A special –yet at the same time pointless- release in the frame of the one-off (?) reunion of Savatage for this year’s Wacken Open Air Festival in August. “Return To Wacken” includes 11 studio versions of songs that the American band has performed at Wacken in 1998 and 2002. Now, one might wonder –and quite understandably so- why should we buy an album comprised of well-known songs that are already part of everyone’s collection. My answer is this: no one should bother purchasing this CD unless he/she is a perfectionist Savatage collector. The truth is that every single metal fan out there already has –in one form or another- these songs…after all, “Gutter Ballet”, “Edge Of Thorns”, “Hall of The Mountain King” (just to name a few) are already classics.
If we were talking about live versions, then I’d be more than willing to talk it over and why not suggest this release. But now, with an album that offers just a new cover sleeve and additional liner notes, the subject is totally out of the question. Especially, in this difficult time and age…
“Return To Wacken” is aimed towards exclusively to all those die-hard collectors (meaning, all those who have every single collectible edition of “Sirens”).
Highlight: Will we be treated with a full-blown Sava-reunion…? That remains to be seen…
