Concert review – Saviour

Concert review – Saviour
October 1, 2013
By Erika War

Recently I had the extreme pleasure of seeing Saviour perform live at Webster Hall in NYC.  I had never seen them before so I wasn’t sure what to expect. My son and I were outside the venue and we heard vocalist Pete Maglia all the way up the block talking to people and joking around.  He was very funny and boisterous, so I knew right then that he would be an excellent frontman. I had also found out a few weeks earlier that one of my favorite guitarists in the world, Vic Arduini, formerly of Fates Warning and currently of Freedoms Reign, was going to be joining Saviour for a few songs.  So I was expecting it to be a good night.

Well, my expectations were exceeded beyond belief.  Pete Maglia (vocals, guitar) and the band (Ed Kern on bass, Peter Zambuto on drums and Justin Goldat on guitar) put on one hell of a show.  From the first notes of the first song, “Welcome to the Show” I was taken in by the music.  Awesome is my favorite word and it applies here.  The guitars were amazing, the bass was great and the drums were magnificent.  They kept it up with the next song, with the funny title of “Crave my Load”.  During the entire set Pete, ever the showman, kept the audience riled up and entertained.

The fun accelerated to top speed when Vic joined Saviour for the third song, “Crank it Up”.  He sounded amazing.  The only bad thing was one of the speakers was hanging too low on the stage and poor Vic had to play this song hunched over.  But of course he still sounded perfect.  Then luckily they fixed the speaker. The next song they played was from Saviour’s second album, called  “Killing Fields”.  It had a very powerful beginning.  This song was a bit more thrash metal than some of the others, a bit harder, so of course I loved it.

During the interlude Maglia introduced Saviour’s newest member, the young Justin on guitar.  Justin did a solo to demonstrate his phenomenal ability.  He was light years ahead of most guitarists his age and an incredible talent.

Saviour finished out the set with “Deeper” and “Destructive Mind”.  I was hooked and I am definitely going to see their next show out in Patchogue NY at the Emporium, opening for Brett Michaels on October 17th. If you are in the area I highly recommend coming to check out this band.