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Fates Warning - Parallels CD (album) cover

PARALLELS

Fates Warning

 

Progressive Metal

4.07 | 431 ratings

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Gatot
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars An Excellent Prog Met Album in a different vein than Dream Theater .

Since previous album "Perfect Symmetry", the band has pushed their musical envelope into prog arena. This album is I think much prog than the previous one in these dimensions: the musical composition and musician's style. Mark Zonder's drumming style is truly amazing man .!!! It's definitely a prog style of drumming. Ray Alder's singing style is not a kind of straight forward singing but it has some great bends of singing stream with great variation of high and low points. Jim Matheos is - as usual - performs his guitar uniquely and it's very stunning. Musically, this is not a traditional prog met or Dream Theater like music at all. There are some guitar riffs, but it's not as heavy or as intense as Dream Theater's or Symphony X. Fatez Warning (oops .. sorry for misspelling as it is written in the DT Images and Words sleeve note as reciprocity act on the misspelling of Dream Theatre in FW sleeve) music is categorized under its own box, I think. The close proximity is probably with Pain of Salvation or Queensryche - Ray Alder's voice is in a way similar with Geoff Tate's even though musically it's different kind of music.

The album starts with Leave The Past Behind in an ambient vocal style augmented with guitar fills. The drum starts to roll after some bass lines and bring the music into faster tempo with a dynamic drumming and tight bass lines. Guitar than plays rhythm section followed with other guitar solo as the lead. Short guitar solo is performed stunningly during choruses. Ray Alder's powerful voice has nailed a very strong and unique music nuance. It's an excellent album opener.

Life In Still Water starts with some soft riffs followed with an energetic music in relatively fast tempo, faster then the album opener. Again, Mr Zonder impresses me his "acrobatic" drumming. I think he's one of the best rock drummers. The music itself is uplifting with some long sustain guitar sound and stunning solo. James LaBrie of Dream Theater contributes his part on vocal line even though Alder's voice is much dominant. I hardly hear LaBrie's voice actually.

Eye To Eye's opening sounds like any hard rock tunes with some guitar riffs and melody. But when the voice line enters, it creates a a prog nuance until the lyric part "eye to eye" where the music is truly like a hard rock one especially when I hear the guitar riffs and drumming. It sounds like rock bands such as Europe, etc.

The Eleventh Hour starts off with a nice guitar fills in the vein of 70s prog followed with a vocal line sung in a mellow style. The music turns louder with extremely powerful voice of Mr. Ray Alder (in the vein of Mr. Geoff Tate's voice) with a very high register notes! Oh man . I think he is also one of the great rock singers on planet earth! Yeah ... the music is turning up with beautiful guitar work by Mr. Matheos. This is the track that has made my adrenaline EXPLODE!! Great composition and technically flawless delivery. Great track!

Point Of View begins with an upbeat tempo style dominated by drum sound and some soft guitar riffs. The music turns into a quieter passage to let vocal enters the music with Mr. Alder's powerful voice. It's another great track with acrobatic drumming style. This track has an uplifting mode from start to end. Guitar solo is truly stunning; performed in high register notes. There is a nice segment where the two guitars are played in alternate between Matheos and Frank Aresti. The only downside is that this track ends up with through fading out. But this is more on personal taste because I don't like a song that fades out at the end.

We Only Say Goodbye is a relatively mellow track at the opening; it moves up in a more upbeat tempo. The music turns quiet in the middle of the track to accompany some accentuation on vocal line. It returns back to original upbeat tempo. Guitar works appear in solo style and sometimes the two guitars are played together that reminds me to Iron Maiden's music.

Don't Follow Me starts off in relatively fast tempo in an energetic style. Drum works still play its important roles especially in providing variations around transition. The interlude part is filled with double guitar sounds played in alternates. Bass lines are composed excellently.

The Road Goes On Forever concludes the album with an opening that is filled with guitar fills produced from two guitars plus voice line. It's wonderful combination of guitar sounds and it helps enrich this song. When drumming enters the music, the tempo is maintained the same from opening part. Guitar solo is performed in a soft way, benefiting from the use of two guitarists.

Overall, this album has a very tight composition and flawless delivery. Musicianship is excellent: Matheos, Zonder, Alder, Joe DiBiase. As my friend ever told me: there is no such bad album of Fates Warning, this one is not an exception. Recommended. Keep on progging!

Yours progressively,

GW - Indonesia.

Gatot | 4/5 |

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