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Rating: "A SINGLE DEATH IS A TRAGEDY, A MILLION DEATHS IS A STATISTIC." (josef stalin).
With this quote begins what can easily be considered the musical masterpiece of the symphonic-baroque era of Savatage: "Dead Winter Dead".
This album is Savatage's second Rock-Metal opera after the incomparable "Streets" of 1991, and let's say one thing right away: that masterpiece was absolutely unrepeatable, our guys knew it, and indeed they do not try to serve us the 1991 soup reheated and revisited with current themes (for the time), but instead offer us an engaging, incredibly heartfelt and emotional work where epicness, power, and majesty are masterfully combined, but also (and above all), a river of feelings and emotions that range from hope to sadness, from melancholy to hatred, from despair back to hope... A work where the poetry of the lyrics perfectly marries the musical imagery... An almost perfect union (and tremendously evocative) of words and music that I have rarely had the chance to hear.
The album was released in 1995 and is a concept drawn from a writing by Paul O'Neil (producer as well as an unofficial member of the band) based, with tear-inducing poetry and involvement, on the situation of the (now) former Yugoslavia seen through the eyes of Serdjan Aleskovic, an imaginary character (or not?), who finds himself confronting life in a country ravaged by a thousand years of wars and persecutions, which finally, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, seemed to have achieved the possibility of change that had been so yearned for and suffered by the population, before falling again into the horror of (semi)civil war.
The lyrics are gorgeous, dreamy, and in no way banal or predictable and reflect (condemn) in an "original" and heartfelt way on racism, intolerance, hatred, loss of innocence, the individuals' inability to change things...
But they also talk, in a concealed manner (but not too much), about hope, love, the need for change, and question us on the value of feelings and peace as a right and not as a conquest. The thing you notice right away, and what struck me the most while listening to this work, is the incredible emotional involvement by the musicians that reflects on us worshiping listeners the emotion they seem to feel in telling us the story...
The band offers us a performance where calling it heartfelt is an understatement, and all members sacrifice (in part) their (enormous) technical skills on the altar of moving and dreamy, progressive and pathos-rich Music at every moment... In short... Music with a capital M. Here we go...
"Overture" is a instrumental and symphonic track that welcomes us into the concept with majestic intensity. “Sarajevo” takes us along with the "disturbing" piano notes of Jon Oliva and the beautiful voice of Zak Stevens reflecting the detached sadness experienced by the stone-hearted Gargoyle, overlooking the city of Sarajevo (the cover with the cemetery invading from the right side of a destroyed city is beautiful), unable to grasp the nuances of the human soul it has so observed and tried to understand. The track is sad and melancholy, starting with piano and voice and progressing in crescendo with orchestral parts: stunning (and alas short). “This Is The Time” is the first real track... In a frightening crescendo among all instruments, Zak's interpretation and Al Petrelli's (former Asia and with a prog background) exhilarating inspiration on the lead guitar stand out. Everything is incredible, it couldn't start better... It's 1990 and after the fall of the Berlin Wall, for the first time in millennia, Yugoslavia is a free country, Serdjan feels joy and hope (and the responsibility) for a new future to build... This is the time to start hoping again... Happiness seems finally near. Unfortunately, while Serdjan rejoices, evil men corrupted by inevitable evil plot in the shadows to instill hatred and intolerance in men's minds, narrated in “I Am”, the fourth track where Jon "the mountain king" Oliva sings with his raspy and aggressive voice, perfectly describing the incomprehensible cruelty of weak men.
“Starlight” starts with Jon's usual piano giving way to Chris Caffery's sharp riff and the perfect rhythm section provided by Johnny Lee Middleton's throbbing bass and Jeff Plate's powerful and precise drumming... The almost martial pace of the song perfectly marries, once again, the lyrics recounting Serdjan's innocence in joining the Serbian militia and finding himself shooting at the city almost unknowingly. The rocky voice of good old Jon returns on “Doesn’t Matter Anyway” where, accompanied by swift and square tempos and Jeff Plate's double bass drum appearance, he describes the situation within Sarajevo where a young Muslim girl named Katrina decides to take up arms and defend the city threatened by an invisible enemy hidden in the hills... The incredible break almost on the edge of crossover in the second minute of the song.
