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Well this is better. Doctor Butcher was a side project done by Chris Caffery and Jon Oliva back in 1994, right after Chriss died. They recorded with the stated intention of just having a good time and not worrying about restrictions, and it also says they recorded it under the influence of pure attitude 'and other things we shouldn't have been doing'. I assume this means they were pretty ripped when they recorded it, so maybe that's the magic ingredient that's been missing from later Savatage albums and side projects: maybe they just are not as good sober.

Anyway, this is a heavy, hard-rocking pair of discs very much in the vein of older, heavier Savatage a la "Fight For The Rock" or "Power Of The Night", though not quite as cool. There are some awesome songs on here, like the killer opener "The Altar", "Season Of The Witch", and "Lost In The Dark". But then there are tunes like "Innocent Victim" and "I Hate, You Hate…" that pretty much suck, and other ones like "Juice" or "The Chair" that are not bad, just not really exciting either. The second disc has fewer 'blah' tunes, and so this brings the whole affair up a bit.

Overall, if you like the heavier, more straightforward 'Tage material then this might be worth checking out, even though it's a bit uneven. But there are songs on here to make you flail your fist an remember that Savatage can rock like a motherfucker when they want to, and it makes you wish they'd get back at it.

Additional Information

Originally released in 1994