Oh Fight For The Rock...where do I begin? I think I should state right from the beginning something that many Savatage fans probably already know: this is the worst Savatage album ever written. Fortunately this is not really the fault of the band, but more because Atlantic Records wanted them to go in a more "commercial" direction, namely hair/glam metal that was popular in the 80s. Even the album cover is nothing more than a ludicrous travesty. Still I forced myself to listen just to see if it was really all that bad.

The first and title track is actually a decent song, and turned out to be one of the strongest on the album. The melodic guitar work from Criss Oliva is great as usual and Jon Oliva's vocals have their usual power. Sure the lyrics are a bit corny, but overlooking that it's a catchy song that is fun to listen to. Unfortunately the second track is where the album starts a downward spiral. Why is Out On The Streets here again? And why is it the second track? Confused. Crying For Love continues the feeling of the previous track, a sort of short ballad that doesn't do much for me. There are many other ballads and most of the songs revolve around the topics of girls/love/sex. Take Day After Day for example. A sappy love song that really goes nowhere in terms of both lyrics and musicianship, and possibly the worst Savatage song I've ever heard. Now, there is still some killer guitar work from Criss Oliva on some of the songs, and the rest of the band keeps the technical ability at a decent level most of the time, but the songs just do not appeal to me, especially in comparison to the previous albums. Hyde is a track that is quite memorable and catchy, with Criss doing some great melodic guitar leads and solo work that blows everything else on the album away. Red Light Paradise also shows off some nice guitar work, but once again this is just not my type of song because it just sounds so contrived for the purpose of gaining a wider audience.

I really don't have much else to say about this album. The music isn't bad for the most part, it's just uninspired. None of the songs are really terrible (ok maybe Day After Day), but it just does not have the power and hard edge that the previous albums did. The most enjoyable parts of this album are when Criss is allowed to do some of his usual superb guitar work. It has its moments but they are few and far between, and on top of it this album just does not flow as the truly great Savatage albums do. The songs sound like they were haphazardly thrown on the album without much thought to how they would sound together. In the end this record would prove to be a bit of a lost cause for Savatage, as it tended to turn original fans away and was mostly panned by critics. Fortunately the very next year saw them seriously stepping up their game with the classic Hall Of The Mountain King.