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Fight For The Rock, or Fight For The Nightmare as referred to by Jon Oliva, was the album Savatage made after 1985's ass-kicking Power Of The Night, and it's notorious for being Atlantic's push for the band to receive mainstream recognition. As a result, there are some questionable songs on here, including the Bad Finger and Free covers that crop up between better original songs, but it's amazing how lame Savatage can sound, especially on the reprised "Out On The Streets" from their Sirens debut. Through a very dated, 80s production, a lot of Fight For The Rock is commercial hair metal with a dark edge, though some of that cool Sava-brilliance shines through on "Red Light Paradise" and "The Edge Of Midnight", which wouldn't have been out of place on The Dungeons Are Calling.

Criss Oliva's riffwork isn't as sharp here as on previous albums (or indeed on what would follow – don't forget, Hall Of The Mountain King was up next, no doubt a knee-jerk reaction to this), but Jon Oliva wails with supreme authority, even on tracks like "Crying For Love", which would have otherwise been highly derivative. The opening title track is the most digestible thing on here, and could slot into a collection of the best ‘Tage tracks, no question, but generally Fight For The Rock is a varied, albeit rather embarrassing album from a band that wrote the book on sophisticated, bad-ass metal. Undoubtedly, this should be your last stop while visiting the Savatage discography.