''Maniacal Renderings'' is a 2006 release by

Jon Oliva's Pain Jon Oliva's Pain (sometimes referred to as JOP) was a heavy metal musical project of Savatage co-founder Jon Oliva. History Originally, the project consisted entirely of solo recordings by Oliva, but after several months of work he was joined ...

. It was their first full-length studio recording released for new label

AFM Records AFM Records GmbH is a music label based in Schwalmstadt, Germany. They focus on the heavy metal musical genre, signing bands such as U.D.O., Doro, Lordi, Kotipelto, Masterplan, Nostradameus, Redlight King, and Annihilator. In 2005, Can ...

. The album features material and

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

s recorded by Jon Oliva's late brother,

Criss Criss is a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Criss Angel Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, Magic (illusion), illu ...

. Jon said that he moves around a lot and his wife found a box of old

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette (format) (or ''cassette tape''), a format that contains magnetic tape for audio, video, and data storage and playback * Compact Cassette, a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ...

tapes inside a shoebox, with Criss's handwriting on it. Jon said that during their days in

Savatage Savatage () is an American heavy metal band founded by brothers Jon and Criss Oliva in 1979 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The band was first called Avatar, but, shortly before the release of their debut album '' Sirens'' (1983), they changed t ...

, the two would write, practice and record music, then swap so they could finish each other's songs. He stated that there is plenty of material from the box that could be used in future works. The album was rated 3.5 out of 5 stars by

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Track listing

Personnel

Jon Oliva John Nicholas "Jon" Oliva (born July 22, 1959) is an American singer and musician. He is best known as the co-founder, keyboardist and lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Savatage, which he co-founded with his younger brother Criss Oliva. Si ...

– lead vocals, keyboards *Matt LaPorte – guitars *Shane French – guitars *Kevin Rothney – bass *John Zahner – keyboards *Christopher Kinder – drums

Additional musicians

*Tony Oliva –

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in ...

on "Still I Pray for You Now" *Anthony Oliva – bass on "Still I Pray for You Now" *Christopher J. Oliva – acoustic guitar on "Still I Pray for You Now", lead guitar on "Reality's Fool" *Adnan Al Hamdan – lead guitar on "Reality's Fool"

Further credits

* Produced by Jon Oliva, Greg Marchak and Christopher Kinder * Recorded by Greg Marchak at Audio Lab Studios in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

* Mixed by Greg Marchak and Jim Morris at Morrisound Studios in Tampa, Florida; assisted by Jason Blackerby * Engineered by Tom Morris, Christopher Kinder and Jason Blackerby * Mastered by Greg Marchak and Kim Faulkenberry at Audio Lab Studios in Tampa, Florida * Digital editing by Wes Price at Polysound * Front and back cover artwork by Thomas Ewerhard * Cover photography by Steffi Veenstra * Booklet design by Kathy Tijou; assisted by Leia Tijou

References

2006 albums Jon Oliva's Pain albums AFM Records albums {{2000s-metal-album-stub