Criss Oliva Appreciation

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metalmaniac93

metalmaniac93

Well-known member
I have been listening to my old Savatage CDs especially Sirens/Dungeons through Edge of Thorns and I forgot how great Criss Olivia really was!! Great riffs and killer lead playing. My first exposure to them was back in 85 when Power Of The Night came out!!! Was anyone else into Savatage and the Criss era?
 
I'm totally in on this! Saw them in the 80s on the Hall of the Mountain King tour at a little place in Philadelphia called The Empire Rock Club. AWESOME
Listening back now, it was never the shred factor, more the phrasing, note selection, songwriting, & personality that makes him unique. Happy to see Jon & the others rake it in doing that Christmas Orchestra thing
 
Short answer...Yes! His playing is one of those I listen to for inspiration when riff writing.
 
Criss is one of my all time favorite guitarists. Such talent! I love Savatage, especially Sirens/Dungeons, Power of the Night, HOTMK, and Gutter Ballet! Jon Oliva was great as well. To really get the full experience you need to get a copy of Ghost in the Ruins.
 
I'm in :rock: :rock: :rock: and I go see Trans Siberian every year when they come to Detroit! Usually at the Palace :rock:
 
Yup. Criss/Savatage are bad ass. Not sure HOW Jack Frost got in that line up, even for his brief stint.
 
I never got a chance to see them with Criss since they did not headline when I was around and then I went into the Navy and was station on Hawaii. I did see them with Alex Skolnick in Detroit though who is one of my favs.
 
metalmaniac93":ajwv2if9 said:
I never got a chance to see them with Criss since they did not headline when I was around and then I went into the Navy and was station on Hawaii. I did see them with Alex Skolnick in Detroit though who is one of my favs.
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You're a Chicago boy right? I saw them in 1985 in Chicago at some medium size hall where they headlined on the Power of the Night tour. They were great. My drummer and I brought our girlfriends and I swear, they were the only two chicks in the place and it was a rough, underground type metal crowd. Made us a little nervous but we weren't leaving, Savatage was killing it.
 
I really loved his "Gutter Ballet" Solo, actually, I loved the whole song :)

Skip to 3:55

 
Not bad tone either considering he stacked two BOSS SD-1's into the clean channel of Laney's or whatever was available!!!
 
Chubtone":1mapsbno said:
metalmaniac93":1mapsbno said:
I never got a chance to see them with Criss since they did not headline when I was around and then I went into the Navy and was station on Hawaii. I did see them with Alex Skolnick in Detroit though who is one of my favs.
Click to expand...

You're a Chicago boy right? I saw them in 1985 in Chicago at some medium size hall where they headlined on the Power of the Night tour. They were great. My drummer and I brought our girlfriends and I swear, they were the only two chicks in the place and it was a rough, underground type metal crowd. Made us a little nervous but we weren't leaving, Savatage was killing it.
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No, I am not!!! :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL: :lol: :LOL: I am a Detroit boy. Only lived here about 5.5 years!!

That would of been great to have seen them especially with Criss.
 
I just listened to some tunes and was reminded of how badass a lead player he was. Chops and vibrato and great phrasing.Just killer.
 
JerEvil":2kk4ex7h said:
Yup. Criss/Savatage are bad ass. Not sure HOW Jack Frost got in that line up, even for his brief stint.
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He only played rhythm guitar on that tour, Chris Caffery played all of the solos.
 
One of my faves. I saw Sava many times, but only once with with Criss.
 
As a young player in Florida during the mid '80s, he was definitely a big influence for me. Dungeons, Sirens and Power are still some of my all-time favorites. These are even on my current car jam USB stick:





 
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