2004's ''Tage Mahal' was not only one of the surprises of the year, but also a great comeback for 'Jon Oliva', two years on and he graces us with the splendid follow-up. As you would expect he weaves another wonderful journey of his favourite themed material, that thankfully includes the same excellent line-up as before, plus additional guitarist 'Shane French'. All those longing for another 'Savatage' album should be please with this release, as it probably has an even stronger vibe than ''Tage Mahal', whilst 'Jon Oliva's' vocals are still thankfully very strong. In my opinion the only things holding this fine release back is that it's paced too similarly to it's predecessor, while the weaker end portion of the album does take the edge off somewhat. A nice additional point to 'Maniacal Renderings' is that 'Criss Oliva' is credited with some song writing, as a number of tracks are based upon unreleased work co-written with 'Jon'.

Harking back to the golden age of 'Savatage' is the glorious opener 'Through the Eyes of the King', a ripping cut that wouldn't sound out of place on 'Hall of the Mountain King', 'Jon Oliva' produces a performance which frankly rolls back the years, while being supported by stringent fret work, to help make this the album highlight. Ensuing strongly is the title track 'Maniacal Renderings' which despite ebbing and flowing to a divine pulsating rhythm, matures into a more progressive affair featuring trademark 'Jon Oliva' piano work, perhaps a little drawn-out, but what a great chorus! The tempo falls for 'The Evil Beside You', which opens as an acoustic piece, 'Jon's' vocals are very different here before the momentum is lifted and develops into a more theatrical sounding piece, which includes fine, almost neo-classical style guitars. More aggressive is the grooving 'Time to Die', which again finds 'Jon' on splendid form, belting out the quality abrasive lyrics, while as always being superbly supported- checkout the closing fretwork- Smoking! 'The Answer' follows in a more progressive manner, in fact the mid and end track instrumental work is reminiscent of 'Pink Floyd', overall sounds a little recycled from previous 'Savatage' ballads, but still a decent effort. Much brisker is the ripping 'Push it to the Limit', which recalls 'Jon Oliva's' first solo project 'Dr. Butcher', a song with potential, but lyrically it's light especially by 'Jon's' standards and all said feels too crude alongside the other material. Much better penned is the politically themed 'Who's Playing God', a song originally intended for release by 'Savatage' but reworked here, but despite the strong lyrics, It's not one of my favourites. The more balladsy material of 'Streets' and 'The Edge of Thorns' is revisited with 'Timeless Flight', a very melodic piece with shades of 'The Beatles' on the instrumental sections, while 'Jon Oliva' delivers another superb, albeit subtler performance, before the song is turned on it's head and closes as a galloping rocker. This potentially excellent album starts to loose it's way at this point, the slightly uneven pairing of 'Holes' and 'End Times' ensue and whilst both feature plenty of changes of momentum and direction, ultimately come across as underdeveloped and patchy. Last up is the piano driven ballad 'Still I Pray for You Now', a short passionate piece that while heartfelt, is far too repetitive and makes for a unsatisfactory closing track.

The bonus song that comes with the DigiPac is titled 'Reality's Fool' and is performed by a number of the 'Oliva' family, including 'Jon's' guitarist cousin 'Christopher', it's not really in the typical 'Savatage' vein, in fact is a fairly unremarkable mid tempo affair, but that said, after a silent mid track break? develops into a dark guitar fuelled instrumental- nice!

Ok, not quite as striking as the debut, especially as it tales off towards the end, but with 'Jon Oliva' you know what you're gonna get and he doesn't disappoint here.