Experience the epic return of Savatage after more than two decades away from the stage. Alison “MetalBabe” Cohen takes you inside two unforgettable performances—headlining London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire and dominating the Main Stage at Hellfest 2025. From emotional tributes from Jon Oliva and to Criss Oliva to electrifying crowd-surfing moments, this is a firsthand journey into the passion, history, and power of a band that helped shape metal. With exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes stories, and vivid concert highlights, this feature captures the magic of Savatage’s long-awaited reunion and what it means for the devoted Legion worldwide.
This That and the Other Interviews TAIME DOWNE of Faster Pussycat (First Interview in 2025 and since the March 2025 Cruise Ship Tragedy)
With a catalog of thirteen studio albums, five EP releases, five live album releases, sixty-five singles and more, Ozzy has a library of hit after hit. So, how does one choose a best-of list from such an iconic library? Well, just like my other list, I am not basing this list on commercial successes or greatest hits. I am picking what I feel are Ozzy’s best songs from his solo career (not my favorite songs, his best songs.). As Ozzy himself said, “Let the madness begin!”
The Best in Line…
The idea of doing a best songs’ list by Ronnie James Dio spanning his entire career was tossed around. When this idea came up, immediately I envisioned covering Dio’s entire catalog, going beyond his work with Black Sabbath and his own band, Dio, to including Rainbow and Elf. Maybe even something from Ronnie Dio and the Prophets….
I did not want this to be just another greatest hits list, and a list that focused on just Ozzy era Sabbath. Like with my Judas Priest list, the Sabbath list needed to go beyond commercially successful songs, and what are the most popular among fans. So many of the songs you may have on a Sabbath’s best of list probably did not make this list.
This list is comprised from all of Sabbath’s studio works, except for the 1986 release, Seventh Star. That album was intended to be Tony Iommi’s first solo record and was only released under the Sabbath name because of management and label pressures. I am also excluding the body of work from the 2007 reunion with Ronnie James Dio. Though the first three songs released with Dio in 2007 were under the Sabbath name on Black Sabbath the Dio Years, the band rebranded themselves as Heaven and Hell for touring and future releases.
What if…. Judas Priest Had a Top 10 Best Songs of All Time? Now and true Judas Priest fan knows there is no such thing as the Top Ten Judas Priest songs. You can come up with so many variations of such a list, and Priest just has far to many songs that are great to make a Top Ten. As a journalist I found this a challenge though, how to narrow down Priest extensive catalog to just TEN best songs. After some weeks of consideration and Priest pounding through my speakers, I came up with my Top Ten Best Judas Priest songs of all time. This is definitely open for debate, but for me this is a solid list.
Hellfest 2025: Four Days of Metal Mayhem in Clisson, France
From the long-awaited Return of Savatage to Orange Goblin’s farewell, Hellfest 2025 delivered 184 bands across six stages for 280,000 die-hard fans. Highlights included The Cult, Pentagram, Judas Priest, Scorpions, and The Sex Pistols, all under relentless summer heat. From intimate artist interviews to epic photo pit moments, this year’s festival proved why Hellfest remains one of the world’s most powerful celebrations of heavy music.