“This Isn’t What We Meant” is a magnificent track: progressive and evocative in music (solos and piano to cry for), very sad, cynical, and hopeless in lyrics: we shift to the winter of 1994 and, after years of war, the ruined city welcomes the return of an old musician who, desperate at the sight of the misery of the ruins, walks towards the main square dominated by the Gargoyle and, reached the central fountain, as it begins to snow, recites a desperate prayer of pain: “It wasn't what we wanted”. Heartbreaking. As soon as the prayer ends, bombs and grenades start exploding in the night that has just fallen on the devastated city... But the old man decides not to seek shelter... He climbs the fountain and, as bombs dominate the sky, crying, begins to play with his cello, the passionate melodies of Mozart...
Thus begins “Mozart And Madness”, an instrumental worthy of applause for intensity and execution where the fusion between instrumental parts and the immortal music of Mozart is one of the most successful things in the entire work. From that evening, the old man would repeat that music ritual trying to override the noise and horror of the grenades, and every evening Serdjan and Katrina, though belonging to different and opposing factions, would listen, unknowingly together, to those magical notes coming from the heart of the lost city. A must listen to anyone. Sublime.
The great notes of Beethoven's “Ode to Joy” (“Memory”) capture us and project us, reprised in an electric key, towards the title track: “Dead Winter Dead”, an incredibly dynamic track with Chris's guitar and Zak's voice on shields painting the atrocities of war that even the snow, with its innocent whiteness, cannot cover. Devastating.
"One Child" arrives with its sadness and immense pain accompanied by Jon's piano… It continues to crescendo and flows into a 6-voice choir that will be a lesson. In an apocalyptic scenario, Serdjan, on patrol in Sarajevo, sees a school torn apart by grenades with dozens of innocent children's bodies and is horrified by it to the point of being haunted by that atrocious image and beginning to understand: what they are doing is not a project of freedom for building a new nation, but a sadistic game for mutual destruction... Crying and despairing, he understands that one cannot build a future of freedom on their brothers' bodies. Heartbreaking.
We have reached the incredible finale. Here is the masterpiece “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12\24)” with all its tragedy... A heartbreaking instrumental with unimaginable evocative power... A whirlwind of notes and emotions... Tears, tears, and tears. On Christmas Eve, Serdjan, hidden, listens, like every night, to the old cellist's sweet notes playing Christmas carols full of hope opposing the noises of war... Even Katrina on the other side of the city listens to the sweet melody. Incredibly, to those sweet notes, the snow stops falling, the clouds clear, and the starry sky arrives to illuminate the ruins of men. Suddenly, the music stops abruptly, by now only the noise of grenades prevails over everything and everyone... Anguish and atrocity emerge from Serdjan's and Katrina's hearts who, no longer recognizing the music, rush to the fountain. Arriving simultaneously, they see each other, but putting aside the warlike hatred they no longer understood, they slowly approach and find a horrible scene: the old man lies with his face covered in blood near his destroyed cello. Torn by pain, Serdjan looks up to the sky but the only thing he sees is the millennial stone Gargoyle watching him, unable to understand his sorrow.
We have reached the last chapter of the sad story, and it is another masterpiece: “Not What You See” is an incredibly emotional piece I would dare to compare to the legendary “Believe” of 4 years before for intensity and feeling... In this piece, everything is perfect... Zak's dreamy voice, Jon's moving piano, Jeff's soft and powerful drumming, Chris and Al's incredible guitars that give us goosebump-inducing solos, and Johnny's bass that glues it all... All embellished by a magical melody and those majestic 6-voice choral overlays that cradle us as they tell us how Serdjan, overwhelmed by that night, turns to Katrina pleading with her to set aside hatreds and racial prejudices trying to look at him for who he is and not for the uniform he wears and crying desperately again and again and again, in a whirlwind of feeling and emotion, hatred and condemnation, “I don’t understand, I don't understand, I don't...". One of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and for which the word Masterpiece is not wasted.
Let yourself be carried away by the incredible melody of this album, let the chilling tales of war frighten you, let your eyes weep while listening to the moving story of Serdjan… Let yourself… And let this masterpiece enter into you… It will never leave.
The best album from Savatage since the sorrowful death of the much-missed Chris Oliva (R.I.P.).
"AND EVERY PRAYER WE PRAY AT NIGHT HAS SOMEHOW LOST ITS MEANING". INDISPENSABLE.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Overture (01:52)
There are no lyrics for this song, because it's totally instrumental :-)
02 Sarajevo (02:33)
In the town of Sarajevo, there's an old medieval square
There's a church aside one corner most believe was always there
It was built a thousand years before any now were born
And its glory was its belfry with its stones all gray... and worn
Now there's a gargoyle on that belfry and he's been up there for years
And he has watched and he has pondered: "What is laughter, what are tears?"
