Artist: Savatage
Label: Indie
UPC: 7596347795417
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release Date: 2021

Unofficial release in Digipak - is brand new and sealed!

‘Live Devastation’ is the Savatage live album that never was released. It was completed with a cover artwork done by Gary Smith however the label Metal Blade cancelled it at the last minute because they didn’t have the proper clearance from Atlantic Records (Savatage's then-current label) to release it. The band didn’t do much to actually get it released either because at the end they weren’t that satisfied about the sound quality. A few Metal Blade promos were made of this release in normal promo paper cover. The sleeve gives no info on where or when these tracks are recorded but it sounds like it was taken at two different shows. The first 8 tracks seems to be from a show in Germany during their ‘Hall Of The Mountain King’ tour, while the last 8 tracks sounds like it’s from the Z-Rock FM broadcast from a show in Cleveland on the 15th of October 1987. The production quality might be lacking at some tracks but it doesn’t take away any of the joy to actually get a chance to hear the only recorded live versions of many classic old school Savatage cuts. The band just blazes through many tracks from their classic 80's heyday and its also good to hear that the album has no editing or mixes. Therefore these live cuts showcase the band as being very human. Still remarkably skilled and powerful, but not perfect or polished. Because of this, the album has a truly live feel to it. It is about as genuine a live recording as one will come across. As I mentioned previously, this would be the only chance to get hold of live versions of tracks like ‘She's In Love’, ‘Power Of The Night’, ‘Devastation’, ‘Warriors’, ‘Necrophilia’, ‘Twisted Little Sister’, ‘Midas Knight’, ‘I Believe’ and ‘Thorazine Shuffle’. Yes the rare track that was only released as a bonus track on the original ‘Gutter Ballet’ cd release. Several of the tracks from the ‘Power Of The Night’ album sounds even better here than in their studio recorded versions. Basically, if you can deal with the varying production quality, and you wish to hear some unsung classic Savatage cuts, then hunt this down but be prepared to cough up some cash if you want the original paper promo version because it sells for lots of cash nowadays. A nice looking unofficial re-press appeared in digipack back in the early 2000 but that has become quite hard to find too. The digipack version says live in San Diego 1997 which isn’t true. I highly recommend this release to those who dig old school Savatage.