Depending on who you ask, Savatage is either one of the most progressive metal bands of all time or a bunch of arty-farty sellouts who went from making genuinely evil music to dabbling with quasi-theatrical 'piano metal'. I'm hanging out in the former camp, and so it's cool to see how most of the guys have had fairly productive careers post-'Tage. Chris Caffery has risen to the level of virtuoso, and released two guitar-heavy solo albums, Zak Stevens has got Circle II Circle going on, and linchpin Jon Oliva (aka the Mountain King) is all about his Pain these days.

Global Warning is the third release from Jon Oliva's Pain, following the nostalgic 'Tage Mahal and the maliciously heavy Maniacal Renderings. Here, he's once again channelling the feel of latter-day Savatage fare like Poets and Madmen to great effect, threading together a grand spectacle that takes you through a gamut of emotions. I'm a big fan of this style, all the Broadway-esque flourishes thrown in here and there, punctuating the ballsy rockout segments, the sweet tinkle of the heartstring-twanging piano sections and the occasional experiments with different sounds like electronica. While the Mountain King's pipes aren't what they used to be – don't be expecting those inhuman high screams from his Hall of the Mountain King era – they still have that distinctive scratchy rasp that the tr00 'Tage fans love, and his constant effort to keep adapting his delivery to fit the mood of the song is mucho commendable, as always.

After repeated spins, I've grown extremely fond of Firefly, their contemplative ballad (it actually reminds me of the classic When the Crowds are Gone here and there) and the awesome The Ride, which starts off like some Hootie and the Blowfish song (except with a lot more juice), then sucker-punches you with a hell of a rocking chorus and takes off into proggy heaven from there.

Kudos all round – the Mountain King seems to be singlehandedly responsible for keeping the Savatage sound alive and kicking these days, and the rest of the band is getting better all the time. Seeing that this is probably the most complete album this particular outfit has released, it gets my seal of approval. For those people who don't mind a healthy dose of theatrical pomp with their metal, this is a sweet deal.

Year of release: 2008

Label: AFM Records/Locomotive Records