Savatage – Hall Of The Mountain King

This sound like crap. Its small, tiny, squashed. I have an original. This album never sounded great. The vocals are way up front and the drums to low in mix. Instruments a little muffled but not the vocals. However the original blows this pressing out of the water. To start, the gold pressing has ALOT of deadwax both sides. Bad sign right there. This album breathes and why waste cutting room? Of course, the low end suffers and not just a little. I went back to my orginal right after trying this reissue and WOW, Far more low end, much more "natural" sounding, big open, dynamic. Its not a small difference. I am convinced they just cut this from a CD. There is also infill on the pressing. Right speaker tearing sound - classic infill. There is no reason to buy this. Also the cover is atrocious. Its just a low contrast copy of the original. Lazy scan the CD and blow it up style. Innser sleeve/lyrics nice to have as my original just has plastic sleeve and nothing else. Thats the only plus.
For the record my original is a Canadian Columbia house pressing. Very small deadwax both sides. Thin vinyl. Absolutely destroys this reissue. So more wider, bigger, dynamic.
I dont know what people are talking about here this trash sounds good. It doesnt. Its like they lobbed off at 40hz and compressed the rest like a brickwalled CD
For the record, I have a 1200g turntable, GOldnote PH10 with sesperate power, Hana ML cart .... high end system not a crosley.

Underwhelming master. It doesn't sound bad but it is pretty dull. Definitely have to turn the volume up. Kinda like it has a blanket over it.

Lots of reviews on quiet sound - won’t argue with that but I’ve got mine playing loud right now and it sounds pretty good. No original to compare to but for $30 I’m pretty happy with this pressing and package!

Listened to this reissue on my Rega Planar P6 and McIntosh MA352. The sound is extremely flat. Avoid if you’re looking for a quality sonic experience.

"Limited pressing of 1000 copies" I don't think that is correct.

Contradicting comments on the sound quality. Can anyone provide a DR reading please?

Have never enjoyed any version of this release including the OG pressing I owned and sold. Always sounded thin and harsh. This is the best version I have ever heard of this release. Seems like there are overall issues with the recording a remaster can only help so much but this is as close as I have ever heard (including the recent CD reissues)

Highly recommend.

I just tested this gold Vinyl Version on my early 80's Philips Black Tulip System and decided to pick the really good GP406 Cartridge for it is well designed for Rock and Metal. After some Adjustments on Bass, Treble, Loudness etc. I received a not so bad Experience on side A. At this Point it is true that the whole thing should simply be louder! See, "24 Hrs ago" has this well known Fade-in at the Start. So when the Intro should climax into the Song the whole Thing just falls down like my Mother coming into my Room and turning the Noise down "cuz this is too loud boy!". Really killing the Tension! Side B has also this Noises between the Songs as mentioned before. Really really bad. To keep this Story short: I do not expect a Savatage LP to sound like Zappa's "Wazoo" or Yes' "Fragile" but after the first listening I did not enjoy this ReIssue like e.g. the last 2 Queensryche ReIssues. I am totally missing the Spark to the Flame. This Release keeps my Ears and Brain concentrated what is missing so it should sound better, but my Heart is left untouched. I think I will throw it in the Bay. Really sad. This will probably never be a ReIssue that will be hard to get in a few Years. ...PS: I just laughed! Just see the darker Side on the Insert, in the Middle you read "We knew we couldn't come out with a record that didn't sound great..." Boys, you just did!!

I agree that the overall sound is pretty low. However, I’m not really sure sure that I agree that the mastering is poor. It sounds like the cd I have had for 20 years does, and any major label release from the late 80’s typically do. It met my expectations and sounds as good as I expected given the source material. I’m just glad i didn’t have to donate a kidney to get this on vinyl.

Terrible job on the mastering...sounds very, very flat, with the exception of the 7", which sounds rich and full. Weird. I've never heard the original vinyl, so I have no idea if the 12" is the original master or a remaster?

The package is otherwise fantastic, with photos and detailed liner notes, and the 7" is of course a very nice touch.