Even still, the transition that he’s made with his new outfit Jon Oliva’s Pain has been fascinating to me. After starting life as an attempt to recreate the early sounds of Savatage on 2005’s ‘Tage Mahal, the band has put out four albums with an ever-increasing progressive feel, creating a sound that at once sounds like Savatage, yet completely different.

I thought Oliva’s last outing, Global Warning, was a work of pure genius. I’m not quite as blown away initially by Festival, but it’s grown on me with each listen. The music here gets a bit more progressive, but not in the Dream Theater-influenced vein that most people think of as prog metal these days. This is an earthier variety of progressive with heavy flavors of the 1970s acts that influenced Oliva. Jon Oliva’s Pain reminds me in a lot of ways of Queen, not necessarily in sound, but in the overall approach to the music – nothing is really out of bounds, be it raging metal, soft introspective pieces or even show tune theatrics. That, of course, has been a hallmark of Oliva’s work over the years.

Certainly there are songs here that will please Savatage fans. “Death Rides a Black Horse,” with its military march opening, dramatic classical keys and Gutter Ballet feel on the verse is a good example. “Living on the Edge” is a straight-up metal tune with the feel of some of Savatage’s earliest work. “Evil Within” provides another moment of heaviness with one of Oliva’s cleanest vocals here, and one of my personal favorites is “I Fear You,” a dramatic rocker with a Streets feel and a great groove. Even in some of those songs, though, you’ll hear a touch of that ‘70s style, as on the lasery synths on “Death Rides a Black Horse.”

Fans of Oliva’s work will also expect a few ballads and shouldn’t be disappointed by the ones here. I’m not a big fan of ballads, but Oliva always has a deft touch with them. The soft songs are more guitar driven than the piano ballads that he usually delivers. “Looking for Nothing” has a bit of an odd sound that’s a blend of Southern rock attitude and Pink Floyd-style art rock. It’s a strange brew, but I like it. “Winter Haven” is a bit of a faux ballad, opening with an acoustic piece that builds through alternately soft and soaring moments before moving into a more symphonic rock mode about halfway through and bringing in some proggy synth runs toward the end. Album closer “Now,” puts the focus back on Oliva’s piano with a nice string arrangement and almost a Beatles flavor in places.

For me, though, the centerpiece of the record is one of those songs that falls in between rock and ballad, “Afterglow.” It has a great opening groove and some tasty lead work by Matt LaPorte, who really shined on the last album and continues to make an impact here. From there, the song drops to a soft acoustic number with piano and strings that remind me of some of the better moments on Global Warning. It builds back to a dramatic bridge with a Streets feel and a catchy chorus harmony that’s nice, though not quite as tight as the harmonies that Savatage fans may expect.

There’s no denying that Oliva’s voice isn’t quite what it was back in his prime. It’s lost a bit of its clarity and seems a bit more haggard and weary at times. That said, it’s still quite powerful and distinctive. The wizened tone seems to fit the direction of Jon Oliva’s Pain just as smoothly as his shrieking, maniacal vocals of old fit the style of early Savatage. I’ll still take a 50-year-old Oliva over any of the young guns on the power metal scene.

In short, Festival is another solid entry in Oliva’s impressive catalog of recordings, delivering everything his fans expect and then some.

The first two efforts of Jon Oliva’s Pain have been quite enjoyable, if a bit uneven. ‘Tage Mahal (2005) represented a welcome return to the older, more aggressive style of Savatage, but at the same time, the songs on the record sounded an awful lot like Savatage throw-aways. The follow-up, Maniacal Renderings (2006), had one of the best songs Oliva has recorded in years, “Through the Eyes of the King,” but much of the record was very personal and self-indulgent. The same could be said of Oliva’s latest, Global Warning, with one big caveat. Indeed, this record is very indulgent. Unlike Maniacal Renderings, however, Global Warning is pure fucking genius.

You know you’re in for a wild ride from the title track, which opens the record. Oliva has, for a while now, been writing a musical based on the Romanovs, and some of that comes through on the Russian-flavored classical opening of the track. From there, it morphs into a 1970s hard rock jam, complete with big Hammond organ riffing, and finally into a Gutter Ballet-era Savatage song. That’s a lot of musical ground covered in four and a half minutes. It’s also a microcosm of the record, which features everything from blazing metal tracks to big, theatric numbers to soft, poignant vocal and piano pieces.

The record really captures the mood and feel of Savatage’s now classic rock opera Streets in its variety and power. Also like that record, some of the strongest songs here are the slower numbers. “Firefly” is a shining moment on the record, fueled by guitarist Matt LaPorte’s soulful, melancholy leads. LaPorte’s power is once again felt on “Open Your Eyes,” a Beatles-influenced number that finds Oliva sprinkling falsetto notes over his piano with a big bombastic bridge and chorus and LaPorte delivering a dramatic solo straight out of the Brian May playbook. (Queen is also a huge influence throughout the record.) “The Ride” may be the strongest track on the record, opening with a happy, jangly acoustic melody and then taking a turn into a more sinister chorus as the subject of the song is subjected to temptation. “Someone/Souls” closes the record with an emotionally-charged crescendo, just as “Somewhere in Time/Believe” did on Streets.

 Not to worry, though, if you’re a metal fan. While Oliva has always been able to deliver top notch ballads, he also brings the rock here, too. “Before I Hang” will have a very familiar sound to longtime fans. A combination of the 1980s demo track “Before I Hang” and the Streets demo “Larry Elbows,” the song, rightfully, sounds like a song taken from the Streets record and backs up the overall feel of Global Warning. The digital feel and manic circus-style lead riff of “Master” should please, and “Stories” finds Oliva plying his theatric skills with the showtune-like gang vocals delivered over a pure metal track. “You Never Know” will probably have more old school fans banging their heads than any other track, as it sounds like it was taken straight from Hall of the Mountain King, a screaming, welcome, blast from the past.

Oliva’s voice, which has at times been a bit ragged over the past decade or so, sounds better here than it has in years. From his trademark Savatage shrieks to a gritty blues tone to crystal clear clean vocals on the ballads, he covers all the bases sounding like the late 1980s version of himself. There’s more passion packed into Oliva’s performance here than the last two JOP records and Savatage’s last record Poets & Madmen combined.

When I interviewed Savatage producer Paul O’Neill prior to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra tour last fall, he assured me that a new Savatage record will happen one day. But he also made it clear that it wasn’t a priority with several other TSO projects in the works. The good news for fans is that Global Warning will serve well as your new Savatage record. Most everyone will agree that bands can’t relive their best works, but Jon Oliva has done just that, reproducing the quality, vibe and feel of Streets here. It may not have the Savatage logo stamped on the cover, but this is a record that Savatage fans have been waiting on for a long time.