Around the time of Saviours’ third LP, the roaring ode to riffs and searing, face-melting solos that was Accelerated Living, drummer Scott Batiste was still living in his car when the SanFran quartet weren’t on tour, the rationale being something like: “Dude, we’re a touring band – if I’m on the road for nine months, what’s the sense in paying rent?”
So, have these years of gigging paid off or is Batiste still hunkering down in his four-wheeled palace each night? On the strength of fifth LP, Palace Of Vision, then, the answer is a definitive yes. And no. Sharper and more thoroughly metal-orientated than much of their previous output, Palace Of Vision sounds like the product of a band so tight it must still be confusing for them to roll over in bed and see their wives rather than their bandmates.
But we’re not talking ‘polished’ here either. This is not ‘Saviours go Van Halen’; still covered in grit, the likes of The Beast Remains in particular still sound gloriously like DRI covering Sabbath covering Motörhead.
