crappy cd, that it soured me on the band for all time.
I liked
Savage Land immediately when I first heard it, which was kind of weird, as it was basically lighter and "wussier" than the power metal I would usually listen to. But it (and the followup,
Temple Of Two Suns) had a certain melodicism to it that was very unique to me, and that I really enjoyed even at the expense of heaviness or crunch. Again, unusual for someone like me who rather likes a good dose of "crunch" in power metal. But these guys had such incredible melodies that it didn't even matter. After that, on their later two albums,
Hollowed Be Thy Name and
Among The Gods, they went in a heavier, more typical euro melodic power metal direction. And while they do it well, and I like those discs, they're not as unique to me as their first two albums, and they don't seem as significant to me, because while good, they're not at the very top of the large euro-power heap, whereas they did stand out from the pack when they were doing something different and unusual on their first two discs.
All that said, if you didn't care for
Savage Land, there's a good chance you'd like some of their later work more than that one, but you're definitely not missing out on any future favorites by skipping the band entirely.
