Savatage

In 1978 the Oliva brothers—Jon on vocals and Criss on guitar—launched Avatar in Florida. The outfit adopted the name Savatage in 1983 and embraced a metal sound shaped by Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Steve “Doc” Wacholz handled drums while Keith Collins played bass until Johnny Lee Middleton took over the position. The band drifted between raw metal and more radio-friendly material until second guitarist Chris Caffery arrived, allowing them to find their footing with the 1990 album Gutter Ballet. Their sound favored intense melodic hard rock, theatrical ballads, and ambitious operatic storylines that carried through the following releases. Criss Oliva died in a 1993 automobile accident; former Testament guitarist Alex Skolnick stepped in, yet the revised lineup met with poor reception. Dead Winter Dead arrived in 1995, and after a three-year break Savatage resurfaced with The Wake of Magellan. The Final Bell surfaced in 2000, followed by Poets and Madmen in 2001.