And he's never found his answers as he sees the years go by
But he watches and he wonders with his stone unblinking eyes
04 I Am (04:34)
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
If over his little plot he might be king
And he finds his present world a little boring
There's no land that is so small that it cannot divide
So come, I'll draw the line and you just pick your side
Ignoring anyone who gives a warning
(chorus)
For I am the answer you seek, the dream in your sleep
You never wanted to awaken
I have the plan that won't fail, a crime without trail
And all I really need right now is you!
(laugh)
I see a little man, thinking that he might need more
And so his eyes are drifting to the house next door
He wonders if his neighbors might be leaving
So he makes a little offer that they'll understand
There is no point in letting things get out of hand
For no one wants to see their widows grieving
(chorus)
For I am the answer you seek, the dream in your sleep
You never wanted to awaken
I have the plan that won't fail, a crime without trail
And all I really need is you!
(laugh)
(middle 8)
I am the word without deeds, the lie that exceeds
For lies are always most impatient
I am the guide for the lost, who never counts cost
And all I really need right now is you!
All I really need right now is you!
All I really need right now is you!
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
I see a little man sitting and he's wondering
All I really need right now is you!
You! You! You! You! You!
05 Starlight (05:40)
We never fear the night, we bring our own starlight
Dropped on the world below, wait for the afterglow
We never fear the night, we bring our own starlight
Dropped on the world below, wait for the afterglow
And in the dark they wed, we're dancing with the dead
And if the ground's been stained, colors run in the rain
(chorus)
Run away, no delay - do we have to show you?
Don't expect mercy yet, we don't even know you
Hear the press, nothing less - saying that we don't care
Understand it's the land and you'd have to be there
We never contemplate, we only offer fate
And in the night they arc, flowering in the dark
Filling the sky with red, till all their needs are fed
Then like the childhood tear they quickly disappear
(chorus)
Run away, no delay - do we have to show you?
Don't expect mercy yet, we don't even know you
Hear the press, nothing less - saying that we don't care
Understand it's the land and you'd have to be there
(middle 8)
(chorus)
Run away, no delay - do we have to show you?
Don't expect mercy yet, we don't even know you
Hear the press, nothing less - saying that we don't care
Understand it's the land and you'd have to be there
(coda)
06 Doesn't Matter Anyway (03:49)
It don't matter what you said
In the mind of someone, you are now dead
What makes it bad is they're living next door
So you'll need some weapons? That's what I'm here for!
Seems you got us a war
AK-47, Tomcat, F-11 hardly ever used, tell me what am I bid?
You on the back wall, this is it last call
Better buy 'em now or you'll wish that you did
You'll wish that you did
(chorus)
I know, you know, in this world you gotta pay
It's all for sale, what's your side? You couldn't say...
No... doesn't matter anyway
Claymore land mines, anti-personnel kind
Good for lining borders and they're easy to hide
Bury 'em in the ground, only one way they're found
Another fine product we deliver with pride
Swing a deal on the side
M-1's, ammo too - Stinger missiles got a few
Better get 'em now, while we got 'em in store
Good for a last stand, straight out of Afghanistan
If you never use 'em, you can save 'em till your next civil war
Cause that's what they're for
(chorus)
I know, you know, in this world you gotta pay
It's all for sale, what's your side? You couldn't say...
Hmmm, doesn't matter anyway
(solo)
Whoa, yeah!
(chorus)
I know, you know, in this world you gotta pay
It's all for sale, what's your side? You couldn't say...
No... doesn't matter anyway
(laugh)
Ow!
(lead break)
No!
Doesn't matter anyway
Doesn't matter anyway
No! No! No! No! No! Ow!
(chorus)
I know, you know, in this world you gotta pay
It's all for sale, what's your side? You couldn't say...
Aaaaah... doesn't matter anyway
10 Dead Winter Dead (04:20)
Feel the rush, feel the rush in the back of your head
"Breathe it in, breathe it in," isn't that what they said
As you stood in the night 'neath the glow of the fires?
Watch it burn, watch it burn, watch it reach through the night
Feel the heat, feel the heat as you bask in its light
As the puppets hang upon their wires
(chorus)
I've lost my way, kneel down and pray
It all decays, it takes me down, down, down
Like the minister said, like the minister said
Where this all has led... dead winter dead
Can you hear what I hear in the back of your mind
As you stand on the stage when they tell you it's time
To read words from a past you can't remember?
