SAVAGE GRACE - USA

SAVAGE GRACE - THE DOMINATRESS - METAL BLADE  
Savage Grace never amounted to much on a commercial scale, which is too bad because, as evidenced by this debut release, the band had quite a bit of quality metal up its sleeve. Bands like Warlord, Ruthless, Omen, Savatage and Savage Grace roamed similar territory around the same time and many of which have become legends over time, but Savage Grace should have done better than it did.
Like many albums of this period, The Dominatress begins with a frantic energy that modern bands cannot match. The right hand of the guitarists and the arms of the drummer are working overtime. John Birk hits the high notes and the man puts in the extra feeling even if his voice is a little uneven here and there. Fight For Your Life is a stereotypical song title of the time, although, for all I can remember, Savage Grace is one of the first bands with such a title. The EP, after all, dates from 1983. The kinky track, Dominatress, would become par for the course, and goes with the cover artwork (something that would become a band tradition to include Metallian Towers' maids, serfs or librarians). Live To Burn is notable for the bass guitar actually showing up even if the production is muffled and the drums particularly suffer. The metal is still vintage stuff, with the tempo changes and soloing to match. Think real power metal. Mötley Crüe had Too Young To Fall In Love and Savage Grace has Too Young To Die - "Too many temptations have lured me/So many illusions betrayed me" - are poignant lines. The song slows down and throws in a metal solo. Savage Grace put a stake in the ground with this EP. That much was always clear. - Ali "The Metallian"

SAVAGE GRACE - MASTER OF DISGUISE - BLACK DRAGON  
Savage Grace's debut album Master Of Disguise is a bona fide speed metal album released in 1985. It has the screams, the urgency, the guitars and the pounding drums. It falls short in a couple of areas, though. The drums, however, are uncreative and unimaginative probably because the drummer Dan Finch is not particularly adept. A bigger concern is the production. It is muffled and not much better than the band's debut EP, released a year earlier. One would think that the full-length would sound better because the band is more experienced in the studio, knows itself and what it wants and has a bigger budget to work with, but it turns out that the full-length doesn't sound much better. There is no oomph or power to the drums. The rest of the instruments don't fare much better. The guitar sound is OK and the vocals can be heard. Otherwise, it is no wonder that no one ever heard of "James Sutton" again. The new singer Mike Smith brings the energy, as does the rest of the band, but only the guitars that have any real edge or sharpness on the album.
The album begins with a decent copy of Iron Maiden's Killers on the Lions Roar intro. There is some raw energy on the first song Bound To Be Free and Fear My Way runs through its instrumental section like Maiden's twin guitars and bass would, albeit at higher speeds and pitches. Sins Of The Damned is frantic and the singer screams his guts out. This is 1985 and already a dozen so-called symphonic metal bands of the future would have heart attacks and die upon aural contact with this. The harmonies are there even at speed and are notable. No One Left To Blame is Agent Steel-ish. Well, of course, the bands were contemporaries. Regardless, the song is probably the album's best owing to the aggression, frantic pace, wild guitars and the screeching vocals.
It is easy to enjoy the pure metal attack of Master of Disguise and some of the incredible power that bands of this era possessed, but the shortcomings are also there. - Ali "The Metallian"

SAVAGE GRACE - AFTER THE FALL FROM GRACE - BLACK DRAGON  
After the fall from grace? Personally, I thought the band's previous album, 1985's Master Of Disguise, was pretty good. Still, if that's how the band feels, the music deserves a closer look.
After The Fall From Grace is the band's 1986 album and features not only new drummer Mark Marcum, but also a photo of guitarist and main man Christian Logue standing behind the microphone. The band's volatile line-up has undergone further changes, with Logue now credited with vocals and guitars. He has also, incidentally, written the music and lyrics and come up with the concepts for the front and back covers. Gene Hoglan being the executioner on the front cover and another pretty or sexy woman gracing the album aside, the real development is how well Logue sings and how impressive his enunciations are. He is a suitable replacement for his predecessors, which is surprising. This is not a case of Yngwie Malmsteen, Jeff Waters or Patrick Mameli taking over the microphone to mixed results. Logue actually makes the cut.
The album begins with a Call To Arms before the first song proper, which proclaims, "we came, we saw, we conquered…" Two out of three isn't bad and the lyrics continue the call to arms, but this is where the listener hears Logue's vocals and notices how, not unlike his predecessors, is impressive and capable enough. Chris is likely the most melodic of the band's singers thus far, a quality that also pertains to the act's music now compared to the preceding full-length and debut EP. In fact, Savage Grace could no longer be referred to as speed metal. The backing vocals, somewhat unsurprisingly, pop up here and there and, like the rest of the instruments, are better produced than what we are used to with the band. We Came, We Saw, We Conquered offers a few exciting drum rolls too and an instrument that had generally let the act down previously, comes across as a tad more lively. Impressive vocal performance on the title track, which is the next song. Again, the band has not wimped out, but the Savage Grace of 1986 is slower and not as wild as before. The sound is better to some degree. The song Trial By Fire begins with militaristic drums, but the surprise are the growls and the extreme metal clearly showing that the boys had listened to a fair bit of Hell Awaits. The song soon switches back to old Savage Grace, from Slayer, but either way this is a good track. The short narrative Palestinia begins with a Middle Eastern melody and is either about the wickedness of Israel or the pharaohs presumably. Flesh And Blood offers a hard rock/power metal intro with backing synthesisers sadly. The song itself has a fine refrain, but the vocals are slightly irritating and the weak drum production is laid bare again. The mention of, "Taken by force…" reminds this reviewer of Agent Steel, a band that was a contemporary of Savage Grace and shared members with. Tales Of Mystery is the final song and could be classified as power metal's answer to Queensryche.
After The Fall From Grace would have better been entitled Before The Fall From The Grace. Following the LP, Savage Grace does issue one EP, but from there, the act sees more line-up upheaval, changes its style, disbands, returns and other cliches, but the album on its own is impressive enough and has its rightful place in the group's catalogue. - Ali "The Metallian"