[18] In 1982, Avatar took part in some heavy metal compilations, most notably The YNF Pirate Tape, a promotion by Tampa rock radio station 95YNF for local Florida bands.

In promotion of Power of the Night, Savatage embarked on the Monsters of the Universe Tour with Rogue Male and Illusion, and also played with Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, Exodus, Raven, Overkill and Armored Saint.

[22] A world tour in support of the album throughout 1987 and 1988 followed, playing with a variety of bands like Dio,[23] Megadeth,[23] Iron Maiden,[24] Testament,[25] Sanctuary,[26] Pandemonium,[26] Nuclear Assault,[25] Heathen,[27] Forbidden,[26] and Helstar.

[26] Hall of the Mountain King not only found a new audience for Savatage, but also introduced a new musical style, featuring symphonic elements, strongly influenced by O'Neill, that would shape the band's future recordings.

Gutter Ballet proved to be another success for Savatage, with the title track and "When the Crowds Are Gone" receiving considerable airplay on Headbangers Ball and album-oriented radio stations.

[33] Chris Caffery, who had been playing with Savatage in the previous tour performing rhythm guitar and keyboards offstage, officially joined the band in 1989.

[35] Despite this, Caffery left the band after the Gutter Ballet tour for personal reasons, but kept writing music with Jon Oliva and would later return to Savatage during the second half of the 1990s.

[40][41] The next several months were spent touring relentlessly in North America, with the likes of Armored Saint and Fates Warning, followed by their first shows in Japan.

[42][43][44] After the Streets tour ended in the spring of 1992, Jon Oliva left the band to concentrate on his side projects Doctor Butcher and his Broadway-bound musical Romanov,[45] as well as continuing co-writing Savatage material with his brother Criss and producer Paul O'Neill.

The new lead vocalist, former Wicked Witch singer Zachary Stevens, was discovered and introduced to the band by Criss' best friend and guitar technician Dan Campbell.

Lead guitarist Alex Skolnick of Testament temporarily joined Savatage in 1994 for the release of their ninth album Handful of Rain, written by Jon Oliva and Paul O'Neill.

Although the album is technically a Jon Oliva solo album, with Jon handling all instrumental duties except for vocals by Zachary Stevens and lead guitars by Skolnick, the record was released under the Savatage moniker with bass and drum credits given to Middleton and Wacholz respectively, as drummer Andy James had left the band following the death of Criss Oliva to pursue other projects.

[50]While Skolnick adapted Criss Oliva's solos to his own style, former guitarist Chris Caffery, who had left after the Gutter Ballet tour, was convinced he could do them better.

The eleventh studio album, The Wake of Magellan, was released in 1997 after a break to deal with the huge success of TSO, and dealt with such concepts as the worth of a life, suicide and drug abuse, drawing on real-life events such as the Maersk Dubai and the murder of Veronica Guerin.

Savatage parted ways with long-time label Atlantic after this release and eventually signed on with a much smaller organization, Nuclear Blast (although Trans-Siberian Orchestra albums would in the future remain on the Atlantic/Lava imprint).

Lead guitarist Chris Caffery also recorded solo albums,[55] while frontman Zak Stevens was approached by longtime friend and Savatage stage manager Dan Campbell to co-found a new band Circle II Circle and their first record entitled Watching in Silence was released in 2003, produced by Jon Oliva and featuring a guest appearance from Caffery.

In addition to his work with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, drummer Jeff Plate performed with electric violinist Mark Wood and joined Metal Church.

All these other lineups of the band that people heard from "Edge Of Thorns" (1993, Atlantic Records) on, to me was more like Trans-Siberian Orchestra actually than Savatage.On October 17, 2003, at The Masquerade in historic Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, fans were invited to remember and celebrate the life and contributions of Criss Oliva at a 10th anniversary memorial concert.

In an interview to Aardschok, a Dutch Magazine, in June 2006, Jon Oliva announced that he wanted to record one more Savatage album, with a live CD and DVD to follow it, before ending the band.

Chris Caffery then said in an interview in October 2006 that if a new Savatage album was to be recorded, then it was likely that Alex Skolnick would be involved, as well as original drummer Steve "Doc" Wacholz.

[60] In a November 2006 interview with Greek website, Metal Temple, Jon Oliva himself shot down all rumours of the return of Savatage, claiming that it never made him any money, but instead it cost him one million US dollars to keep the band going over the years.

He did however state that a one-off anniversary tour featuring Skolnick, Wacholz and other past Savatage members is being planned with Paul O'Neill as a final send off to the band.

[67]On August 2, 2014, it was announced that Trans-Siberian Orchestra would be performing live on stage at Wacken Open Air 2015, followed immediately by a Savatage reunion gig.

This set was followed up by simultaneous play by both bands, featuring also Savatage and TSO songs, ending up with O'Neill's appearance on guitar in "Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)" and "Requiem (The Fifth)".

In October 2015, Zak Stevens confirmed[72] the intentions of starting a new phase for Savatage, adding that (from November 1 on) there would be meetings to take decisions on the details, possibly a tour or a new album, as Jon Oliva was inspiredly writing new music.

When asked in April 2016 about Savatage's future, drummer Jeff Plate (who had recently released an album with Metal Church) stated, "This really is a question for Jon and Paul.

However, he stated, "I really can't imagine them having TWO drummers on stage, so Jeff will be doing the drumming duties on his own (which he does a great job), although I would love to finish what I started with the Olivas so long ago.

The conversation is still open, I spoke to Chris Caffery...Jeff Plate, Johnny Lee, we all talk about it all the time, it's just a matter of saying, 'Okay, let's leave this pandemic behind and focus on the important things in life!

When bassist Johnny Lee Middleton joined in 1986, the band took a step in the direction of radio-friendly hard rock due to label pressure, but to no success.

Savatage's main influences include Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, AC/DC, Van Halen, Rainbow, UFO, The Beatles, Rush, The Who, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Queen, Motörhead, Scorpions, Accept, Saxon and Jethro Tull.