Gotta keep what you have, tell me what is it for
If it made sense my friend well then not anymore
Every dream I'm told has its December
(chorus)
I've lost my way, kneel down and pray
It all decays, it takes me down, down, down
Like the minister said, like the minister said
Where this all has led... dead winter dead
(lead break)
(coda)
11 One Child (05:16)
One child stood before the altar
One child stood out in the rain
One child spent his time imagining
And I don't believe he's coming home again, home again, home a...
(chorus)
Right there in the earth, I've been drawing a line
I'm digging it deep, don't know if I'll find
A tunnel out so we all can be saved
If not, just take this earth and bury me, for this will be my grave
One child hid inside the darkness
One child never said a thing
One child closed his eyes and disappeared
But at night I still can hear him whispering, whispering, whisper...
(chorus)
Right there in the earth, I've been drawing a line
I'm digging it deep, don't know if I'll find
A tunnel out so we all can be saved
If not, just take this earth and bury me, for this will be my grave
(lead break/coda)
I will believe in you
If you still want me to
Or tell me I'm on my own
There on the other side
Tell me the Pilate's died
And we're no longer alone
(bridge)
Take your answers and your promises, believe me I don't care
I have held on to your words until I found them only air
What good are your promises if you can always take them back?
Still, I hang on every word till my hands are bleeding
(coda)
I will believe in you
If you still want me to
Or tell me I'm on my own
There on the other side
Tell me the Pilate's died
And we're no longer alone
(simultaneously)
I will believe in you We had no choice but to stay and follow
If you still want me to We have nothing left except tomorrow
Or tell me I'm on my own We have nothing left except what will be
There on the other side What we need here are some real decisions
Tell me the Pilate's died While you only offer mindless visions
And we're no longer alone Visions that nobody else here can see
(simultaneously) / = where stanza 1 lines begin in comparison to other stanzas
1:
We're on our own
We're on our own
We're on our own
We're on our...
2:
/I will believe in you
If you still want me to
/Or tell me I'm on my own
/There on the other side
Tell me the Pilate's died
/And we're no longer a...
3:
/We had no choice but to stay and follow
We have nothing left except tomorrow
/We have nothing left except what will be
/What we need here are some real decisions
While you only offer mindless visions
/Visions that nobody else here can...
(all together)
I will believe in you
If you still want me to
Or tell me I'm on my own
There on the other side
Tell me the Pilate's died
And we're no longer a...
(chorus)
Right there in the earth, I've been drawing a line
I'm digging it deep, don't know if I'll find
A tunnel out so we all can be saved
If not, just take this earth and bury me, for this will be my grave
13 Not What You See (05:02)
No life's so short it can't turn around
You can't spend your life living underground
For from above you don't hear a sound
And I'm out here, waiting
I don't understand what you want me to be
It's the dark you're hating, it's not who I am
But I know that it's all that you see
No life's so short that it never learns
No flame so small that it never burns
No page so sure that it never turns
And I'm out here, waiting
I don't understand what you want me to be
It's the dark you're hating, it's not who I am
But I know that it's all that you see
(bridge)
Can you live your life in a day, putting every moment in play?
Never hear a word that they say as the wheels go around
Tell me if you win would it show - in a thousand years, who would know?
As a million lives come and go on this same piece of ground
(simultaneously)
Can you live your life in a day I've been waiting
Putting every moment in play?
Never hear a word that they say I don't understand what you want me to be
As the wheels go around
Tell me if you win would it show It's the dark you're hating
In a thousand years, who would know?
As a million lives come and go It's not who I am, but it is what you see
On this same piece of ground
(simultaneously)
1.
I've been waiting
I don't understand what you want me to be
It's the dark you're hating
It's not who I am, but it is what you see
2.
/Can you live your life in a day
Putting every moment in play?
/Never hear a word that they say
As the wheels go around
/Tell me if you win would it show
In a thousand years, who would know?
/As a million lives come and go
On this same piece of ground
3.
/Tell me would you really want to
See me leave this night without you
/Would you ever look about you
Wondering where we might be
/New York is so far away now
Tokyo, Berlin and Moscow
/Only dreams from here but somehow
One day that world we will see
(simultaneously again, except substitute this for stanza 1 and clip last three syllables
of the last line of stanzas 2 and 3)
1.
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand
I don't understand...
(together, immediately)
...what I see.
(solo)
(coda)
I swear on tomorrow, if you take this chance
Our lives are this moment, the music - the dance
And here in this labyrinth of lost mysteries
I close my eyes on this night and you're all that I see
You're all that I see
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